Wednesday, March 13th | Sloppy Agape!?

This episode of Clearview today is brought to you by Mighty Muscadine. Ryan, are you looking to boost your immune system? I'm so ill that I fainted right before we turn the show on.

I hate to hear it, but I do think I have a solution. Introducing Mighty Muscadine, king of the super fruits. Sounds like a superhero. Well, these guys are practically superheroes. Every single one of their products are packed with organic polyphenol content, essential micronutrients, and I'm telling you these grapes are just dripping with antioxidants designed to strengthen your body's defenses.

It's going to help you stay resilient all year round. And these guys have everything. They have grape juice, they have all natural energy shots, protein powders, they got seed oil, toothpaste, body lotion, shampoo.

And here's the best part. You can use promo code today, that's T-O-D-A-Y, to unlock exclusive savings at checkout. Again, use promo code T-O-D-A-Y at checkout to enjoy a significant discount on your purchase of Mighty Muscadine products. And every single dollar you spend using that promo code helps us here at the Clearview today show. So don't miss this opportunity to supercharge your health and wellbeing with the incredible power of Mighty Muscadine. Visit their website now, that's MightyMuscadine.com, and experience the difference firsthand. Remember, that's promo code T-O-D-A-Y.

A healthier, happier you is just a click away. With that said, let's start the show. Welcome to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill.

I'm John Galantis. And you can find more information about our show on our website, ClearviewTodayshow.com. Or if you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, write in and let us know at 252-582-5028. Or you can email us at contact at ClearviewTodayshow.com. That's right, and you guys can help us keep the conversation going by supporting the show, and you can do that by sharing it online with your friends and your family. You can leave us a good review on iTunes or Spotify.

We're going to leave a couple of links in the description so you can do just that. Today is March the 13th, which means that our date the word is coming from Proverbs chapter 3, verse 13. Happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding. I don't want that, though. I just want comfort.

No, thank you very much. I just want to feel good, and then I'll be happy if I just have all the things that I want. You know, it's one of the funny things about life is the more I get what I want, really the more miserable I become. Because I don't know how to want the right things. Does that make sense? I mean, it sounds backwards, but my human heart doesn't know what to want.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, we chase our own version of happiness, whatever is contrived in our mind or from our upbringing. But true happiness only comes from a relationship with God and from pursuing godly wisdom, from pursuing biblical understanding. And you can only do that, number one, through a relationship with God, and number two, through His word. Yeah, I think back and I wonder how many of my prayers have been focused on making my life easier?

God, get me out of this situation. God, set me up for success. Because ultimately I just want things to be easier. And how few of my prayers have been like, God, give me wisdom. Give me wisdom because I know that these trials aren't going to stop. My life's not going to just get easier.

So give me wisdom and give me understanding that only can come from you in order to deal with those things. I do want to just remind you guys that this episode is brought to you in part by the Date the Word app. You can download it for free right now on the iPhone and the Android. All these Date the Words are coming from this app by Dr. Duane Carson. Shout out to Duane Carson.

Every single day connects today's date to God's word with the hope of making it more memorable for you. So before we dive into the show, I do want to talk about something that I saw on TikTok that made me not only think of my wife, but also kind of think of us. And it was really funny. So I saw a TikTok where this dude was in a swamp and an alligator jumped up on the boat. He was trying to get in the boat.

And when I saw it, I was sitting on my couch and my heart just kind of was like, oh, that's an alligator. This guy got down and we just went, popped it. He was like, get down, get down. And he like put his hand under the alligator's mouth like his jaw and just like put him back in the water. And then it cuts to this British guy who looks floored and he's like blinking. And he said, did that mind just say, get down and boot it on the snoot. Like it was a little puppy. And then he just goes on this tirade.

He's like, I don't know what the American government is putting in their water, but I want some. That is true. There are those people who grow up kind of in that swampy Everglades, maybe somewhere in Florida type deal. They're just they're just built different around like crocodiles, around swamp stuff that would turn.

We would turn tail and run. The same is true, I feel like, for people who are from Australia. Yes. Everything in Australia tries to kill you and other people like just kind of scooping spiders with their bare hands. Yeah. And the spiders like as big as like both your hands together. And they're like, go on, yo, get out of here. Absolutely not. Write in and let us know what your experience has been with someone who does not have a fear of something they should, in your mind, have a fear of.

