January 31, 2015
Love is a Verb - Eros
Part 1 - Dating Relationships
Love is one of the most important themes and most repeated theme in the Bible. If you can boil the entire Gospel down to one word, it would be love.
The word "love" shows up:
319 times in the Old Testament,
232 times in the New Testament
So what does love mean?
If you look in an English dictionary, you’ll find things like:
“feeling an intense feeling of deep affection”
“feel a deep romantic or sexual attachment to someone”
“caring deeply for someone”
“to find pleasure in”
The New Testament was written in Greek, and Ancient Greek has 4 root words for love:
Agape - God’s love for us, our love for God, selfless brotherly love
Phileo - deep friendship, very emotional love
Eros - sexual passion, intimate love between a married man and woman
Storge - natural love, usually between parents and children or family members
Today we are going to be looking at eros love
- Physical sexual attraction, feelings of arousal shared between 2 people
What does a Biblical relationship looks like:
1. Be Above the World’s Standards
Romans 12:2
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Conformed - to be similar in form or type
As Christians, we are supposed to look different… if we set ourselves apart from the World, He gives us discernment to see the world’s lies for what they are.
If we don’t look different than the world, we will believe every lie that comes our way. Whatever political person comes along and defines love for us we’ll believe it...
If we look like the world, we will completely lose our ability to test and approve what God’s will is and we’ll start making culture around us our baseline.
2. You Need to Focus on God / You First
If your relationship with God is not stable, every relationship in your life will suffer… EROS Love, agape love, phileo love, and stergo love are all based on God’s agape love for us!
If you cant say 100% that God is the #1 thing in your life, then you'll be building on a foundation that isn't complete yet. When you rightly define God as your purpose, everything else falls into place…
The real reason for having a relationship is to glorify God because EVERYTHING is based on glorifying God.
Luke 10:27
He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.’"
The right thing at the wrong time, is a wrong thing.
3. Relationships are About Selflessness
Your relationships should be about serving the other person - thats why the ultimate goal of a dating relationship should be marriage. There is no such thing as dating for fun in the Bible. Marriage is the only reason to date becuase it's selfless, where dating for fun is selfish in nature.
Song of Solomon 8:4
Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.
To have a healthy relationship, you need:
- God to be #1
- God’s timing
- God’s person for you
- Right motivation
- Right priorities - God, Family, Close Friends, Person you're dating
(transitions over time)
Communication Card:
1. Single: I will choose to keep God FIRST in my life and pursue Him before pursuing a romantic relationship.
2. In a Relationship: I will ask God what foundations I need to build up stronger.
3. I will be at Life Group this week to talk deeper about how God sees relationships.
Click here to submit an anonymous relationship question for the open Q/A on February 16th at 7pm.
