Exploring Agape Love

LIVE from the Mecca of Mormonism – Salt Lake City, Utah, THIS is Heart of the Matter, where we do all we can to help people walk toward His love. God’s love, Jesus' love. The Fruit of the Spirit. Walk toward it. It is there for the taking. Without price or cost. And it will not only change your life, it will change the world around you. And I’m your host, Shawn McCraney.

Let’s begin with a word of prayer.

Understanding LDS Beliefs

Show 18A More Love in the New World
Taped November 26th
Aired December 1st, 2019

Last week we talked about the LDS way to salvation and what they call exaltation and eternal life. Remember the pyramid?

• They say Jesus is the basis of all they do.
• They add receiving Joseph Smith as the Prophet of the Restoration on top of Him.
• They insert the LDS Priesthood next in line to do the will of God on earth.
• Then they put the rite and rituals and LDS ordinances performed by the priesthood on top of that which deliver the LDS COVENANTS that every person must receive (in order to obtain salvation/exaltation and eternal life) and FINALLY…
• the onus is then on every individual to obey those covenants made for the rest of their lives…

And after a lifetime of all of that, an LDS person might receive salvation, exaltation and eternal life…and become a god.

The Christian Goal

Our ministry is established on promoting two and only two commandments for believers – faith and love – with love being the ultimate goal. So, while faith in Jesus Christ is key to growing and possessing Agape love, the ultimate Goal of every Christian, given them by God through His Son and the Spirit, is Agape Love. Period. Because God is love.

We proved this from the words Jesus said to a scribe that “to do agape love toward God and Neighbor is ETERNAL LIFE.” Not going to church. Not Joseph Smith. Not Covenants. And certainly NOT through what we say is love by and through the flesh. Instead through the Love that is a product of the fruit of the Spirit. This is soteriology at its best – LOVE – for God and for neighbor, as Jesus said to the scribe: “DO THIS (love God and Neighbor as the Law describes) and you shall live.”

Illustrating Agape Love

So, I suggest that this is the ultimate Christian Goal – agape love. But to reach it, and live it, and operate in and through it comes about…by faith. And I want to apologetically use an example to illustrate the principle that Agape Love is possible by faith tonight. I say apologetically because I am going to appeal to an analogy – and worst yet, a sports analogy, and worst of all, a football analogy. I’m doing this because it really does present a pretty clear explanation of what I am trying to say.

So, let's go to the white board where I want you to first imagine that for a moment this present world is represented by a large American High School. Then I want you to imagine that while the school itself is this world the love sought by God from all of His children is represented by one thing – scoring a touchdown in a football game against an opposing team on the field. That is our symbol for Agape Love in this analogy – ludicrous as this is – getting into the endzone during a game against an opposing team.

(DRAW FOOTBALL FIELD WITH LOVE IN THE END ZONES)

Now on the CAMPUS of this world High School there are (of course) all sorts of activities and opportunities for students to get involved with. Clubs, other sports, student government, academics – and they are all fine and dandy and purposeful to human life on earth – but remember, the GOAL GOD has for every student is to LOVE – which is represented by scoring a touchdown on the football field against an opponent. That means getting into the endzone with the ball.

Now, one of the activities on CAMPUS is a club called Mormonism. And in that club the people get together and not only admit that Jesus was a good example and was necessary to salvation, but they add that their “club-sanctioned” covenants, obtained by “club-sanctioned rites” and delivered by their “club sanctioned” priesthood must be received and lived by every club member IN ORDER TO please God now and after this life.

Understanding Love in a Christian Context

has created is an alternative to the LOVE God requires (which again – hand to ear) can only be obtained by scoring a touchdown. But some people will never even try to be on the football team because the LDS club has established “their own rules” in reaching God and these rules are in fact quite attractive to many in the student body.

Why? It’s clean, insular, exclusive, and proprietary. There’s none of that ugly sweaty, dirty full contact junk necessary to love God and Neighbor, no risk of personal injury – none of that. Just obedience to the off-field leaders of the club in the safety of the clubs environment. But let’s take a look at God’s way of people exhibiting Christian love, which remember (is the only way).

Becoming Part of the Christian Team

First of all, a student of life has to be willing to leave the comforts of everyday life on CAMPUS and join the Christian team – out on the field – come rain, snow, sleet hail or the heat of summer. People do that when they choose to seek God honestly, attend church, read their Bibles, pray to God, and seek Him in spirit and truth. They are evidencing a desire to be on the team. A team where all are welcome – male and female, black, red, brown, yellow white – whatever – every walk of life, every level of socio-economics, every lifestyle. But desiring to be on the team, or even being on the team, is akin to someone visiting a church or saying a prayer. It’s a start, but it does not make a person a son or daughter of God. They are just moving forward to the open constant invite God gives to all on CAMPUS – come and get on the practice field.

So, there’s that – generally speaking – the open constant call or invitation to walk toward His love – which again, is the goal. Most people want to stay on CAMPUS and to get involved in other activities that suit them and their interests – but those who are His and who seek Him in Spirit and truth will always wind up at some point on the sidelines of the playing field.

The Importance of Being in the Game

Why? They were invited and they want to receive the invitation. (DRAW THE SIDE LINED PLAYERS HERE) What are is everyone doing there? They are all waiting to be calling onto the field by the coach (who is God). To do what? To actually get in the game.

See standing on the sidelines is like someone who is attending church every week – they have committed to that at least. They put on the uniform and are part of the team. But it is not the same thing as being in the game. And here’s the deal – a person has to be in the game in order to reach the end-zone Goal of love against the opponet. There is no other way.

