Here’s our premise: A disciple of Christ is a person who is willing to give up their preconceived ideas of what life is all about, to abandon their previous way of living, immersing themselves into the way, the truth, and the life of the Master, in order to be like Christ.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it like this, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” That sounds like a negative proposition, but it’s truly not. It is a call to die to the old self - and to be brought alive in Christ as we follow and learn from him.

You might remember we said it this way, that an apprentice is a person who submits or binds themselves to a master craftsman for the sake of learning a trade. That’s what we’re committing to. Learning from the master how to do life in the Kingdom of God.

Paul believed this was our destiny, the life we were meant to live and said so in no uncertain terms:

Romans 8:29 CSB
'For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son...

That simply means that God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who follow him along the same lines as the life of his Son. This is the life you were meant to live.

That’s why our theme as a Christ follower is quite simply, “The aim of my life is to be like Christ.” Now the way I see it, as much of a challenge as that may sound, it really simplifies things. I simply need to be a student of the life and teachings of Christ. We discovered this a couple of weeks ago as we talked about the Disciple’s Freedom Formula. Jesus said,

John 8:31-32, MSG
“If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.”

You will know the truth. Remember, “knowing” in the Biblical sense is almost always referring to an experiential practice or an interactive relationship - not just head knowledge. You know it because you’ve experienced it for yourself and now you know for yourself that it’s true. And Jesus says, because you’re putting HIS specific teachings into practice, you are a disciple of Christ, for sure.

So that’s what we’re doing. We’re looking closely at how Jesus lived and what Jesus taught. As we hear it, observe it, then put it into practice, we will experience his freedom now as we begin living out our eternal lives in the Kingdom of the Heavens. Learning to love, live, and lead like Jesus.

So let’s jump in. Let’s begin looking closely at what it looks like to love like Jesus.

Now, in the earliest stages of my thought process around these lessons, as I was conceptualizing what we would discuss, I thought it would primarily be about taking some snapshots of Jesus’ life, looking in on the narratives, catching him in action so to speak, and then identifying the specific activities we need to emulate. “Jesus acted loving in this particular way, so we should too.” And we will absolutely do some of that before we’re finished.

But there is a deeper truth we need to get to first. If we are to do the ACTS of love like Jesus did, we first need to understand HOW Jesus loves. Not just the outward manifestation, but the internal love. What kind of love motivated him to act the way he did? Remember, we’re not just after behavior modification. We’re after inner transformation. So let’s try to get to the heart of Jesus. Because, if you’re going to love like Jesus, it starts with Heart.

I want to begin today with what may seem to be a somewhat aloof and theological discussion. It’s a subject I had not paid enough attention to over the years because of the difficulty of understanding it. It is the Trinity. The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Particularly what I want to speak to is trinitarian love. So hang in there with me. We’re going deep for a few minutes - but it’s so powerful.

The word trinity doesn’t actually appear in the Bible, but even though the word might not be explicitly stated, there are a number of passages where it is actually seen. The early church came to grips with the reality of the trinity fairly early on - and by the early third century, Tertullian one of the early church fathers started using the term and teaching the principles. We’ve been wrestling with it ever since.

We see subtle and explicit references that lead to the ida of the Trinity. For example:

2 Corinthians 13:13
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

The Great Commission to which we’ve been referring in these lessons is another verse that references the trinity as well.

Matthew 28:19-20 CSB
19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.

The Trinity. Three in one. Now, the real question I’d like to present today is not so much to completely grasp the complexity of the Trinity, but what is the significance of the Trinity? If we are to understand the love of Jesus, and even how to love LIKE Jesus, I think you’ll see that this is where we must begin.

“God has made known to us His threefold reality via the names Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - names that signify dynamic relationships within the Trinity. The one true God is a community of three divine persons existing in one infinite spirit being. As an early church father stated, “The Trinity self is a sweet society.”

St. Augustine read in 1 John 4:16 that “God is love.” He proposed the idea that love requires a lover, a beloved, and the spirit of love that flows between them. He then concluded that God the Father is lover, God the Son is the Beloved, and the Holy Spirit is the personal Love that connects them. When we look closely, we see that “the Trinity is love revealed, demonstrating the self-forgetting, self-giving compassion often missing in the world today.”

Let’s dig deeper for a moment, though, and try to get a handle on the KIND of love that is flowing back and forth among the Trinity.

If we are to really understand the specific kind of love Jesus taught and revealed to us, we need better language, maybe more words, to distinguish different kinds of love – something the ancient Greeks definitely had. You’ve probably heard some of this along the way in your faith walk:

One kind of love is Eros: an intimate or sensual love; physical love. We derive our word erotic from this word.

Perhaps less familiar to you is Storge: a family kind of love; A love between parents and children more specifically.

