Unconditional Agape Love
Blog #1 – Learn to Love Like Jesus
How to Love God (Jesus) and Others for Dummies (Dumb Sheep)
Anyone and everyone can learn to love because it is not based on intellect but on learning to love through Scripture, imitating Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit. The gospel can penetrate the heart so the message of Christ crucified must be administered through Scripture. Wilson proclaims, “When we pastors cling to the gospel ourselves, it will shape us, giving us the mind and heart of Christ for our people. As Christ shepherds our hearts, let us shepherd the hearts of our people, with deep love and spiritual affection seeking their good above our own comfort.”[1]
Scripture refers to believers as sheep who are dumb animals that need a shepherd to lead them. Humans are just like sheep and often find themselves like the dumb sheep that jumps into a ditch in this video https://youtu.be/T-Wc8vluyp0. Wilson declares, “Jesus the pastor knows that the sheep need a shepherd (Matthew 9:36).”[2] Wilson attributes the dumbness of believer sheep to confusion and ignorance covering a lack of heart and love for God and others (Isaiah 53:6).[3] Wilson addresses the heart problem, “Underneath our felt needs is an entire industry of idols emerging from a foundation of sin and longing for glory.”[4]
Believers need Jesus, The Good Shepherd, to teach them how to love. Jesus said in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”[5] Jesus is the good shepherd (John 10:1-16). Jesus rejoices over finding the lost sheep (Luke 15:5-6). Jesus taught the lost sheep many things (Matthew 9:36; Mark 6:34). This is why Jesus tells Peter to feed His sheep the Word of life that satisfies, sustains, and enhances spiritual formation (John 21:15-17).
You do not have to have a high IQ or know the theory of relativity dynamics to learn to love as Jesus loves. Follow Jesus’ commandment and examples to love (John 13:34-35; John 15:12-15). Scripture is the primary source for the understanding and exercise of spiritual formation. Believers must practice spiritual disciplines for the purpose of godliness (1 Timothy 4:7) which is the process of spiritual formation within the Scriptures and inspirational truth from the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16). The Bible is the “Born-Again Believers Book for Dummies (dumb sheep)” manual for daily living and a life compass to direct their path (Matthew 4:4; Psalm 119:105). The Holy Spirit leads and guides the believer into all truths necessary to exercise spiritual formation and be profitable for transformation into the image of Christ (John 16:13).
McClendon contends, “The Bible is not the only stream from which truth can be drawn, but it is the only pure stream against which claims to truth can be judged. Tradition, culture, and personal preference should be placed in subjection to, rather than, on par with the Bible. The Bible is to serve as the filter through which these perspectives are brought in order to determine the proper basis for Christian belief and living.” [6] Scripture states that the “Greatest Commandments” are to love God and love others as you love yourself (Matthew 22:37-40). Follow the Good Shepherd to learn the straightforward way to love.
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[1] Jared Wilson, The Prodigal Church: A Gentle Manifesto Against the Status Quo (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 215), 153. [2] Wilson, 144. [3] Wilson, 144. [4] Wilson, 144-145. [5] Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the English Standard Version (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC, 2011), 1962. [6] Adam McClendon, Paul’s Spirituality in Galatians: A Critique of Contemporary Christian Spiritualities (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2015), xiii.
Blog #2 – Test Your Love Level
Can You Pass the Love Tests?
The Love Test – 1 Corinthians 13:4-87 – Steve’s Bible Meditations
Are You a Loving Person, The Love Test – WordTruth
How Loving are You? Take the One-Minute 1 Corinthians 13 Love Test – Anchored in Christ
Blog #3 – The Love Cycle
Reboot/Retake/Repeat the Love Cycle
Many people feel like a failure when it comes to love. However, Scripture states that God’s love (mercy) is new every morning, so that means believers can reboot, retake, and repeat the love cycle every morning.
Believers reboot or restart their internal system again by renewing their minds and purifying their hearts (Romans 12:1-2). Purification of the heart through being born-again enables believers to live holy lives, love God, and love others (1 Peter 1:22-25). Love is superior to all spiritual gifts because it enables the bondedness that makes the gifts work together in the body of Christ (John 17), therefore a love reboot of the heart is vital.[1]
Believers can retake the failed love test in the strength of the Lord (Psalm 73:26). Whitney addresses retaking the love test after living for self, “When Christ’s love controls or constrains people, they no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised (2 Corinthians 5:15).”[2] Scripture highlights faith working through love, through Christ’s love for believers (Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:5-6). His love and the Spirit of God produce love in believers thereby enabling them to serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13). Believers cannot accomplish this kind of love in their own flesh. Service to God and others is motivated by agape love and Christ-centered sacrifice instead of self-centered gratification.
