Two Kinds of Love

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There are two basic kinds of love. The first kind is emotional love, the kind of love we feel. The second kind is behavioral love, love that is expressed in what we say and do.

(4/10/2005) The burden yesterday was on John 15:9-17. How often did the Lord Jesus tell us to love one another?

There are two kinds of love, there is the love we feel, and then there is the behaviour of love that operates whether or not we feel loving.

There is romantic love, which usually is nothing more than a somewhat disguised sexual attraction. It is highly prized in America. It actually is a device of nature to insure the growth of the population. It consists of how you make me feel and how I make you feel. Since romantic love may not last longer than six months after the wedding, it is not a good basis for marriage.

There is the love of parents for their children. There is the camaraderie that used to exist between friends in the armed services; but now such friendship often turns into lust and perversion.

There are many additional kinds of emotional love, such as the love of a teacher for her students.

Then there is behavioural love. Behavioural love consists of what we say and do. We are to act kindly and constructively toward others whether or not we like them or love them.

When Jesus commands us to love one another He is not referring to emotional love. We cannot produce emotional love upon demand. Christ is referring to behavioural love, because this is the kind of love we can produce upon demand, although sometimes we have to pray diligently and patiently before we overcome our hatred toward another person.

We must never yield to hatred, bitterness, or unforgiveness. To do so is to injure ourselves spiritually. We pray until we can give our enemy a cup of cold water. To do so may cause us to die inside, but it is this kind of death that produces resurrection life in us.

We love our enemy by assisting him or her when we have an occasion to do so. But we do not have to have a good feeling toward him when we do so. Christ told us to continue in His love. His love is sacrificial.

I don’t believe Christ left the ivory palaces because He felt emotional love for us. Perhaps He did. But the Bible says He came to die for our sins. He laid down His life for us, just as we must lay down our life on occasion for another individual.

But I do not believe He enjoyed doing so. After all, He wanted the cup to pass. He drank it in obedience to the Father. We also must obey Christ whether or not we feel like it.

The husband is the priest of the home. He must sacrifice himself for his wife and children, as the Lord leads him. If he expects his wife to make him happy, constantly giving in to his desires, he is a self-cantered baby. He never will have a happy home unless his wife is an unusually mature saint.

This passage in John reminds us that if we would be the friend of Christ we must obey His commandments given Personally and through His Apostles. The current teaching of lawless grace and unconditional love is Satan’s device to keep the believers in sin. If we do not keep His commandments and those of His Apostles we do not love Him.

We will not remain in Christ’s love if we do not keep His commands. This is what Christ said, although current Christian teaching is to the contrary.

Christ chose us; we did not choose Him. We speak of people "accepting Christ." This expression is not found in the Scriptures. Why do we preach what is not scriptural?

The truth is, Christ accepts us. He choose us. Then we have to confirm the wisdom of His choice by keeping His commands and those of His Apostles. This is the fruit we are to bear. When we do not keep His commands, showing His love toward those we love and those we detest, we are cut off from the Vine, from Christ.

Then there are the Alexander the Coppersmiths. We turn these over to the Lord, as He directs.

Let each one of us continue in Christ’s sacrificial love. As we do so we will remain in His love, and whatever we request of the Father in His name we shall receive.

Pastor Stan spoke at night about his three major prayer requests: that God would come to Him in a greater way; that the Father would charge Michael to throw Satan out of Heaven; and that the Lord would hasten His coming.