Thirdly, the Greeks used another word for love called Phileo: a friendship type love; BFFs or even husband and wife; mutual compatibility. Philadelphia comes from this word - the city of brotherly love.

But last on our list is the greatest love word, Agape’: Selfless love.

As a Believer, you’ve probably heard this word many times. The word agape’ was certainly a word within the Greek language prior to the time of Christ, but the new Christians embraced and infused it with even more meaning. They implied that this kind of love is of Divine nature. This is, in fact, the most dominant word used for love in the New Testament, used nearly 120 times. I would contend that it finds its best example and demonstration within the Trinity as we will see in a few moments.

One classic theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas defined agape’ love as love that has the desire to see others succeed.

C.S. Lewis wrote of The Four Loves and defined this biblical love as “a selfless love, a love that is passionately committed to the well-being of others.”

Most of the time, when you see the word love in the New Testament - that’s the kind of love it’s referring to. And agape love is at the heart of the Trinitarian relationship. Here’s a working definition for this session: Trinitarian agape love is characterized by self-giving, unconditional loving, mutual affirmation, promoting the welfare of the other, and sheer delight at being together.[1] Notice how love and joy go hand in hand. Pay close attention to that as we move forward.

As a quick illustration, my wife, Kristie and I, probably like many other couples, took a moment during our wedding ceremony to merge two candles into one larger candle - symbolizing the two becoming one flesh. But of course, that act is only a symbol. She and I know and experience the reality of it, getting a glimpse and taste of the Trinity because agape love for us, when we’re living it out like we should and often do, is represented by self- giving, unconditional loving, mutual affirmation, promoting the welfare of the other, and sheer delight at being together.

Kristie and I don’t always get this right. I blow it a lot more often than she does. But I can tell you this, and probably every couple would agree, the times I think our marriage is struggling the most is usually when I’m self- focused and self-absorbed and not self-giving and promoting what’s best for her. But because we’ve really worked at this over the years, most of the time, there is a mutual back and forth of admiring one another, proud of each other’s accomplishments, taking joy in the successes we each experience. When we’re firing on all cylinders with this kind of selfless love, there is absolutely nowhere else I want to be. I can tell you, love and joy go hand in hand. Kristie even had this cushion made to remind us. “Together is our favorite place to be.” It’s kind of sappy, I know. But it’s so true.

By the way, this is how God intended marriage to be from the very beginning. Notice the trinitarian reference...

Genesis 1:26-27 CSB
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness...27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.

In what way were we created in the image of Trinity? Let US make man in OUR image. Well, Jesus would later reiterate it for us...

Mark 10:6-9 CSB
6...from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. 7 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother 8 and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Like the Trinity is three in one, married couples are to become two in one. It’s certainly not a perfect illustration, but maybe it helps us to see that this is what Jesus has been experiencing for eternities past. The Trinity, living in perfect community, the relational existence of an eternal dance of agape love.

Now, that all may seem fine and dandy in the supernatural world of the heavens, but remember, Jesus’ life and ministry on earth flowed from His life in the Trinity. He was still a member of the Trinity though he was also fully man. We see evidence of this everywhere in the Gospels:

Jesus said, “the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” (John 10:38) Even in human flesh, Jesus the Son said things like, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing...” (John 8:54 CSB) He said, “The Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28) He said that he came to serve, not to be served. After his baptism, he submitted to the Holy Spirit, being led into the wilderness, like a child submitting to parents by taking their hands and going where they are led. And who could forget what may be the greatest word in the whole Bible, nevertheless, as Jesus prayed to the Father in the garden, nevertheless, not my will but your will be done. Self-giving, unconditional loving, mutual affirmation, promoting the welfare of the other.

And the Father, we hear his voice booming in the Gospels, once at Jesus’ baptism and the other at the Mount of Transfiguration. John Ortberg says, in effect, the father was saying, “This is my priceless Son. I am so pleased with him. Listen to him. Pay attention to him. Love him. Follow him.” The father doesn’t draw attention to himself. All the focus is on his great admiration for His son and he wants everyone to know. Self-giving, unconditional loving, mutual affirmation, promoting the welfare of the other.

And think about the Holy Spirit for a moment. Jesus says,

John 14:26 CSB
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.

In other words, the Holy Spirit doesn’t exist in order to draw attention to himself, he wants to get people to focus on Jesus. Self-giving, unconditional loving, mutual affirmation, promoting the welfare of the other.