And how to get that non fear, because I would like to be able to slap a crocodile in the face. Yeah. Two, five, two, five, eight, two, five, zero, two, eight or visit us online at Clearview Today Show dot com. Stay tuned. We'll be right back. We wanted to make sure that your worship doesn't stop when you walk out the door on Sunday morning. Our music is more accessible than ever.

You can worship God in any situation in the car, at home, in the gym, while cleaning your house, wherever you are. We'll be right there with you. You can check us out on Apple Music or on Spotify, anywhere digital music is consumed. We got a few singles out right now. We have an EP out as well. And right now, at this moment, actually, we are working on our first ever full length original album.

Hopefully that's going to be out sometime this coming summer. Clear View worship on iTunes and Spotify is your twenty four seven place for inspiration and worship. Follow us today and let God's message of hope, love and faith be a guiding light in your life.

Amen. Let's hop back into the show. Welcome back to Clear View today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at Clear View Today Show dot com.

If you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028. That's right. We are here in the Clear View today studio coming at you on this chipper Wednesday afternoon with Dr. Abbadon Shah, who is a Ph.D. in New Testament textual criticism. Dr. Shah, we were talking about the differences in American culture, the differences in like where people grew up. And I wanted to ask you, what is the biggest misunderstanding or I guess misconception that you had about American culture that changed when you finally moved here?

The biggest misconception that I think a lot of people in the East have is that Americans, families, parents have no values. Really? Yeah. So moralists. Yeah. They're just sleeping around, doing whatever feels good. Parents have no clue where their children are, and children are just, you know, just doing whatever they want to do, just having rampant sex.

Oh, yeah. It's really horrible view. And it comes from watching Hollywood. So is Western Hollywood, how accessible is Western Hollywood in the East?

It's pretty accessible. When I was growing up in the 80s, yes, you could go watch Western films. And Western films, I mean, we're not talking about Norwegian or Swedish films. I mean, you were talking about American, right?

Maybe some British, but mostly American. So that's accessible. At night, on television growing up, this is in the 80s, there were not many channels, just two. So at night, there would be like, things would change, and all of a sudden it's Western programming.

Wow. And so you would have all your pop music, rock music would come on. So about 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock at night, I would sit there and watch it. And then even Western shows would come on. I wonder why it's, I wonder why that's interesting.

I wonder why it's not the opposite where we don't have easy access to like Eastern programming here. Yeah, I don't know. It is there. It's there? Yeah, it is there.

Huh. You just don't know about it. You just don't know where to look for it.

If you go to New Jersey, you'll have a lot of Indian programming. Really? That's a good point. It's there.

We just are not looking in the right places. Fair enough. Fair enough. There's a lot of Indian channels with movies, with Bollywood movies and all that.

Now, that is true. I've seen that on Netflix recently, is that I'll click on a movie and then it'll be a bunch of suggested films. And it's all like either, I feel like Indian, kind of that Bollywood or there's a lot of Asian inspired Japanese films. And it's like, what did I click that kind of diverted me from the path I was on? The reason we talked about it is, you remember that TikTok I sent you about the guy, the swamp guy that slapped the alligator on the nose? And then the British guy was like, I don't know what the American people or the American government are giving their people. It was funny because we got to talking about how my wife and I grew up only three hours apart.

Like she grew up down in Swan Quarter. And it's funny because even that's just in the state of North Carolina. But there's such a drastic difference. Was it like that in India as well? Like people in India and different places different? Yeah, in like more or less close proximity, but growing up radically different. Oh, yeah. There are over 100 languages in India.

I never even thought about that. Yeah, there are different languages and dialects. And so you go from state to state, the language changes.

Really? Gosh, imagine that if we were like driving state to state, like we were going to drive to Georgia for something. But that's a completely different language. Not just state barriers, but language barriers. Now, keep in mind, English is still English.

So you can communicate with that. Hindi, which is a national language in India, is still the language. So people from every state mostly know Hindi. Now there are some states where you get in the further interior and the villages, they don't know Hindi. They may know English, just not Hindi.

And so you have a tough time communicating. So like you grew up speaking Urdu, is that? No, I grew up speaking Hindi, Marathi. Did you learn Urdu later? Urdu is most of the language among the Muslims. It's the language of Pakistan. So actually it wasn't the language of Pakistan. It was the language of one of the languages in India.

But after the partition, when India and Pakistan separated, the Muslims went to Pakistan. So the language dominated there. So you didn't grow up speaking it? No, but I could speak it because there were people there who spoke it.

