(1) Will the world end at with the close of the millennium?
(2) What kind of nature did Christ have as a human, and could He have sinned while on earth?
(3) What is a proper relationship or friendship between two Believers or a Believer and an unbeliever?
(4) What is "agapa" love and how can it be part of my life?
(5) How can I get my knotheaded husband to do what I want him to?
(6) What is Biblical giving, in particular giving to missions?

We are ready to approach the fourth question in our list. This subject of "God’s Love" is a vital part of our present series in which we are looking at the Holiness of God, and how we can live holy, "as He is holy". Another term for that process is "discipleship".

1 Peter 1:15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."

This is the command of God for every Believer. Love, like holiness is an inseparable part of God’s essence. Love and holiness are simply different aspects of the same thing -- "Godness" or deity. We are commanded over and over again to live, act and think in a godly and/or holy manner. Let’s look at just a few of those passages.

Psalms 4:3 But know that the LORD has set apart for Himself him who is godly; The LORD will hear when I call to Him.

BOY!! You speak about a special relationship! A relationship like that is out of this world!!!! The Lord, personally, takes the ones who are godly out of the "bunch".., and sets them apart in a special "bunch" FOR Himself.

I want to be in that "set apart bunch"! Don’t you?!?!?! Please note, the responsibility of the Believer and the response of God. God does NOT force a Believer to be holy. The Believer chooses to be holy. Once that choice is made, God gives the Spiritual power that allow God’s holiness to be lived through the Believer.

The ONLY way to be a part of that special group is to live in a godly manner. In our relationship with God during this life, we are not all on the same plane, NOR will we all be equal in eternity.

Salvation from sin is our possession by simple faith, plus nothing. Spiritual rewards and many Spiritual blessings, now and in eternity, are based on LIVING or ACTING according to the Word of God, by faith, through the power of the Holy Spirit while still in this godless world. The Word of God has a LOT to say about how we can live a godly life in this godless world. We cannot live the godly life by any merit of our own. Our action is obedience to God’s Word, God’s action is the miracle of the life of Christ living in and through us.

1 Timothy 1:3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia--remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. 5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,

Remember, we are looking at a few passages to establish the fact that our conduct is to be holy, godly and in love. All of these are part of one whole. One of the popular "trends" in Christian circles, today, is "love". However, many are not talking about God’s love, but "L-O-V-E". That touchy, feely, sentimental, drippy type of love. What the world and the church needs is love! BUT both need REAL love!

In spite of all the hype and promotion by the "practitioners" of this touchy feely love, the Bible has said, still says and always will say that the WAY to know God’s love, and how to demonstrate God’s love is through "teaching" and "heeding" solid doctrine. Solid doctrinal facts are strangely absent in many Churches that claim to teach the Word of God.

This passage (as well as many more) tells us that the way to gain the knowledge of, and how to demonstrate agapa love is through "teaching" and "heeding" solid doctrine. We are commanded NOT to "teach any other doctrine". This is from the perspective of the teacher. From the perspective of the hearer, we are NOT to "give heed to these fables".

This Greek word for fables is use 5 times in the New Testament, and each time it refers to turning away from the pure unadulterated Word of God. All 5 of these references have to do with either something entirely strange to the teaching of the Word of God, the mixing of worldly wisdom with the Word of God or the improper use of the Word of God.

Fable = (Greek) A tale or fable. It is the Greek word from which we get the English word "mythology". The emphases of the word is not that the fable or tale is necessarily false in all aspects, but that it goes against or is without the established facts of the event from which the fable or tale is derived.

A fable is fabricated by the mind and set over against the real and the actual facts. There may be much logic and reasoning in a fable. A fable may contain many facts and a great deal of truth.

Whether deliberately or inadvertently, the teller of a fable confuses and deceives the hearers, and leads them in a path other than the truth.
The mystic, the mystery or the secret of a fable is that it does not "reveal" the truth, or it "cloaks" the truth with words and thoughts that draw the attention away from the real facts.

It is important to see this! One of the reasons we are not to give "heed" to fables is that fables cause disputes, RATHER than godly edification.., which is in faith. vs 5 gives us the purpose of this "commandment", and how and from where that purpose should proceed.

We MUST first establish, what is this "commandment". This is not referring to the 10 Commandments, although I’m sure that the same purpose could apply, in part, to those.

