When Love
is Loyal…
"Teacher, which is the greatest
commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied:
" 'Love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all
your mind.‘ This is the first and greatest
commandment. And the second is like it:
'Love your neighbor as yourself.‘ All the
Law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments."
Matthew 22: 37-40
Jesus’ Meaning of Love
Love the LORD your God
with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your
strength.
- Deuteronomy 6:5
Jesus’ Meaning of Love
….love your neighbor
as yourself.
- Leviticus 19:18
Meanings of Love Today
 An intense affectionate concern
for another person.
 An intense sexual desire for
another person.
 A beloved person. Often used as
a term of endearment.
Meanings of Love Today
 A strong fondness or enthusiasm
for something.
 To embrace or caress
 To like or desire enthusiastically;
delight in something
In Our Culture
Love = Feelings
What is this Love Jesus Spoke of?
--Deuteronomy: A Suzerain-Vassal
Treaty
--God is the Suzerain
He Swore to take care of His People
Deut. 7:7-15
--His People are the Vassals
Deut. 8:1-9
Suzerain-Vassal Treaty
Deuteronomy
1. Preamble (1:1-5)
2. Historical Prologue (1:6-3:29)
3. Stipulations (chs. 4-26)
4. Blessings and Cursings (chs. 27-30)
5. Witnesses (chs. 31-34)
This Love = Passionate Loyalty
bha
The Hebrew word for love,
“ahab”, means:
1. Primarily, loyalty or
faithfulness,
2. Secondarily, passion.
Loyalty leads to affection.
In the Bible
Love = Loyalty +
Feelings
This Understanding Breaths Life
Into Other Scripture
"For God so loved the world that he gave his
one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16
Do not love the world or anything in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the
Father is not in him.
1 John 2:15
This is love for God: to obey his
commands. And his commands are not
burdensome, for everyone born of God
overcomes the world.
1 John 5:3-4
This is how we know what love is: Jesus
Christ laid down his life for us. And we
ought to lay down our lives for our
brothers.
1 John 3:16
Love = Loyalty
We love because he first loved us. If
anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his
brother, he is a liar. For anyone who
does not love his brother, whom he has
seen, cannot love God, whom he has not
seen. And he has given us this command:
Whoever loves God must also love his
brother.
1 John 4:19-21
This is love: not that we loved God,
but that he loved us and sent his
Son as an atoning sacrifice for our
sins. Dear friends, since God so
loved us, we also ought to love one
another. No one has ever seen
God; but if we love one another,
God lives in us and his love is made
complete in us.
John 4:10-12
Jesus Asks Peter 3 Times
John 21:15-17:
“Do you love me?”
“Feed my Sheep!”
It is not rude,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy,
it does not boast, it is not proud.
LOYALTY
+
feelings
Biblical Love
Biblical Love
The Three
Perversions
The First
Perversion
Leads to
Legalism
LOYALTY
+
feelings
Biblical Love
LOYALTY
minus
+
feelings
LOYALTY
Fear
Perversion of the Mind
The second
Perversion
Leads to
hipocrisy and
confusion
LOYALTY
+
feelings
Biblical Love
LOYALTY
+
feelings
feelings
+
LOYALTY
Perversion of the Will
The Third
Perversion
Leads to
hedonism
LOYALTY
+
feelings
Biblical Love
LOYALTY
+
FEELINGS
feelings
FEELINGS
Perversion of the Heart
When Love is Loyal:
We pledge our loyalty to God
and trust in his spiritual provision.
His divine power has given us everything we
need for life and godliness through our
knowledge of him who called us by his own glory
and goodness. Through these he has given us
his very great and precious promises, so that
through them you may participate in the divine
nature and escape the corruption in the world
caused by evil desires.
2 Peter 1:3-4
When Love is Loyal:
We cry out to God for a pure
heart.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a
broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not
despise.
Psalm 51:17
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew
a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10
When Love is Loyal:
Prioritize and make covenants of loyalty:
1. To our Spouse and Children
2. To a few other Christians.
(1 Samuel 18:2-4; 19:1-4)
3. Expand loyalty to our family group.
4. Expand loyalty to the body of Christ by meeting
together and using our gifts.
(Jude 1:2, Ephesians 4:16)
5. Expand loyalty to the lost.
(Jude 1:22-23)
God’s True Love Shines
"A new command I give you: Love
one another. As I have loved
you, so you must love one
another. By this all men will know
that you are my disciples, if you
love one another."
John 13:34-35
LOYALTY
+
feelings
Biblical Love