Got you. It's close to Hindi. It's not that different, but the script is different.

Wow. That is something to keep in mind because it's like you said, imagine just going a state over and it's a completely different language, a completely different culture. But one thing that kind of transcends all of it, at least here in America, is we have that foundation, that American foundation. Do you feel like that's there in India or not really? Like the foundation of being an American?

Well, no, the foundation of just we're one collective people united under a certain purpose. Yes, yes. I think you're talking about India, right? I think it was there, but now it's quickly fading away. Wow. Ever since the nationalist government has come to power, it's not there.

Got you. But at one time, oh my goodness, there were movies made, songs written, television programming, all focused on uniting Indians together. There was even a movie called Amr Akbar Anthony. So Amr is the Hindu guy. Akbar is a Muslim. Anthony, of course, you would imagine it's a Christian guy.

So, I mean, a Christian in name. But so these are movies that were made to show how these three are best friends and they fight till death or whatever. Wow. That's awesome.

So, yeah, but now it's very different. Very cool. That sense of that bond, that unity.

That's pretty cool. Well, and also just instills the sense of love in the people, you know, the love not only for your nation, but for each other. Your brothers in Christ, we kind of talked about that a little bit yesterday. Yeah, we're going to continue that conversation some today. But as we start the episode, Dr. Shaw, we want to talk about what is the main encouragement, the daily idea that you want to leave with our listeners today? Oh, very simple. Just love one another. Amen.

And that's what John the apostle used to say when he was up in age and he would be brought and sat down and he would just tell people just love one another. And that was the end of the message. Yeah. Simple. Simple. And then suddenly we could just retain that and then go do it. Yeah.

Just go do that and we'll be good. Well, see, it's funny because it's almost deceptively simple. And what I mean by that is, I think we kind of said it yesterday in the end of the episode, is this is where Christians always try to start.

You know what I mean? Because we've been doing this spiritual ladder growing in our faith and this is sort of the destination. Right.

And yet when we get saved, it's like, all right, I'm a Christian now. I have to be loving. I have to love. And so they start with love and skip all the other wrongs. Right.

Can't do that. Yeah. It has to be built upon itself. And the passage, again, for the last time, 2 Peter 1.5, it says, But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, which is excellence, to excellence knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, which is enduring patience or patient endurance, to patient endurance, godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love. And all these, as you know, are built upon each other, as you were saying, John. They are different rungs of the ladder, but you cannot get to the top rung unless you climb on the ones beneath. So one of the things that we've done throughout this entire tracking series of tracking these spiritual disciplines is we've looked at the Greek.

And this is the one that most people would feel like, I think they would feel like they have a leg up. Because they're like, I know the Greek for love. Agape, right? Yeah, it's agape.

It's sloppy agape, right? I can't remember. Oh, I remember who I heard say that. It was me. It was you. Well, it's not from me.

I got it from someone else. Yeah. But that's where people are like, okay, that one I've got. And it was crazy because I remember the sat- So the Sunday morning you preached this message, the Saturday night, we talked about these different type of loves.

And it was really transformative in the way that I thought about it. Right. It's not true when we say it's a divine kind of love.

Right. That's what it's often portrayed as. There is no inherent meaning to the word agape. So everyone, because the big talking point is, Philos is this, agape is divine, and Eros is this.

And so they're completely separate at all times. At this, agape is the only type of pure divine love of God. Right. And that's just not true because sometimes agape is used in a not so flattering context. When you look at the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, some places agape is used in a negative way.

I mean, it's used in a rape situation. I mean, so that's definitely not a divine kind of love. Right.

So context, context, context. And so when we look at 2 Peter 1.7, what is the context? Well, for starters, it is the love that is given to us by God as salvation.

Not necessarily because of agape, but because that's how agape is being used in 2 Peter. Right. So it can mean that divine love, but it doesn't mean it at all times in every instance.

Right, right. I mean, just like the word love in the English language, God loves you. I mean, all of a sudden that meaning, the word love, L-O-V-E, has a deep meaning. Right.

For God to love the world that he gave his only begotten son. Okay, the word has great meaning there, but that same word love can be used in a very different context. Right. Same word L-O-V-E can be used to say, I love killing people. Not the same. Not the same. Same word, very different context. How does that work? Yeah, or even just like, I love cheeseburgers.

