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BASIC BIBLICAL TEXT

1 Corinthians 13.1-4

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

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BASIC BIBLICAL TEXT

1 Corinthians 13.5-10

⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.

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GOLDEN TEXT

Colossians 3.13

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

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AIMS

* Deeply understand the effectiveness of love;

* Know the characteristics of agape love;

*Understand that walking in love is a commandment that must be obeyed.

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INTRODUCTION

There are three cardinal virtues of Christianity: faith, hope and love. The apostle Paul develops his theology based on these three values (1 Co 13.13; Rom 5.1-5; Gal 5.5,6; Col 1.4,5 etc). In this lesson, we will study what can be considered the greatest fruit of maturity: love.

What, after all, is love? How to define it? Is it possible to describe it? This cardinal virtue, of incomparable beauty, is, among other realities, the essence, the basis, the foundation, the unshakable foundation and the harmonious song of those who have reached the measure of the full stature of Christ (Eph 4.13,15).

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TYPE	CHARACTERISTIC	BIBLICAL REFERENCE
AGAPE	For semantic reasons, in the past, the term agape was translated as "charity". Currently, such a translation does not seem to express the full meaning of the word. Thus, in order to bring the signifier closer to its best meaning, it is understood that the ideal translation for this word is love (1 Cor 13.13). It is, therefore, about altruistic, self-sacrificial love, different from purely emotional love. God can demonstrate it naturally.	1 Peter 4.8; Rom 5.5,8; 1 John 3.1; 4.7,8,16
PHILEO	Verb that expresses love, affection for the other, but requires a counterpart. It contains the idea of camaraderie, sharing, communication and friendship.	Mt 10.37; John 21.15,16
STORGE	It is the feeling of affection shared by parents, children, brothers and sisters. It is natural affection.	Rom 12.10
EROS	Sensual love capable of uniting a man to a woman - although its meaning has been misrepresented.	There is no biblical citation, since it had a degrading connotation at the time.

INTRODUCTION

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1. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF AGAPE LOVE

It can be said, in short, that agape love is God, because God is love. Wanting to deepen the understanding and reach of agape love is wanting to know the Lord, which indicates maturity.

Love is life. Not simply ordinary animal life, occasional or temporal. Love is eternal life. Love is self-existing. It doesn't perish, it doesn't fade, it doesn't lose its shine, it doesn't weaken, it doesn't get sick - love never dies (Author unknown).

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1.1. God, the agape love, is incomparable

No action, however blunt and peremptory it may be, can be compared to the agape manifestation of divine affection. The more we study about God and his grace, the more we are embarrassed by the immensity, depth and unfathomability of this well-wanting. For this and other reasons, John the evangelist recorded the expression: God so loved the world (John 3:16; emphasis added).

Nothing can compare to the love of God. Absolutely nothing!

Agape is the sovereign love that acted powerfully in the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage (Deut. 7:8). During the 40 years of pilgrimage through the desert, God manifested His great love for the chosen people, protecting them from their enemies, supplying their needs, guiding them, teaching them and forging their character through trials (Deut 8.2) .

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1.2. God, the agape love, is forgiver

The Parable of the Prodigal Son, recorded only by Luke, is the longest in this Gospel (Luke 15:11-32). By narrating the story of a son who takes his inheritance in advance, leaves his father's house, repents, returns and is forgiven, Jesus reaffirms God's unconditional love for the lost (Lk 15:11, 25-29, 31, 32) .

God, agape love, frees us from the yoke of the wrong choices we make throughout life and forgives us infinitely (Mt 18.21,22). What a sublime message! He blots out our transgressions for his own sake, and remembers our errors and sins no more (Isaiah 43:25).

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1.3. God, the agape love, is immeasurable, immutable and eternal

This immeasurable love manifests itself in at least three ways:

in His immeasurability - humanity, limited to the perceptions of temporality and spatiality, cannot reach the height, breadth and/or depth of that love, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8.39);

in His immutability - if God does not change (and He does not change; cf. Tg 1.17), then His love for us does not change: as he had loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end (Jo 13.1);

in His eternity - the heavens and the earth will pass away, but the words of the Most High will remain forever (Mt 24.35); and He says, with an everlasting love have I loved you (Jer 31:3).

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2. WHAT ONE LEARN AT THE SCHOOL OF LOVE?

2.1. YOU LEARN TO DO THE GOOD, ALWAYS

In the Old Testament, we read the testimony of the psalmist, who said: Trust in the Lord and do good (Psalm 37.3). In the New Testament, we read the Pauline admonition: let us not be weary in doing good (Gal 6.9). Every person enrolled in the school of love learns, from the first classes, to do good. But in what way?

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2.1.1. Meeting the needs of the most needy people

Let us not deceive ourselves, brothers: it is not possible to serve God, forgetting the people who permeate our existence. And it's not about doing good only to those who do and/or want us well; it is, above all, about meeting the needs of those who cannot bring us any benefit: the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the foreigner, the sick, the prisoner.

This is the time and opportunity that the Lord gives us to demonstrate the love we have for Him: while we have time, let us do good to all (Gl 6.10).!

Practicing love is, among other things, sharing bread with the hungry, a roof with the pilgrim, a cloak with the cold; it is to be supportive, showing affection for the lonely, offering comfort to the sad, compassion to the suffering and faith to the discouraged. That's what Jesus did and exhorted us to do (BRUNELLI, W. Central Gospel, 2013)

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2.2. Learn to overcome fear

Peace be with you! This expression, isolated from a context, in no way alters the hostile reality that Christ's disciples experience on a daily basis, but it can alter the disposition of heart of those who recognize that He has conquered death.

In John 20:21, Jesus invites His disciples into an experience of overcoming fear. In this way, it can be said that the encounter with the son of God implies overcoming the cowardice, dread, terror and discouragement that take us by surprise, without asking permission.

May our heart be taken by that peace, which makes us face life with courage and fearlessness (1 John 4.18).

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CONCLUSION

The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). In this way, we can reach maturity.

Walking is an exercise of movements, displacements, changes and transpositions. When we think about the act of walking, the mental picture that forms in us, most of the time, is the projection of the body forward. Our mind is conditioned to think that the action of walking is linked to what is ahead.

It can be said that it is common sense to understand that maturity can only be reached by those who walk, walk, move forward and progress towards what is ahead of them. Let us therefore proceed, inspired by Paul, to the target, for the prize of the sovereign vocation in Christ (Phil 3.14).

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GOD BLESS YOU!

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