Believers can repeat the love process (Proverbs 24:16). God is love, love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God (1 John 4:7-12). The love cycle is repeated and demonstrated throughout Scripture (Lamentations 3:22; John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 13:8). Spiritual formation in Christ is the repeated process leading to that ideal end where all essential parts of the human self are effectively organized around God with the ideal result of loving God with all one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength and of one’s neighbor as oneself (Mark 12:29–31; Deuteronomy 6:4– 9; Leviticus 19:18).[3]
Regarding the resurrection from the love perspective, Gordan contends, “This divine love is the love of the Father who sends in love, the Son who dies in love, and the Spirit who produces the fruit of love in those hearts He inhabits. To be sure, the cross ultimately bears this meaning only because God raised the crucified Jesus and because, therefore, he is a living Lord whose Spirit can be sent into human hearts and communities.”[4] Scripture states that the “Greatest Commandments” are to love God and love others as you love yourself (Matthew 22:37-40). Receive God’s new love every morning and extend that love to others (Lamentations 3:22-23).
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[1] Richard Averbeck, “Spirit, Community, and Mission: A Biblical Theology for Spiritual Formation,” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care, Vol. 1, No. 1, 52, 2008.
[2] Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress Publishing Group, 2014), 151.
[3] Steven Porter, edited by Gary W. Moon, and J. P. Moreland, Until Christ Is Formed in You: Dallas Willard and Spiritual Formation (Abilene, TX: Abilene Christian University Press, 2018), ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=5704407.
[4] Michael J. Gorman, Cruciformity: Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross (Grand Rapids, MI Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001), 73.
Blog #4 – Love Coaching
Love Coaching from the Great Life Coach Director (Jesus)
Love coaching is available through the Great Life Coach Director.[1] Scripture reminds believers to love one another because anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer (1 John 5:11-15). Then it goes on to explain what love is: Christ laying down His life for sinners (1 John 5:16). Scripture continues to coach believers into affirmative love interaction in 1 John 3:18, “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
Webb asserts, “Coaching is an ongoing intentional conversation that empowers a person or group to fully live out God’s calling.”[2] Spiritual formation is the process of being transformed and conformed to the image of Christ which every believer is called to achieve. Also, Christ is God and God is love, therefore the believer must be taught agape love necessary to reflect the love of God while being transformed into the image of Christ. Coaches help the coachee to become what God would have them become which is transformed into the image of Christ (Ephesians 1:4-5).
Averbeck proclaims, “The goal is to work the rest that Jesus offered in Matthew 11 down deep into our hearts and lives so that we love God and love people well despite the mess in which we live.” Therefore, coachee believers need to acquire the knowledge of how to learn, think critically, and make good decisions.[3] Below is an example of loving like Jesus at a train station in Atlanta, GA using heartwarming necktie coaching (1 John 3:11-18).[4]
While waiting for a train at a station in Atlanta, Georgia, a young man wearing dress pants and a button-down shirt sat on a bench. As he struggled with his tie, an older woman encouraged her husband to help. When the elderly man hunched over and began teaching the young man how to knot the tie, a stranger took a photo of the trio. When this photo went viral online, many viewers left comments about the power of random acts of kindness.
For believers in Jesus, kindness to others reflects the self-sacrificing care that He showed for people like us. It’s an expression of God’s love and what He desired His disciples to live out: “We should love one another” (1 John 3:11 emphasis added). John equates hating a brother or sister to murder (v. 15). Then he turns to Christ as an example of love in action (v. 16).
It doesn’t have to be an extravagant display of sacrifice. Selfless love simply requires us to acknowledge the value of all God’s image-bearers by placing their needs above our own . . . every day. Those seemingly ordinary moments when we care enough to notice the needs of others and do what we can to help are selfless when we’re motivated by love. When we see beyond our personal space, step out of our comfort zones to serve others, and give—especially when we don’t have to give—we’re loving like Jesus.[5]
A good life coach is similar to a good spiritual director who leads the believer to the real director – God. The coach’s direction is the means of God to open the path to the inward teaching of the Holy Spirit and a good coach is a director who draws out what the Holy Spirit has put in.[6] Coaches help the coachee to do what God would have them do which are the Greatest Commandments to love God and love others in order to operate in their calling (Matthew 22:37-40; Ephesians 2:10). God’s calling requires both the coach and coachee to focus on His larger purposes which include spiritual formation necessary to fulfill The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).