I love cheeseburgers. It's not similar at all. Right. It's not even in the same universe. Yeah, it's just very different. So the context is the key.

True, true. So 2 Peter 1-3, it tells us that this is a love that was given to us by God as salvation. It says, as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. So love is part of the all things that have been given to us. Right, it's that agape love that he gives us. That God has given to us.

Amen. It's salvation love. Also, you find the same word used in Romans 5-5. Now hope does not disappoint because the love, and the word is agape, of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Kind of echoing that 1 Peter 1-3, because it was given to us by God. Right. And the Holy Spirit that he gave to us is continually pouring that love out into our hearts. Yes. Yeah.

And agape, because of the context, also signifies a love that is given to us by God as salvation. Yeah. And we have that salvation. I love the way that you set this up in the series, Dr. Shaw, where salvation is not a rung of the ladder, it's the ground that the ladder rests on.

Yes, yes. So you don't, it's not that you take the step on the ladder of salvation. No, salvation is how you get to the ladder. So once you are saved, then you begin climbing and developing those spiritual disciplines. Right, because this entire series going through these spiritual disciplines is assuming the fact that you are saved. That's like, I don't want to say that's the bare minimum, but that's the ground that you start on.

None of these episodes gain you anything if you're lost, if you're not saved, because you can't accomplish them. That's the step before you start climbing the ladder. Right. Again, the word agape has more meaning, more significance in this context. So it is the love that comes from being one with Christ. So just go to the very next verse, this is 2 Peter 1.4. By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature.

That's right. Now we had a message that sometime back I talked about partakers, how we are partakers of the divine nature. This is not by theosis, right, becoming God or God-like. This is about being connected to the humanity of Jesus, which connects to his deity, which is connected to the triune God.

Right, it's more that Christ became not only like us, but he took on that human aspect rather than I took on a godly aspect. Right. It's connecting with his humanity. Right. And I think that is one of the greatest ways to look at it, because it really puts the accomplishment back on him. Right. And I did all these things right, and so now I'm in a sense divine. Right, or he's given me the right and privilege to now be just like him. And this is, again, taken from a few verses here and there in the Bible, and by well-meaning people, but they are well-meaningly wrong.

They're not, that's not the way to see it. Right. I'm thinking through like this agape love, and this is a love that I think, and we were talking about this on the intro as well, where love has been almost twisted by the world. You know, they feel, the world will feel as though they have the purest sense of love, because it doesn't really invade anyone's space.

It doesn't really assume or expect anything. It's just acceptance. Love is acceptance. Love is tolerance. Love is just, you're just the way you are. That's perfect.

Don't change anything. And that's not love. That's what the world pushes forward as being loving, but that's not love at all.

Right. Because whatever it is, it's corrupted by sin, and it's not one with Christ. So it cannot be this love that we're hoping, whether we call it agape or anything else, it's not there. And this is a love that Jesus promised only to his disciples.

In John 15, 9, it says, as the Father loved me, I also have loved you, abide in my love. We did a mini-series on this show sometime back, I think it was back in 2023, about abiding, how to abide in Christ. That was one of the ones that really, I think, stuck with me more so than any of the other ones that we've done. Because it's not something that we think, we're all about the destination.

We're all about getting there. But then the trick is like, how do I stay there? How do I abide in Christ? Well, it reminds us that the Christian life is not passive. Abiding to us usually takes on that passive mindset. Just let me just sit. Just remain.

Just be in Christ. But no, abiding is an active thing on our part. That's right.

You have to make that choice and that conscious effort. That's right. And so, another verse is John 17, 26, Jesus said, I have declared to them your name and will declare it that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them. That's something I miss a lot that Christ prays for us. That Jesus is praying to his Father for us. Not only that we would have it, but that we would have that love of God as well. Even when I don't deserve it.

Especially when I don't deserve it. We talked about that recently in Illuminate. We were talking about the importance of praying and praying for one another.

And I talked about, you know, Christ praying for us and interceding for us. And you could see like sort of a light bulb moment in the student's eyes. You're like, wait a minute. What? I was like, yeah, look at the Bible.

Look what it says. That was a cool moment. That's right. Again, the love we're talking about here, the word is agape. It is the culmination of all the Christian virtues, which is what this passage is about. Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, on and on and on until we get to love. It is the crowning jewel, it is the capstone of our Christian walk.