So, a person goes from being on the world campus and all it offers, to getting to the sidelines of participation. But God want’s more – just like playing Christian or attending church is not enough. Wearing the crosses, or the clothes, or attending the concerts is NOT enough.

From Sidelines to Being a Player

Getting in the game (or being called onto the field to play by God the Coach) is akin to being born again or born from above. It is being born OF the Spirit by faith in Jesus Christ. It is stepping from the sidelines of religiosity and actually becoming an actual player – which again is a VERY different experience then just being on the team roster and standing on the sidelines.

Without question, there is camaraderie among sideline players. Even fun. In fact, it is actually a side-culture all unto its own. But it is safe. And very little real growth is possible there. The most important move for the Christian is to move from being a sideline player to being in the game.

Why? Not the game itself. Not being able to say you’re a starter. The game itself is meaningful because it is only in that setting that a person can actually . . . love (or score a touchdown – as it were)

So, we all have an initial desire to seek for something more than what is offered on the CAMPUS of life. And we are led to leave the “world-school”

Field of Faith in Jesus Christ

Behind us and participate on the team with like-minded people. It’s enjoyable to be part of something so organized and unified and to cheer for the same cause as we too are dressed in the same uniforms. But it is a VERY different experience to go from a sidelined member of a team and actually being on the field. See on the field, that is where the Christian walk actually takes place. Where we begin to develop as believers under the stressors and challenges of life. So we are called onto the field (by God the coach) when we are fully committed in the Spirit to Christ. Why? Because in this conversion to commitment we learn how He has played the game perfectly before us, and has been in the end zone more than anyone on earth ever has…or ever will.

So when God the coach calls us out from the sidelines of religion and onto the FIELD OF FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, He knows that those players have by the Spirit “Placed all of their faith in Jesus Christ and His ways, and not on their own.” That is why God calls them out to play – because in order to effectively and successfully reach the end-zone goal of agape love, a Christian must be called onto “the field of faith in His Son” because there they place their faith and trust in the directions (plays) of the King. Because He calls the plays – he’s the offensive coordinator. He instructs his team on how to overcome the opposition facing them with his every purpose to get his to the end-zone of agape love – no exceptions. BY FAITH, players allow Him to work in and through them to overcome the opposition and to ultimately reach the Goal of Christian love.

The Ultimate Goal

God’s goal is not to recruit people to the team nor is it to have a great sideline culture. His goal is not to have people merely step out on the playing field or to just move the ball up and down on the field. He created us, gave us His Son, saved us from Sin and death though Him, to get His players by faith into the end-zone of pure agape love. THAT IS THE GOAL of EVERY CHRISTIAN – to give, live and be love to God and neighbor. Period.

The rest of this plays a supporting role. Once out on the field we note that every play toward the end-zone of love is met with constant ferocious opposition. I mean even moving one inch down that field is met with great difficulty. These obstacles to love are requisite to reaching, obtaining and understanding what this love really looks like.

Faith's Role in Reaching the Goal

And so the King has plays – which his players on the field accept by faith. He says “forgive” – seven times seventy – and His players by faith trust this and act accordingly – and in so doing make forward progress toward the goal. He says, turn the other cheek, do not condemn, do good to enemies – and another first down is achieved. Every move toward the ultimate goal is accomplished by faith in His commands – this is the direct connection that faith has to agape love. We place our faith in His commands and His words and His life and our ability to move toward the goal of love is enhanced. But if we reject His command, and His words and His directives, not trusting them but trusting our own ways and will, we will fumble, get intercepted, and lose ground toward the goal.

Christianity, my friends – is NOT just being on the team. It’s not even playing in the game on the field of faith. It’s not even living out the plays Jesus gives us by faith. Those things are all ancillary. The Christian end purpose, the goal, the stuff we take with us as Christians is the LOVE obtained as we learn to place our faith in His way of doing things. To work in and through us, and allow Him and His ways to move us through the opposition. If we could walk out and love God and love neighbor as ourselves we would have no need for Jesus. But we can’t. It’s virtually impossible for a human being to even get close to the enormity of the command. But God so loved the world that He gave us His only human son to not only pay for our failures, but to love God and neighbor as

Understanding Salvation

There is a huge ongoing debate on how to be saved, exalted, or to grasp eternal life. Last week, I showed you through Jesus' own words that the ultimate goal to achieve such is to love—first God (with all our everything) and then our neighbor as ourselves.

Because this cannot happen on our own merits, God gave us His Son to accomplish it for us, and to then to teach us how to walk toward His love. Salvation is a two-sided coin. To focus on only one side is to ignore that fact that most of the New Testament commands are aimed at the end-zone goal of Love.

The Two Sides of Salvation

Looking to our football example, salvation certainly includes being invited out on the playing field (saved by grace through faith) but it also then includes moving the ball toward the end-zone goal. To teach and focus on grace alone is like suggesting that the end-goal for every person is to merely be invited to play on the field. To just go out and stand there. Not so.

God has a destination for all who He invites to play—it's love—which is the other side of the salvation coin opposite faith—to be invited to play by faith, and then to reach God’s goal for those invited on the field—to love.

The Commandment of Love

This is why John the Beloved, who could have written anything to describe the Commands for every Christian wrote:

1st John 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

Salvation, exaltation, and/or eternal life is NOT obtainable via religious ordinances, works-righteous schemes, or membership in any religious club. It is always preceded by faith and then followed up by genuine agape love.

So . . . make some comments below or call in tomorrow night when I review what is written . . . here, on Heart of the Matter.