Good love coaches direct coachees to God who has instituted community to heal the hurt by renewing the mind, repairing the body, resuscitating the heart, and restoring the soul with comfort and love through the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 12:1-2, Psalm 103:1-5; Psalm 13:5-6; Psalm 23:1-3). Scripture states that the “Greatest Commandments” are to love God and love others as you love yourself (Matthew 22:37-40). Jesus is the Great Life Coach Director who can teach believers to love through the power of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:10).
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[1] Keith Webb, The Coach Model for Christian Leaders: Powerful Leadership Skills for Solving Problems, Reaching Goals, and Developing Others (New York, NY: Morgan James Publishing, 2019), ProQuest Ebook Central, 29.
[2] Webb, 25.
[3] Webb, 26.
[4] Xochitl Dixon, “Loving Like Jesus,” Our Daily Bread, Sunday, April 25, 2023, https://odb.org/US/2023/04/23/loving-like-jesus.
[5] Dixon, “Loving Like Jesus,” Our Daily Bread.
[6] Webb, 29.
Blog #5 – Spiritual Disciplines to Learn to Love
Spiritual Disciplines to Love Like Christ
Willard contends that the New Testament progressions of spiritual formation always conclude with agape love (Romans 5:5; 2 Peter 1:4-7).[1] Lowe lists necessary ingredients that facilitate and promote spiritual growth: Bible reading, the practice of spiritual disciplines, prayer, and receiving Biblical preaching. Four other critical ingredients include God and His Word (truth and love), God’s Son (death and resurrection), God’s Spirit (indwelling in believers and cultivating the fruit of the Spirit), and God’s people – the church which is the body of Christ functioning in unity (2 Timothy 3:16; Galatians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 4:1-6).[2] All of these spiritual ingredients must be encompassed and enacted in agape love because God is love (1 Corinthians 13; 1 John 4:7-21).
Whitney identifies spiritual disciplines for the purpose of godliness: Bible intake; prayer, worship, evangelism, serving, stewardship, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling, and learning.[3] These spiritual disciplines are a way to express love, devotion, and worship of God as well as promote spiritual formation. The scriptural regimen to godliness stated in 1 Timothy 4:7 is to discipline yourself for godliness.[4] Therefore, the only way to godliness is through the Christ-centered practice of spiritual disciplines.[5]
To facilitate spiritual formation and emphasize true love Paul enjoins believers, “Be of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose … with humility of mind regard one another (allēlōn) as more important than yourselves … [while looking out for] the interests of others” (Philippians 2:2–4; Colossians 3:14).[6] Scripture also exhorts believers to exercise an affectionate brotherly love to each other and to honor one another; and even to give each other the preference, regardless if equal or superior, both in spiritual gifts and in temporal things.[7]
The spiritual formation of the whole church body built up in love is God’s goal for the Christian community. Hellerman considers Ephesians 4:16 as one of the most important passages about spiritual formation in the New Testament (see Figure 1). [8]
Figure 1 – Spiritual Formation and Growth of the Whole Body (Ephesians 4:16)[9]
Willard emphasizes the importance of love in spiritual formation. He writes that the process of spiritual formation is found throughout Scripture centered on and concluding with agape love (2 Peter 1:4-7).[10] Scripture states that the “Greatest Commandments” are to love God and love others as you love yourself (Matthew 22:37-40). Christian spiritual formation is the process of being transformed into the image of Christ, through a relationship of intimacy with God, by the power of the Spirit, to live a life of faith, hope, love, joy, and peace that will glorify God.[11]
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[1] Dallas Willard, “Spiritual Formation: What it is, and How it is Done,” Dallas Willard.Org, https://dwillard.org/articles/spiritual-formation-what-it-is-and-how-it-is-done.
[2] Stephen D. Lowe, “Community Formation,” August 9, 2022, Lecture Video, 8:47, LibertyUniversity.instructure.com.
[3] Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress Publishing Group, 2014).
[4] Whitney, 301.
[5] Whitney, 304.
[6] Stephen D. Lowe and Mary E. Lowe, Ecologies of Faith in a Digital Age: Spiritual Growth through Online Education (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2018), 162.
[7] “Romans 12:1-2 Meaning and Commentary”, Bible Study Tools, https://www.biblestudytools.com/msg/romans/passage/?q=romans+12:1-2.
[8] Joseph H. Hellerman, Why We Need the Church to Become More Like Jesus: Reflections about Community, Spiritual Formation, and the Story of Scripture (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017), chap. 1, Logos.