Commandment [1 Timothy 1:5] = (Greek) A Mandate; A message that is transmitted as a charge or military directive.

This Greek word is used only three other times in the New Testament. Let’s look at the other usages of this word, and I’m sure it will bring a great deal of light to the subject.

Acts 16:24 Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

The English word "charge" is the translation for the same Greek word translated "commandment" in 1 Tim 1:5. This passage is in reference to the Philippian Jailer, who received this "charge" from the magistrates of the city. This was not just information, or something to be taken lightly. As a matter of fact, IF he did not carry out this "charge", he would be in danger of losing his life.

1 Thessalonians 4:1 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; 2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

The English word "commandments" is the translation for the same Greek word translated "commandment" in 1 Timothy 1:5. Notice, once again the intensity of this passage. Paul said "we urge and exhort" NOT just from his standpoint.., BUT they (and us) were urged and exhorted "in the Lord Jesus that they should...." These commandments were given by Christ through Paul. That makes them pretty important and binding.

1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 18 This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19 having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck,

The English word "charge" is the translation for the same Greek word translated "commandment" in 1 Timothy 1:5. Again, this was not a message that would leave one with the choice of... "take it or leave it". Now back to our original passage in....

1 Timothy 1:3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia--remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. 5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,

We are to be VERY careful what we "teach", and what we give "heed" to, BECAUSE the purpose of this "commandment" or mandate, here called doctrine in v 3, WAS LOVE. This "love" is agape love.

The purpose of ALL doctrine is so the Believer can and will live in, act by and be motivated through this very special love described throughout the New Testament, and has been attached to the Greek word agapa and its derivatives. This special love can only flow out of a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith.

The pure heart, good conscience and sincere faith are not the "source" of this love. We will not "track" that, right now. BUT please mark it well!! The ONLY source of agapa love is God, Himself!! We will see later, that each Believer experiences this special love from God, BUT this love CANNOT be passed to others -- by a Believer -- except it flow from God through the Believer by means of a pure heart, good conscience and sincere faith. Each of these we will examine in the process of the study.

We could spend several lessons in any one of these great eternal passages, plumbing the depths of their wonderful truths. For this lesson, I want us to see a "thread" of truth that weaves its way through the entire Bible. But especially, we want to see this truth in the New Testament.

The "truth" we want to see is that the holy life and life of godly love go hand in hand. For either of these areas of holiness and/or love to be true in our lives, there are certain factors and conditions that also must be present in our lives. To complete this part of our examination in a reasonable length of time, we will move rapidly through a number of passages to see these facts. Then, we will draw on those "facts" as we move through the continuing study. Please keep these reference and the truths gleaned from them in readiness as we move through this study.

1 Timothy 4:6 If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. 7 But reject profane and old wives' fables, and exercise yourself rather to godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

Don’t despair! These facts, some which seem to be unrelated right now, will all weave into a very nice and complete pattern as we continue our study. Later in the lesson, I will explain when, how and why we will use these facts. You "job" right now is not to try to tie all of these facts into a neat little package, but to look at, understand and remember these facts.

There is NO way we can teach the truth of the Word of God without the facts of the Word of God. Tragically, in fundamentalism today, we are in a "drought" when it comes to Biblical facts. As a matter of fact, there is almost a vacuum when it come to "real" Biblical facts taught from pulpits, today. Part of the reason for this is that many teachers are not taught by our schools of theology to glean Biblical facts. Part of the reason is that many listeners want to be entertained rather than to study, and endure sound doctrine. They have "itchy ears", according to the Word of God. Part of the reason is that it takes time and work to glean facts and correlate them properly. There are other reasons, but that’s enough for now.

Over and over again, the Bible tells us that doctrine is what is needed to live a Spiritual life in this foreign hostile environment of a world controlled by Satan. Yes, we are to act on those doctrines in our living. That is the definition of faith! However, IF we are not continually learning and growing in the teachings of the Word, which are doctrines, there is NO way we can act properly in our Walk, and be equipped to live holy lives in a unholy world.