I love the way Dale Bruner puts it, “It’s often been said that the Holy Spirit is the ‘Cinderella of the Trinity,’ the great neglected Person of Godhead. But the Holy Spirit’s desire and work is that we be overcome again, thrilled again, excited and gripped again by the wonder, the majesty, the relevance of Jesus. The Holy Spirit does not mind being the Cinderella outside the ballroom if the Prince is honored inside his Kingdom.”[2]

Oh, and there is so much more we could say. But again, I can hear you saying it, “that’s all great to think about, Rodney. But what difference does it make? What’s the significance of the Trinity, particularly as it relates to apprenticing our lives to Christ?” Well, let me offer up an illustration of sorts that may help us.

First, we see that... The Trinity exists in an eternal state of Agape love.We’ve made this point fairly clear so far: self-giving, unconditional loving, mutual affirmation, promoting the welfare of the other, and sheer delight at being together.

PERFECT AGAPE LOVE

But in the fullness of time, Jesus brings perfect Trinitarian Agape Love to dwell among us.
Agape is first seen in the Gospel story as the kind of love God the Father has for us. “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son...” (John 3:16) I can’t imagine giving up my son. That kind of selfless and sacrificial act of the Father is virtually incomprehensible. But what could be the motivation for such an act? The Father so loved the world - He loved us.

But we see it in Jesus as well. Paul tells us that Jesus, “...made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:” (Philippians 2:7 KJV). Self-giving, unconditional loving, promoting our welfare. Desiring God’s best for us. He demonstrated it day in and day out, “dealing patiently and compassionately with the Samaritan woman who resisted His efforts to lead her to the truth; patiently nurturing his disciples, who were spiritually dull, strong willed, self-confident to the point of arrogance...and yet, he demonstrated extraordinary humility and love by washing their feet.

He deals lovingly and nonjudgmental with the woman caught in adultery. He loved the lowly, the unlovely, the outcasts, and the marginalized in society.” An extraordinary demonstration of perfect Trinitarian agape love comes to earth to dwell among us, “affirming, encouraging, blessing, and releasing the good in others.”[3]

But he doesn’t just come to demonstrate the special kind of love to us. Listen friend,

Jesus extends an invitation to participate in this perfect
Trinitarian agape love. We see this in John 15. When Jesus
announces that the Kingdom of God has come near, he’s announcing
the availability of God - access to the Trinity - to this everlasting perfect agape love. This, my friends, is where Jesus invites you to be his disciple, to apprentice your life to his. Look at this invitation in our primary text for today:

John 15:9 CSB
“As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love.”

Do you see it? An invitation into the Trinity’s community of love? “As the Father loved me, I have also loved you. Now remain in my love. Experience the eternal, ongoing, interconnectedness of self-giving, mutual affirmation, unconditional loving of God.” Remember, this phrase “to remain,” or “to abide” as it may say in your translation, means to “make yourself at home.” Jesus is saying, “The father loves me and I love you, now Make yourself at home in my love.”

And perhaps, not unlike St. Augustine’s understanding of the Trinity that the Father was the lover, the Son the beloved, and the Holy Spirit the personal love that connects them, Paul extends our trinitarian understanding of this invitation in Romas 5, ’This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.’ Romans 5:5 CSB

So Jesus commands us to remain in His love. But how do we know if we are remaining, abiding, making ourselves at home in His love? Well, Jesus clarifies that for us quite well. Look at verse 10 of John 15:

John 15:10 CSB
If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

Do you see the submission and self-giving on display? Jesus, an equal third of the Trinity, says that he keeps his Father’s commands - that’s how He remains in his love. The Son loves the Father so intimately, he doesn’t obey out of obligation or duty or with resentment. On the contrary, it is the Son’s great love and admiration and affirmation of the Father that causes Him to obey. The same should go for us. Keeping his commands is the natural outflow of our great love for Him. Loving God completely comes first - abiding in His love - and then obedience is the natural response. Love first and obedience will follow.

It stands to reason next, then, that we should know what commands we are to obey - right? So Jesus doesn’t leave us in the dark here either. He doesn’t make us decipher some cryptic message. He spells it out for us in black and white.

John 15:12 CSB
“This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.” This leads us to our next major point:

Trinitarian agape love is made complete in us as we love each other the way He loves us.

Much of what we’re talking about in this session comes out of an epiphany of sorts I had during prayer. We’re in the early stages of developing some one- on-one discipleship materials similar to these D Groups and one of our assignments each week was also a memory verse. Our first memory verse so resonated with me that I wasn’t able to stop thinking about it. It’s found in 1 John 4.

Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and gave His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we should also love one another. No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:10-12.

Memorizing and meditating on that verse is what triggered this illustration I’ve been using here. I started drawing this sort of double 8 figure in my journal. The word that stood out to me was the word complete - his love is made complete in us. Your version may say perfect. But as I pondered this word complete - it made me think that without this others-focused heart condition in my life - perhaps my experience of God’s love would be incomplete. If we love one another - God not only remains in us - His love is made complete in us. The Double Eight illustration is thus made complete.

