Thursday, August 16, 2018 – Ephesians 6:23

Having the Motivational Virtue of AGAPE Love in Your Life, Pt. 1 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9idzmJOB6ZM

Grace Fellowship Church

Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard

www.GraceDoctrine.org

5. The Encouragement, vs. 21-24.  

Eph 6:23, “Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Next in Eph 6:23 we have, “… and love with faith.”

The Greek reads, KAI AGAPE META PISTIS. The Coordinating Conjunction KAI, “and” links Paul’s blessing and desire for the believers in the Church to have peace, with a blessing and desire for them to also have love (AGAPE) in their soul. Interestingly, he also adds “with faith,” META PISTIS. This tells us that love, which germinates “from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” can only be accomplished when there is faith in the life of the believer. Likewise, peace is only accomplished in the life of the believer when there is faith. Therefore, we see that peace and love come into your life by means of faith. Paul is now emphasizing the love of God that operates in a person through faith. We will talk more about the relationship between Love and Faith below.

But first, we will discuss Love by itself as used and defined in the Book of Ephesians. Nevertheless, throughout the Scriptures, AGAPE Love consistently relates to the motivating force behind all that God does. God is motivated in all that he does because of His love. It is one of His Divine attributes that make up His essence. It is the motivational factor in His grace pipeline when blessing man, both believers and unbelievers. In addition, it is one of His virtues. It is that which provides Him to have dignity and integrity in all that He does and says. Therefore, AGAPE is God’s Motivational Virtue Love by which He says and does all things.

This is the same love that we should have in our lives; the motivation behind all that we say and all that we do, plus the virtue behind all that we say and all that we do. When God’s type of AGAPE Love operates inside the believer’s soul, whatever he does will have the same motivation that God has, and the same integrity with dignity for others, (i.e., virtue) that God has. Therefore, we will call this “Motivational Virtue AGAPE Love,” (MVA Love), cf. 1 Cor 13. 1 Cor 13:13, “But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is (MVA) love.”

All joking aside, the believer who consistently operates in MVA Love, will be an MVP in God’s eyes, Cf. Mat 25:21, 23; Heb 13:20-21.

It is appropriate to conclude this letter with love, because it began with love and emphasizes the unfathomable love of God. Paul has often spoken about it utilizing the Noun AGAPE, Eph 1:4, 15; 2:4; 3:17, 19; 4:2, 15-16; 5:2. A survey of its utilization in the book of Ephesians tells us about God’s Motivational Virtue AGAPE love and how we can have His MVA Love and apply it in our lives.

1. Eph 1:4, “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love ⁵He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.”

Here we saw the Motivational Virtue AGAPE Love of God in His election of every believer in eternity past, “before the foundation of the world.” Because of the saving work of Jesus Christ upon the Cross, “the Beloved,” vs. 6, believers are predestined to adoption as sons of God, vs. 5. The Love of God was the motivating factor for electing and predestining us through adoption into His Royal Family, giving us the status of being a child of God. Motivated by His love, He overcame our sins, and elected and predestined us to join His eternal Royal Family.

2. Eph 1:15, “For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints.”

In this passage, Paul was commending the believers of the Church for expressing their motivational virtue AGAPE love towards other members of the body of Christ in their generation. It may have reference to the offering collected by the Churches in Asia Minor for the poor and stricken believers in Jerusalem. That may be how they demonstrated their love. Therefore, love was the motiving factor for these believers to give, either of their time, talent, or treasures. Therefore, we see that MVA Love is demonstrated, it is not just a thought that exists by itself. True AGAPE love is always manifested, Deut 10:19; 2 Cor 8:24; 1 Tim 4:12.

Deut 10:19, “So show your (MVA) love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”

2 Cor 8:24, “Therefore openly before the churches, show them the proof of your (MVA) love and of our reason for boasting about you.”

3. Eph 2:4, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us.”

The greater context of this passage is found in the preceding and following verses that tell us we were dead in our sins and enemies of God, yet because of His MVA Love, God saved us, gave us eternal spiritual life and raised us up in glory to be seated with Christ at His right hand. God motivated by His love did all this for us.

As Paul is pointing out the motivating factor for God’s “mercy” being shown towards us, this is also a reminder to believers that this same MVA Love must be the motivating force behind all our deeds as Christians towards others. That is, not holding their sins against them, but forgiving them and then helping or serving them to raise them out of their sinful state to a place of glory.

4. Eph 3:17, “So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love.”

Here, the faithful believer is rooted and grounded in motivational virtue AGAPE love as a result of their experiential sanctification, where Christ is consistently at home in their heart, the right lobe of the soul, i.e., “the mentality of their soul.” In other words, with the Word of God, (the mind of Jesus Christ), resident within our souls, we will be “rooted and grounded in MVA Love.” That is, we will have a firm / solid foundation by which we stand upon that motivates us to construct and conduct our spiritual life. The further context of this passage is of comprehending the “Tesseract Love” of Christ is noted below.

5. Eph 3:19, “And to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”

Having the solid foundation of motivational virtue AGAPE Love for Christ, it will propel you to know and grow even greater in love with Jesus Christ, where you can know and live in His “Tesseract Love,” (breadth, length, height, and depth), vs. 18, when you live in the “Life Beyond GNOSIS,” vs. 19, and the “Life Beyond Dreams,” vs. 20.

As you may recall from our teaching in Ephesians chapter 3, (see our website), the “Tesseract Love” of Christ is that which we can comprehend spiritually and live in experientially. It is a love envelope between Christ’s love for you and your love for Him that consistently interacts and overlaps, surrounding your every thought and action. It also has the 4^th dimension of time, which is the eternal and infinite love that the Lord Jesus Christ has for you that you can know and comprehend in the faith rest life. It is “the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.”