I keep hearing, from some who I’m sure are sincere, that we need to learn -- from a "practical" aspect -- how to live with one another. Without knowing it (I hope!), they are saying that the teachings of the Bible are not "practical". I also hear that we need some "practical" application of how to live godly lives in an ungodly world. Well.., my friend. IF the Bible is true, and it is... the Bible says that doctrine is the "key" to our living Spiritually and overcoming sin.

We can share all our troubles, talk about our hang-ups, and we might learn to live like a community (or a village...), BUT we will NEVER learn to live as the Body of Christ. Living as the Body of Christ will not take place until we turn away from fables, and turn only to the doctrines or the teachings of the Word of God. I didn’t write it. I only teach what the Holy Spirit had written for our benefit. Take one more look at what the Holy Spirit had Paul write in this passage.

1 Timothy 4:6 If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. 7 But reject profane and old wives' fables, and exercise yourself rather to godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

Just a closing thought from this passage. Paul told Timothy that IF he instructed the brethren in these things, he would be a good minister. God’s standard of what constitutes a "good minister" is the ability and fact of instructing in the area of doctrine. My! MY!!! We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?!?!?!?!!!!!!!

Our standards for a good minister have so far surpassed God’s standard.., that God’s standard doesn’t even seem to be much of a standard, any more. Aren’t we something?!?! Oh, yes! We’ve come a long way, all right. However, it might have been better if we had stayed with "God’s Standard" to begin with.

Is it any wonder that Christ, while here on earth, ask a question that was hard to answer? BUT if the trend of modern Christianity continues, I think the answer will be quite obvious.

Luke 18:8 "I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"

Remember!!!!  

Faith is based on, 

and proceeds from 

the hearing of the Word of God.

1 Timothy 6:3 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, 4 he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, 5 useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of (personal) gain. From such withdraw yourself. 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain...... 1 Timothy_ 6:11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.

We have spent a great deal of time in this passage, in the past. We have spent so much time in this passage, that I should be able to simply say, "1 Tim 6..", and you could teach it without a second thought. However, we forget so quickly! Mark it again. According to this passage also, it is the doctrine according to godliness that we are to teach and consent to. There are many other "doctrines" floating around that are not according to the doctrine or teaching of the Word of God. That’s the context. I trust that past teaching will help fill in the truths that we are not taking the time to examine, now.

That brings us to 1 Tim 6:11. There are some things we are to flee from. They are found in v 4 - 5. There is an action we are to be involved in concerning those who feel that the Christian life of godliness is lived so that they can have personal benefit.

We are to flee certain things, 

withdraw from certain people 

and pursue certain Spiritual qualities.

Even though the Spiritual qualities found in 1 Tim 6:11 are separate items.., they are parts of a whole. The "love" mentioned here is agapa love. You can’t have agapa love without having or pursuing all that’s in the list. All of these qualities are a part of the "whole", or the complete life in Christ.

The "Fruit of the Spirit" contains individual items, BUT together those items make up the "Fruit of the Spirit". Any one item in the "Fruit of the Spirit" would not constitute the "Fruit of the Spirit" without the total.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 proving what is acceptable to the Lord.

Let’s move on to another passage and other aspects of what’s needed, and what must be avoided if we are to demonstrate apapa love.

2 Timothy 3:1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

As we scan this passage, remember that these were people who had a "form of godliness" vs 5. These were people who were searching for truth. We need to look at two areas of parallel truths in this passage. I trust as we look, you’ll not find a profile of yourself in this passage. BUT don’t be too surprised if you find a slight resemblance to someone you know better than anyone else.

Look at the first part of v 2 and the last part of v 4. These were lovers of themselves (vs 2), rather than lovers of God (vs 4). Everything between those two statements describe a person who is in love with self, and not with God. However, the assumption of the passage is that this person THINKS they are in love with God.

As we scan these things, if you find a profile there that fits the one you see in the mirror, you need to make it right with God..., NOW! You also need to change your attitude about where your affections are directed. They should not be directed toward self, BUT towards God.

Let’s look at another parallel found in the first part of v 5 and v 7. Everything in between those two points describe the potential of a person in the condition described by these two "book ends". These people had a form of godliness (v 5), they were always learning and yet were never able to know the real truth of what they learned.

