John 13:34-35 (NKJV) A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
The key in this Scripture is to love one another as Jesus has loved us, but if we are to love one another based on how Jesus loves us, the prerequisite is to fully comprehend His love for us.
If you have doubted God’s love for you, there is a high likelihood that you think God loves you conditionally. Some of us think that God will love us more when we are doing all the right things, including practising all the spiritual disciplines such as praying, reading the Bible, fasting, and going to church; we think that by “doing” for Him, we can gain His love and acceptance, but that would be Phileo love instead of Agape love. Indeed, being rooted in the Word, keeping in fellowship with God through prayer, fellowshipping with other believers and fasting to hear God more sharply are all important spiritual disciplines. Nonetheless, there will be times when we may slacken in some aspects of them, but it doesn’t mean that God will stop loving us or love us any less. If we think that way, it means we are equating God’s love to Phileo love, which is a conditional love.
Romans 5:17 (NKJV) For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
Only when we understand God’s grace will we truly know that He loves us unconditionally and let us focus on our being in Him rather than “doing” for Him! God chose to give us the gift of righteousness, which is the ability to stand right before Him, just like we have never sinned despite our sins and weaknesses—that’s the abundance of His grace. He didn’t wait for us to be good, worthy, and perfect before Jesus died on the cross for our sin, for that would have been Phileo love. Instead, it was Agape love that caused Him to love us proactively—it is a love by choice. God showed and demonstrated His love for us on the cross even though we don’t deserve it, did nothing to earn it, and aren’t entitled to it—that’s unconditional love. We will only reign in life when we identify ourselves in our being in Christ and are soaked in His Agape love. It is when we are absolutely secure in His love that we will be able to carry out great exploits for Him.
Grace is God’s unmerited favour or Agape love, which means there is nothing you can say or do, or have not said or done, that makes God love you any more or any less. He simply loves you unconditionally.
Sermon Series: How to love? (Part 2)
祂爱你，义无反顾
约翰福音13:34-35我赐给你们一条新命令，乃是叫你们彼此相爱。我怎样爱你们，你们也要怎样相爱。 你们若有彼此相爱的心，众人因此就认出你们是我的门徒了。
这段经文的关键是要彼此相爱如同耶稣之爱我们。如果我们要像耶稣爱我们那样彼此相爱，前提是要充分理解祂对我们的爱。
如果你曾怀疑过神对你的爱，很可能是因为你认为祂爱你是有条件的。我们有些人认为，当我们做一切正确的事时神会更爱我们，包括操练所有的属灵纪律，比如祷告、读圣经、禁食和参加教会活动。我们认为藉着为祂“做”这些事，就能赢得祂的爱和接纳。这就是Phileo的爱，而不是无条件的Agape之爱。诚然，在神的话语里扎根、藉着祷告常常与神团契、与其他信徒团契、禁食以期更清楚地听见神的声音……等等这些都是重要的属灵操练。可是有时候，我们可能会在这些属灵操练的某些方面有所松懈，但这并不意味着祂不再爱我们或减少了对我们的爱！如果我们这样认为，那么我们会倾向于将神的爱等同于Phileo的爱，也就是有条件的爱。
罗马书5:17若因一人的过犯，死就因这一人作了王，何况那些受洪恩又蒙所赐之义的，岂不更要因耶稣基督一人在生命中作王吗？
只有当我们理解了神的恩典，我们才会真正知道祂无条件地爱我们。让我们专注于我们在祂里面的身份，而不是为祂“做什么”! 神选择给我们公义的礼物，也就是能够站立在祂的面前，就像我们从来没有犯过罪，尽管我们有罪和软弱——可见祂恩典之丰盛。耶稣没有等我们成为良善、配得上的、完美的人之后才上十字架，因为那是Phileo的爱。相反，Agape之爱使祂主动地爱我们——祂选择爱我们。即使我们不配，也没做任何事来赢得它，也没资格得到它—神却在十字架上向我们表明并示范了祂对我们的爱—这就是无条件的爱。只有当我们认同自己在基督里的身份，并沉浸在祂无条件的爱里，我们才能掌管生命。只有当我们在祂的爱中有绝对的安全时，我们才能为祂成就伟大的事业。
恩典是神所赐不配得的恩惠或称无条件的Agape之爱，这意味着你无法以说或不说任何话，做或不做任何事，来使神对你的爱有丝毫的加增或减少。祂就是那么无条件地爱着你。
讲章系列： 如何去爱 （第二部分）
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