Agape

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King James Bible Study[Mark 8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]

Date: Wednesday, December 01, 2021
Chapters: I Corinthians 5-8
Message: Agape

Hello My Friend,

As I was reading the chapters for today, this passage came to mind, [Galatians 5:12-14  I would they were even cut off which trouble you.  13  For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.  14  For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.]

There is a huge movement within many churches today, and that is to bring the world to Christ by bringing the world into the Church. I have said it before, and I will say it until the day that God brings me home, anyone who truly accepts Christ as their Saviour does not continue to live the life they once lived, they literally do turn their lives into someone who resembles Christ. Now, this does not happen overnight, it takes time for us to grow in Christ, we are all broken and Jesus mends us piece by piece as He removes said things from our lives that would keep us living in sin. The key word here is love, not the kind of love that we would have toward a parent, loved one, sibling, or friend, but the kind of love that only Christ can give, [Luke 6:27-28,32,35  But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,  28  Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. 32  For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. 35  But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.]

To love someone as Christ loves is not the same love that we get from the flesh, this is what many live to call agape, which is the Greek work for love, and means the fatherly love of God has for man, meaning mankind, as well as the mans reciprocal love for God. In fact, mans love is often based on feelings and lust rather than actual agape and for that reason they cannot be trusted. When I read these chapters I could not help, but think about my last relationship, although he told me that he loved me constantly, I learned the hard way that the only thing he loved is himself. Agape love does not see the need to please the lusts of the flesh and has no desire to get something out of it themselves. As we continue in the reading of I Corinthians, we learn that the Corinthians caused a great stir in the church when they allowed a man who married his father’s wife to remain a prominent member there. Paul reprimands them for not only allowing, but condoning fornication in the church.

[1 Corinthians 5:2,6-11  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.  6  Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?  7  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:  8  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.  9  I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:  10  Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.  11  But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.]

[puffed up, and have not rather mourned,] So, what was the issue? Well, Jesus said Himself, [Matthew 19:9  And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.]. God did not institute marriage so that man can fulfill every lust of their flesh, then move on when the lust wears off. This is probably what happened in this case, and for some reason the congregation not only condoned it, but encouraged it. Okay, so we are all sinners and a work in progress, but Jesus never condones or encourages sin and neither should we, [John 8:10-11  When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?  11  She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.]

[or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters;]. Now, we know fornication to be sexual relations among those unmarried, but fornication is any act done with the flesh, [Fornication; Harlotry (including adultery and incest); Idolatry; a forsaking of the true God, and worshiping of idols; of the defilement of idolatry, as incurred by eating the sacrifices offered to idols.]

Many times the best place to look for the meaning of a word that we read from the Bible is from its dictionary, after all, they put it in there for a reason. To be covetous is to lust over something or someone that someone else has and act upon it. Extortion is take something by force or illegal compulsion. Idolatry, of course, is to worship something over God. Our salvation might be given to us by grace, but is not just cause to remain living in sin. We must remember that we are new creatures the second that we receive Christ as our Saviour, [Mark 2:21-22  No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.  22  And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.]

We must remember that while our soul will never suffer, our flesh sure will if we are not repentant of sin. Paul reminds the Corinthians and all of us, that were are all guilty of some sin, our salvation is not the power to remain in sin, rather the power to get out of bondage to it. Why? Because we are washed in Christ’s blood.

[1 Corinthians 6:7-11  Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?  8  Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.  9  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,  10  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.  11  And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.]

[And such were some of you:] Do you notice all the sins that contribute to being fornication? Fornication, idolatry, adultery, effeminate, which means a man who dresses and acts like a woman. Also included are thieves, drunks, and abusers of mankind, which means homosexuality. God never denies one person salvation, Jesus died for and saves all who believe in Him, but we are washed through His blood. I have also said this before, and will say it until God brings me home, once the Holy Spirit comes into your soul you are automatically wired to do the things that God wants you to do. I will admit that I was a complete mess before and even a little while after I got saved, but the more I got in the Word of God the less I wanted to live like the world, and started removing things and people from my life that keep me in that bondage.

[1 Corinthians 6:12-13,18-20  All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.  13  Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. 18  Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.  19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.]

[but I will not be brought under the power of any.] No matter what it is, liquor, drugs, food, greed, sex, pornography, homosexuality, anything that feeds the lusts of the flesh is a power that it brings itself under, and there is only one power strong enough to break that power, and that is Jesus Christ Himself, [Philippians 4:11-13  Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.  12  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.]

When I was younger the thought of God living inside of me scared me greatly, I did not want to do anything to my body that would make God sin. Then after I did get saved and understood what all that meant and dedicated my life to Christ, I feared that even more, and that kept me from doing a lot of things that I was once ignorant to, but as time went on and life struck me I have to admit that I lost some of that fear and allowed myself to fall into temptation. However, things do truly happen for a reason, my temporary lapse of judgment did renew my fear, and that is how I know that agape love of Christ keeps anyone who truly loves Him from falling away completely. And then, Christ so affectionately passes that same love down to us through the Holy Spirit, enabling us spread it to others through our commitment to the calling that God has given us.

[1 Corinthians 7:17,21-24  But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches. 21  Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.  22  For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.  23  Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.  24  Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.]

[therein abide with God.] Jesus sets us free from the bondage of sin the second we accept Him as our Saviour, and that is a liberty that we are to never take for granted. The liberty of not having to worry that we are not doing enough good on our own to be saved from hell. The liberty of no longer being held bondage to Satan. The liberty of knowing that we are not going to hell, these are the things that Jesus has freed us from. Our salvation may be given to us freely by our faith in Christ, but it was not free, Jesus paid for it with His own life. Are we so ungrateful that we cannot give up one thing for Christ? This is what we need to be asking ourselves if there is something that we are not willing to give up. Those things that we are not willing to give up are the actually idols that God is talking about.

[1 Corinthians 8:4-7,9  As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.  5  For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)  6  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.  7  Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. 9  But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.]

[(as there be gods many, and lords many,)] This is often confusing to people, but it does not mean that there are literally several gods and lords. A god or lord was often referred to as a prince; a ruler; or judge, still today men of royalty are called lords. Think about this, we were bought with a price, Christ gave His life for us so we do not have to end up burning in the lake of fire. Instead of using that liberty for our flesh, we need to use it to edify the Church. Why? We would become a stumblingblock, [1 Peter 2:7-9  Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,  8  And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.  9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:]

[become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.] The only thing that succumbing to the world does is weaken our own faith, it will never bring them to Christ no matter how strong our faith because the flesh is, in fact, weak. Think about this, we were bought with a price, Christ gave His life for us so we do not have to end up burning in the lake of fire. We should be honored that Christ has chosen us to show the world that while we were once dead in sin we are now risen from the dead and alive through Him. And that is what true agape is all about, [2 Corinthians 5:13-15  For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.  14  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:  15  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.]

Let Us Pray: Jesus, Thank You for purchasing my life when You gave Yours on the cross. I did nothing to deserve salvation, and yet You willingly gave Your own life so that I could obtain it by grace through my faith in You. Now, that is agape, and there is nothing that I could ever do to earn or keep my salvation, for You paid it all once and for all. All I can do is live the rest of my life giving honor and glory to You, showing that same agape that You instill upon me. I know I fail You every day, but Your mercy endures and Your grace is sufficient to forgive me every time I confess and repent of my sin. I know that I am already forgiven, I just do not want to use my liberty for an occasion of my flesh, rather to live in Your power and love. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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