Our opening prayer at the 8:00 and 9:30 a.m. services begins, “We are easily drawn away from serving you by the enticements of wealth, ease, and comfort,”
and ends, “Help us place our lives and our trust in you. With your help, wonderful things can be accomplished. Give us courage and strength to be your true disciples.”1
Those words frame our current sermon series, Live It Out, which calls us to love and kindness in action.
Three faces of love
Koine Greek—the language of the New Testament—uses three different words for love:
Greek word Meaning
Agapē Self giving, sacrificial love
Eros Romantic or sexual love
Philia Brotherly or sisterly love
Scripture most often speaks of philia and agapē, reminding us that love is both affection and self sacrifice.
“See how they love one another”
Early Christian writers held agapē at the center of discipleship. Tertullian (c. 160–220 AD), a lawyer turned theologian, famously contrasted Christians with their pagan neighbors:
“Look … how they love one another (for the pagans hate one another),
and how they are ready to die for each other (while the pagans are readier to kill each other).” 2
The church’s reputation was built on the dignity and care believers showed within their fellowship and toward their wider communities.
Kindness: love in motion
Kindness is another early Christian hallmark. Paul lists it among the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22 23), alongside love, joy, peace, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Kindness is love made visible—an act of empathy that shows up, listens, and stands with a neighbor, even when it cannot solve the problem.
Living it out today
Love and kindness bind us to Jesus, who embodied both throughout his life and ministry and taught his followers to do the same. As modern disciples, we inherit these practices: loving one another with agapē and philia, and serving the world with Spirit born kindness. May we continue to “live it out,” so others can still say of the church, “Look how they love one another.”
1 https://christianhistoryinstitute.org
2 Tertullian., ca 160-220., To the Gentiles and Apology.