The power of godliness, as we have already seen, is the truth of Scripture, or what we call doctrine. This truth from Scripture must be taught by the Holy Spirit, Himself, through comparing Spiritual with Spiritual. Some Believers "soak" up Biblical information like a sponge. Yet, so many of those same Believers never learn the Spiritual truths the Holy Spirit intended to teach by that Biblical information. As we move along in this study, we will see reasons why some are preoccupation with knowledge, yet are not able to know the truth of that knowledge.

Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

We have seen several things of a positive Spiritual nature that we are to do in order to demonstrate this godly love. In this passage, we see something that we are to do that is of a negative Spiritual nature. We are to deny ungodliness.

Deny = (Greek) To say.. not; To contradict; To disavow; To refuse; Not to know or recognize; To reject either in the face of a former relationship and/or better knowledge.

Once again this "denying" is based on teaching. It’s because of teaching that we are to say "no", and can say "no" to ungodliness. We are to reject ungodliness because of our former relationship with it, and because we have learned "better knowledge" (as per definition).

Notice what happens when we deny ungodliness, live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age, and are totally occupied with Christ’s return, etc. THEN Christ purifies for Himself His own special people, who are zealous for good works. That sounds about like where we started this lesson.

Psalm 4:3 But know that the LORD has set apart for Himself him who is godly; The LORD will hear when I call to Him.

Well look at that! All the way from the Psalms to the Epistles and we find that God wants to set apart those who will live godly as special people for Himself!! Some time ago, a person said that they sure would like to have been one of the "inner circle" of Christ’s disciples. They wanted to be either Peter, James or John, because those three got to be with Christ in a special way, go with Christ where no one else could go, etc.

We can!!!  

We can even have it better than the "inner circle".  

However, to get into that special company, 

Christ requires that we live godly.

1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love (agape) that God has for us. God is love(agape), and he who abides in love (agape) abides in God, and God in him. 17 Love (agape) has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love (agape); but perfect love (agape) casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love (agape). 19 We love (agapao) Him because He first loved (agapao) us. 20 If someone says, "I love (agapao) God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love (agapao) his brother whom he has seen, how can he love (agapao) God whom he has not seen?

We often call 1 Corinthians 13 the "Love Chapter", and it is. However, 1 John 4:16-20 is a pretty good "Love Chapter", also. I have inserted the Greek words as they might look in English. Notice the words change in last part of this passage. You will also notice that even the spelling of "agape" is sometimes "agapa". Don’t let all that bother you. The English spelling is simply a preference of transliteration, nouns, verbs, etc.

This is not a study of the Greek language. If you want that, you’ll need to find someone qualified. Therefore, we will not often use the Greek to English spelling. Instead, we will mostly refer to this subject as God’s Love, etc.

Let me show you where I’m going with this. As I pointed out earlier, love and holiness are inseparable parts of God’s essence. In our study of discipleship, we would have taken a study of God’s love in the normal course of teaching that subject. However, the study of God’s love was months down the road.

I attempted to put the answer to the question about agape love, or God’s love in two lessons. It was not a pretty scene!! It would have been so incomplete and fragmented, that I was afraid it would leave more questions than I answered. Instead, I decided to "jump" the segment of the Love of God ahead. So in fact, we will be back in our normal series only a few months ahead of where we left it before the holidays. Don’t worry. I know exactly where we left the study of holiness, and we will pick it up at that point later

That is the nice thing about the "study of the Bible", instead of the a study of some subject. Any place we go in the Bible, it will be a study of the Bible, and it will be connected to whatever subjects we may have or are studying. Some of you have not lived long enough to know that our present study is part of a study of Ephesians. After all, in Eph we found reference after reference to being holy, such as....

Ephesians 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

Then in 2:21 the Believers are referred to as a "holy temple", and it 4:24 our New Man was created in "true holiness". Paul also refers to the church in Ephesians 5:7 as the Bride of Christ "holy and without spot". Therefore, we HAD to find out what the Bible says about holiness... AND we have found that it has a LOT to say!

Of course, we came to Ephesians, because we were in a study of 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians 13 is the "Great Love" chapter, and not we are in the study of "God’s Love". So in our study of the Bible, we have made a complete circle. I guess that means we have just about exhausted all the material in the Bible, AND now we will have to find something else to study??!!?? I don’t think so! We’ve only just begun.

What a marvel it will be 

to immerse ourselves in the Love of God!!  

It will truly be a love feast!