[9] Hellerman, chap. 1, Logos.
[10] Dallas Willard, “Spiritual Formation: What it is, and How it is Done,” Dallas Willard Ministries, dwillard.org.
[11] James Bryan Smith, “Spiritual Formation,” Apprentice Institute Conference, September 2011.
Blog #6 – Transformed to Love
Heart and Mind Transformation to Love
Scriptures tell believers to offer their bodies as living sacrifices and be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:1-2; Galatians 2:20). Spiritual formation is based on the truth of God’s Word to transform and conform a believer into the image of Christ which includes grace, godliness, humility, and holiness (2 Corinthians 3:18; Galatians 3:3; Ephesians 4:1-32; Hebrews 4:16). The spiritual formation process is crucial to becoming a disciple or follower of Jesus Christ and His cross (Matthew 16:24). The cross and Christ are central to being a follower of Jesus, justification and sanctification, Christian spirituality, and spiritual formation,
McClendon asserts, "Christian spirituality should be rooted in God’s Word that serves as the basis for living that is truly spiritual which is directed by the Holy Spirit. The truths from the Bible should primarily drive the way one thinks, articulates, and lives. Galatians 2:20 is a verse that concisely summarizes the essence of the justified life.”1 Therefore, the Bible is to serve as the filter and compass through which worldview perspectives are ordered and directed to establish the proper standards for Christian belief and living.2 Galatians 2:20 is a key life verse for every believer because every believer should live a life crucified in Christ, submitting to the obedience of Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and dependent on the Bible as the source of Christian spirituality.
Dunn elaborates on the power of the Spirit to transform death into life, whereby the Spirit’s power enables believers to crucify the flesh even while living in the flesh.3 Paul proclaimed he decided to know only Jesus Christ and Him crucified whereby to know means to experience and demonstrate in word and deed.4 Gorman uses the term ‘cruciformity’ to mean conformity to the crucified Christ which is commonly believed to be central to Paul’s theology and ethics.5 Spiritual formation involves the process of imitating Christ, also known as Christ's formation, whereby believers are conformed to Christ and His cross (Philippians 3:10; Galatians 4:19). Gorman defines cruciformity as the imitation of Christ which is an ongoing process of living in Christ and crucified with Him that transforms a believer into a Christ-like, cruciform, follower of Christ.6 For Fuller, the cross was not just part of the gospel, but at the heart of it.7
Pettit encapsulates the theology of spiritual formation with his definition, “Spiritual formation is the holistic work of God in a believer’s life whereby systematic change renders the individual continually closer to the image and actions of Jesus Christ.”8 Bock exhorts the church community with 1 Thessalonians 4:1 to walk worthy in the continual process of spiritual formation necessary to live to please God.9
The greatest commandments are to love God and love others, and the absolute best definition of holiness is love.10 The highest calling and goal of spiritual formation is to attain perfection by learning and living to love as Jesus loves (Romans 5:8; Philippians 2:6-11). Hellerman contends that Ephesians 4:16 is one of the most important Scripture verses about corporate spiritual formation which affects the qualitative growth and spiritual health of the universal church body which builds itself up in love.11 God uses our moment-by-moment responses of love to transform believers, both as individuals and as a church, into a community that lives a life of love.12 Leclerc avows, “Seek that by divine love your heart may be devoted to God, and his glory, and to love your neighbor as yourself, as Christ has loved you; and do not look everyone on his own things but everyone also on the things of others.”13
The successful Civil Rights Movement proved love could prevail over racism, as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. states, “Love can turn an enemy into a friend.” The agape love of God can transform a racist enemy into a brotherly friend transforming both heart and mind. Proposition eight of Lowe’s spiritual ecosystem and ecologies of the faith concept emphasizes the supernatural spiritual formation power that enables Christians, who share a connection to Christ through the Spirit, to receive imputed holiness that makes them mutually contagious and provides them with the ability to spread spiritual contagions in online ecologies of learning.14 This demonstrates how spiritual formation through contagious agape love can lead to the transformation of recipients.
Chambers acknowledges the duties of the heart are to love God and love others through the indwelling and power of the Holy Spirit, a love that is perfected through suffering as Jesus suffered on the cross (John 3:16).15 Scripture states that the “Greatest Commandments” are to love God and love others as you love yourself (Matthew 22:37-40). Believers are called and commissioned to be transformed into the image of Christ to imitate His perfect, unconditional, agape love (Matthew 16:24-26).
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