[Sermon notes / 설교노트 ]
Winter Is Over / 겨울은 지나고 (Agape -2, 아가페 -2)
| 1 John 4:18–19 / Song of Solomon 2:11–13
[The Risk of Love, The Completion of Glory (Agape Series 5)
"사랑의 위험, 영광의 완성 (아가페 시리즈 5)" ]
1. Live Note | 라이브 노트 (위쪽)
Fill in a few blanks as you listen. After the sermon, tap Copy to save/share.
라이브노트의 빈칸에 설교를 듣는 동안 단어를 적은 신 후, 내용을 Copy 해서 자신의 노트에 옮겨 보세요,
2. English Sermon Text / 영어 설교 원문
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Agape II | Winter Is Over
April 12, 2026 | 1 John 4:18–19 / Song of Solomon 2:11–13
Introduction — The Question Fear Keeps Asking
Last week, we stood before the cross.
The love that chose the wound. The love that ran before the condition was met. The love that came down to where Peter had collapsed. The love that refused to stay in the grave.
We learned what Agape is.
And yet — sitting here today, you may have felt something like this: "So what do I do with it now?"
You believe in the resurrection. You understand Agape. But Monday morning comes, and you are tired again. Closed again. Afraid again.
And fear arrives with its one familiar question.
"What if this love ends? What will you do then?"
We still carry broken Storge. Wounded Philia. An Eros that has grown to the size of Isaac.
Today we are not going to fix any of that.
Today we are going to learn where to stand.
C-3. The Love That Removes the Ground of Fear
Let's read the text. 1 John 4:18.
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear."
Fear repeats one question, over and over.
"What if this love ends? What will you do?"
And that question pushes us in two directions. One person tries harder — more commitment, more proof, more effort. The other shuts down. Because closing first feels safer than being closed out.
There is a young couple in Boston. A newborn in the house. They are up all night, exhausted, running out of words. Fear whispers: "Is this love ending?" One tries harder. One goes quiet.
This is not just their story. This is ours.
But John says something unexpected. Perfect love does not answer fear. Agape does not say, "Don't worry — I'll never leave." It does not argue with fear's logic or try to out-reason it.
Agape removes the ground fear stands on.
How is that possible?
Verse 19.
"We love because he first loved us."
Everything is in that one word. First.
Fear always operates on this premise: "You must be worthy of love to receive it. You must perform well enough to keep it." So fear keeps checking — Am I enough? Is this love still valid?
But Agape already came first.
Before the condition was met. Before you changed. Before you were ready.
You have been loved first. That is the only ground you stand on.
You do not need stronger emotion. You do not need better willpower. You need one thing only: to live each day returning to the certainty of having been loved first.
And from that place, something shifts.
When Agape seeps into Storge, duty becomes joy. When Agape covers Philia, exclusivity becomes welcome. When Agape guides Eros, possession becomes surrender.
This is not the result of effort. It is the result of where you are standing. When you stand in the place of being loved first, the way you love begins to change.
C-5. The Weight of Glory
Now we know.
Love is not dangerous because it wounds you.
Love is truly dangerous because it changes you.
C.S. Lewis wrote: "The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love is Hell." The moment we choose to love, we are choosing transformation — not the possibility of being hurt, but the inevitability of being changed.
When Agape seeps into Storge — joy appears. No longer love as obligation. When Agape covers Philia — welcome appears. No longer love reserved for the inner circle. When Agape guides Eros — surrender appears. No longer love as a means of possession.
This is the weight of glory.
It does not end with receiving Agape's love. It continues — as becoming a channel of it.
1 John 4:19 sounds again.
"We love because he first loved us."
This is why we can love at all. Not because love is generated from within us. But because the love we have first received flows through us.
This is not a burden. This is freedom.
Freedom from the pressure of having to manufacture love on your own. You are simply a channel. You stand in the place of having been loved first — and love flows through you.
C-6. Winter Is Over — The Language of Sending
Today, in this room, there are people who are leaving in May.
A new job. A new city. A new calling standing in front of you.
Let's read the text. Song of Solomon 2:11–12.
"See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come."
This community has lived that winter together.
You brought your broken Storge into this room. You brought your wounded Philia. You brought an Eros that had grown to the size of Isaac.
None of that was wasted.
Every fragment of love that failed, every night you believed but felt nothing, every prayer offered into what seemed like silence — that was the material God was working with.
A potter works with clay. God works with our failed loves. He did not discard them. He worked with them.
And now some of you are leaving.
This is not an ending. It is a sending.
Think of Abraham. He first heard God's voice in Ur of the Chaldeans. It took decades before he stood on Mount Moriah and laid Isaac down. God waited through all of it — through every detour, every doubt, every delay.
Abraham did not stay in Ur. He was sent — with a voice that was older than his fear.
You are being sent. With a love that is older than your Isaac.
Let me say one more thing.
Agape is not completed today. Wherever you go — Storge will become a bill again someday. Philia will become a wall again. Eros will collapse into possession again on some dark night.
That is not failure.
That is the material.
God works in those places too. That voice is still coming. From farther back, and longer ago, than you have ever imagined.
We close with Song of Solomon 2:13.
"Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me."
The winter is past.
Go — as ones who have been loved first.
One-Line Prayer
Let us pray together.
"Lord, the winter has passed. I do not leave as one who is lost — I go as one who has been sent. Let the voice that found me here find me there too. Amen."
Practice One Thing
Whether you are leaving or staying — it is a sending.
This week, hold onto one sentence: "I am one who has been sent."
3. Week Notes / 주중 노트 (링크)
WEEK Notes is a devotional journal for reflecting on God's word throughout the week.
WEEK Notes는 말씀을 한 주 동안 붙잡고 살아내기 위한 묵상 노트입니다.