TEXT: Galatians 5:16-25
“Fruit of the Spirit” – Part 1: Love
Many people what have grown up in church have heard about the “fruit of the Spirit.” In Sunday School, many children associate these with actual fruits: bananas, pears, grapes, & apples, because it puts it in a context they can understand & remember. Tonight, we are going to talk about the fruit of the Spirit called love. And we will associate love with the apple. (Show 1 apple)
Usually around Valentine’s Day, I talk to youth groups about love. It is a season of the year, where everyone is encouraged to find love. So I ask these smart kids to tell me all they know about love. It is very entertaining to hear what kids & youth have to say about the matter. They have told me that love is a warm fuzzy feeling. It feels like you’re floating on a cloud. It smells like freshly cut roses & your favorite cologne or perfume. Love tastes like Godiva chocolates & truffles. Love sounds like your favorite songs.
Early on, we can see that many ideas about love are very wrong. For instance, love is not merely an emotion & feeling. Love is so much more complicated than that. I believe that is a reason that many marriages do not last. “The thrill is gone” as B.B. King would say. At Southwestern, there was a motto among the ladies: “Ring by spring.” Meaning that they wanted to have a big engagement ring by the 2nd semester. And it just so happened, that most engagements began in the spring. The flowers begin to blossom, the birds begin chirping, and “love” is in the air.
So many people were caught up in the emotion, that they failed to understand that love is a choice. It is a commitment that we chose to make. I have told my wife that I know there are some days when I am not very lovable. However, because we have chosen to love each other no matter how we feel, we can be secure in our relationship. She chooses to love me, not because of what I do, but for who I am. A person should not love a person because of anything that person has or does – but simply because that person exists. The Talmud (Jewish Commentary on the O.T.) expresses it in a very insightful teaching: “When love depends on another factor, then when that factor ceases to exist, so does the love. But when love does not depend on anything else, it never ceases to exist.”
We see this teaching illustrated in Genesis 29 between Jacob & Leah. If you recall the story, Jacob is married to a woman he was tricked into marrying. Leah, his first wife, desperately wants to feel loved by Jacob, but she knows that she is 2nd fiddle to Rachel, Jacob’s true love. So Leah gets it in her head that if she has children for Jacob, he will love her.
In verse 32 it says, “Leah became pregnant & gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, ‘It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.’ She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, ‘Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.’ So she named him Simeon. Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, ‘Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him 3 sons.’ So he was named Levi.” Of course, we know that it didn’t matter how many children Leah had, Jacob never loved her as much as he loved Rachel.
Many years ago, a very popular movie set out to take audiences on a journey of one man’s quest for love. It was filled with comedy, drama, action & ultimately romance. But in the final analysis, the whole movie was about how far a man would go to be with the woman he loved. The two had known each other since childhood & had become wonderful friends. But one day, the woman had left home, family & friends to pursue a wild life. The man dreamed about her every day. He just knew that one day, she would come back to see her old friend & that they would finally be together. And to his surprise, one day she did come home. He welcomed her with open arms & took care of her while she recovered from drug withdrawals.
One night, he proposed to her. He said the 3 words she had heard from many manipulative lovers. “I love you,” he said. She responded, “You don’t know what love is.” The man said, “I’m not a smart man. But I know what love is.” Eventually, they did marry & he loved her only, even after she died from AIDS. The woman: Jenny; the man: Forrest; the movie: Forrest Gump.
It is worth noting that the Hebrew word for love, ahavah, has the numerical value of 13. This is the same as the numerical value of the Hebrew word echad meaning “one.” In its deepest sense, love takes 2 people & makes them into 1.
In a modern wedding ceremony, the couple takes 2 taper candles that have been previously lit, & take them to light the Unity candle. They then blow out the individual candles, leaving the only the Unity candle lit. This illustrates the point I made a moment ago about 2 becoming one. But it also brings us to another insightful fact. In a holy & somber ceremony, we use fire. However, fire is a destructive force that hardly has its place in a marriage ceremony. However, the use of fire is based on an important analysis of man & woman. In the Hebrew, the word for man is ish, wyx, while the word for woman is ishah, hwx. Both of these words are the same, except ish is written with a yod (y), while ishah is written with a heh (h). Both of these letters are found in God’s covenant name Yahweh (hvhy). This indicates that when there is love & harmony between man & woman, God’s covenant name is with them & is part of their very identity.
However, in both ish & ishah, if the letters of God’s name are removed, what remains is the Hebrew word for fire. This teaches that when God is not with a man & woman, their relationship can be disharmonious & as painful as fire.
In the English language, we have one word for “love.” But in Greek, there are several. We are going to look at 3 Greek words for love & how we can understand it better.
The first word is Eros, which is where we get the word erotic. It is romantic love. Most times, it refers to the sexual & passionate side of love. (Show 1st apple) We will call this the Eros apple. This apple represents when you give yourself to someone else. Erotic love is appropriate within marriage. But if it exists outside of the marriage covenant, it can be very destructive & dangerous. Here’s why: (have someone take 1-3 big bites out of the apple). Once a bite has been taken out, it can never be replaced. This apple is not whole anymore. When people engage in sexual relations outside the context of marriage, it brings on a whole new set of problems for that person. Especially if they are Christian, it brings on extreme feelings of guilt, regret, and depression. The virtue that they once had, has been lost & can never be replaced.
The second word in Greek that means love is the word phileo. It is brotherly love & affection. It is where we get Philadelphia, the “City of Brotherly Love.” Phileo is the love that you have among friends, family, & brothers & sisters in Christ. It is comradery. It is the friendly love, the neighborly love we are commanded to have by God. One thing I have noticed, is that even those who are our brother & sisters in Christ take advantage of this kind of love. (Take apple & knife in hand) They take your apple, they take you love & trust & they stab you in the back.
However, there is a third Greek word that means love. (Take out a golden apple) That word is agape. It is the love that is used to describe the love God has for us. It is unconditional love. There are no strings attached to this kind of love. It is pure. Interestingly enough, when Paul wrote for husbands to love their wives, he didn’t use the Eros or the phileo love. He used agape love. When we love people, we should use this kind of love. Here’s why: the agape apple is so different from the others. No one can bite into it & diminish its value. It cannot be pierced by the back-stabbings of others. It is perfect & entirely whole. Jesus said in John 13:35, “all men will know you are my disciples, if you love each other with agape love.” Unconditional love. Agape love is the golden apple.