The trinity exists in an eternal state of self-giving, unconditional loving, mutual affirmation, promoting the welfare of the other, and sheer delight at being together. Perfect Trinitarian agape love is brought to earth as the Father loves us so much he surrenders His Son for our sake. The Son surrenders his will to the Father to show his great love for us. The Holy Spirit brings the reality of it to our hearts. And Jesus tells us to abide in his love. As wonderful as all of that may be, you would think that that’s enough. But Jesus says it’s not. His love is made complete only when we love one another.

This is too powerful to let go of here, folks. We spend so much time focusing on the personal relationship dynamic of God’s saving work in our lives. And rightly so. But could the reason we don’t understand why life doesn’t change very much even though we attend church, pray, even read the bible and tithe, is that we have yet to truly embrace this final condition for perfect and complete love?

He put it very plainly back in chapter 13:

John 13:34-35 NLT 34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

A new commandment? The commandments to love God and to love our neighbors had been around for a long time. What made it new is that it was brought to life in the person of Jesus Christ. And this is no ordinary love. This is Trinitarian agape’ love. And notice what he says, “Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.” And the way He loves us, brings a revolutionary new meaning to whole concept of love.

Now, a quick sidebar here related to this illustration. This is an illustration of how Christ’s love is made complete or made perfect. Jesus is speaking to his disciples here. The understanding is that we will love one another. That I will love you like Jesus loves me. And you will love me like Jesus loves you.

This principle should apply to us and our love for each other. As his apprentices, we should be working with all diligence to live our lives in this way. Most of the time, it appears we’re doing ok with it - avoiding much of the drama we would expect to experience in the world with those who are NOT his disciples. But do we go far enough? Do we just tolerate one another? Do we consider the absence of conflict to be a representation of what Jesus is talking about? Or should we be actively engaged in Self-giving, unconditional loving, mutual affirmation, promoting the welfare of the other? Oh, I think we know the answer.

I’ve discovered the truth of this principle in my own life as I have pursued loving the people of my local fellowship more. My affection and admiration has grown for them, and my desire to be with them and encourage them for their unique and special gifts has grown as well. And what’s happening in my heart as I open myself up to letting his love flow through me to others is another proof of this truth. Love and Joy go hand in hand.

Let’s go back to verse 11 of John 15 and wrap this up:

John 15:11 CSB
“I have told you these things (Again, those things he told us are his commandments to remain in his love and to love one another; for what reason?) so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.”

Love and joy go hand in hand. Think about those statements - He said our love is made complete as we love one anther and thus our joy will be made complete. If you’re not fully experiencing the JOY of Christ, could it be you’re not fully obeying the COMMAND of Christ to love one another? Remember a couple weeks ago as we talked about the Disciple’s Freedom Formula, Jesus said,

John 8:31-32, MSG
“If you stick with this, living out what I tell you [keep my commandments - abide in my words - remaining faithful to my teachings], you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.”

This, my friends, truly is the very heart of the matter. If you want to know the secret ingredient to the Freedom Formula - it’s not about your success or your prosperity. True Freedom is not even about protecting your rights as most Americans have been indoctrinated to believe. No, the kind of joy-filled freedom Jesus offers is found in selfless, sacrificial loving, the kind of love he showed us over and over with his life and demonstrated to us fully by dying on the cross.

With great boldness and confidence, I would contend that until we fully embrace love as our first and foremost rule of life, we will never really experience true freedom that is full of joy. We’ll just be faking our way through, living a life of pious religiosity - maybe staying out of trouble but never really being free - the kind of free Jesus promises. This is lesson one for the apprentice of Jesus, rule number one for life in the Kingdom - “Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”

My friend, if you’re struggling with agape, if you’re struggling to express this kind of selfless, sacrificial love toward others, then take a moment and consider how God feels toward you.
He looks down at what others may see as imperfect and flawed. He sees past all of your brokenness and self- induced corruption. He looks past all of that to express His love for you. Think of it: While we were yet sinners, virtual enemies of God, Christ died for us. Oh love of God, how rich and pure. How measureless and strong.

And then, when you consider how grace oriented his love is toward you, when you are fully captured by it, caught up in His Trinitarian love, then loving others, who are just as flawed and imperfect as you, will simply be a matter of seeing them the way God looks at us all. You’ll see them as his unique creation, his handiwork, his artwork, his prized possession. Oh friends, let’s apprentice our lives to Christ. Let’s practice self-giving, unconditional loving, mutual affirmation, promoting the welfare each other. And just maybe we will learn to love like Jesus.

Notes

1. Bruce Demarest, The Kingdom Life, p.232.
2. Bruce Demarest, The Kingdom Life, p. 232.
3. Bruce Demarest, The Kingdom Life, pp. 234-235.

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