Yeah. And I think that's kind of what we've been saying all along is you can't be a Christian and be loving if all these things aren't there. Which it sounds crazy because, again, I think we're so used to starting with love. It's like, well, I can be loving and not be excellent.

I can be loving and not have great self-control. But how? How can you do it? Add to it. Add to it. Add to it. You cannot add to what? Air? True.

To nothingness. You're trying to add love. And that's how many of our loving relationships are really nothing but fluff.

The moment something is expected, they don't come through because there was nothing there. I was literally just about to ask you, do you think we're putting love as an emotion? And so when that emotion's not there, it must not be love. Right. Because love is this overwhelmingly positive thing. Right.

But I'm thinking even with your parents, when your parents correct you, they discipline you, they love you, but it does not feel good. Nobody's happy. Right. Right. People point to that as a reason for marriage is falling apart. I don't feel that feeling of love anymore. When love is not a feeling, it's an action. Love is verb.

It's not something that comes over you and just kind of washes over you in this heart eyes and makes your heart beat faster. That's right. And I'm thinking even love is being one with Christ. There were times where Jesus was not happy.

Right. Jesus rebuked people. Jesus stood for what was right.

He made those difficult decisions that leaders have to make. But if love is truly being one with Christ, then it's looking more and more like him. That's right. I love that. That's right. The final rung in that ladder, just like Paul even says in First Corinthians 13, 13, and now abide faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love. True. The final rung is love.

That's awesome. But also that word agape is a love that is productive and fruitful. So I think you sort of covered that because this love is a doing love. It's not just a feeling love.

It's a doing love. So Second Peter 1 says, for if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So if you have these things and you are abounding in these things, then you will be neither barren nor unfruitful.

When you say unfruitful, it makes me think of like the fruit of the spirit. You know what I mean? Yes. Love.

Love, joy, peace, all that. Yeah. But here it's not a psoritis. And Galatians 5 22 is what you're referring to.

It's not a psoritis. Remember psoritis is how each virtue builds on the previous one and keeps going. Galatians 5 22 actually begins the other way around. So love starts it, right? And so we need to keep in mind that love is something you do, not just something you feel.

You made a point one time on, I think it was on the show, but if it wasn't, maybe you could just kind of rehash it a little bit, where it's not the fruits of the spirit. It's one fruit. Right. But it's all these different things.

Love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness. All these things are fruit singular. What is the significance of that? The Holy Spirit does not just give you one or the other. In fact, it's a singular word anyway. Right. In Galatians 5 22, it's a singular. So the theological implication there is when you have the Holy Spirit, you have all those things. Gotcha.

Now you have to work out what has been worked in. Same principle here. The only difference between Galatians 5 22 and 2 Peter 1 5 through 7 is that in Galatians 5 22, they're just listed. These are the things you're getting because of the Holy Spirit. In 2 Peter, you are being given the process of the growth. So that's an interesting way to approach it because in the 2 Peter passage, if I'm struggling in one particular area or one rung, I'm going to look backwards at the rungs that I should have passed to this point and see what's breakdown.

To see which one I messed up or I'm not taking seriously or I'm trying to skip. Right. But in the Galatians passage, in the fruit of the Spirit, it's not that I'm missing one of the fruits in this cornucopia of fruit. It's that I'm missing an element, an essential component of the one fruit that I'm supposed to be.

That's a good point. And it's crazy because I've always thought of it as separate fruits. It's another thing that I think is important to point out, and I think you've pointed this out from the pulpit many times, is that the fruits of the fruit of the Spirit is not for me.

I don't enjoy the fruit, you know? Right. Because in Galatians 5 22, I'm trying to pull that up on my phone here because this is such a powerful example. But in Galatians 5 22, the whole context is regarding the law and grace. And the Holy Spirit has been given to you, and you have everything the Holy Spirit has for you. So there it's more of an assurance.

This is yours. And also, in a sense, an examination of if you don't have and you have the other things, then more than likely you don't belong to God. Right. So if that assurance is there, then that's evidence that it's not for you to gain from, you know what I mean? Because it's given. It's something that other people see in your life, and they gain from it. Just like you said, a tree doesn't eat its own fruit. It bears fruit, but not for itself to consume. It's for someone else to come along and be able to gain from the fruit that you bear.

Right. That's the fact that our love should be a benefit to other people. And that changes the mindset from being a feeling, because a feeling of love is primarily something that I experience. My wife doesn't experience how much feeling I have toward her. I can display that, but then that's an action. That's not a feeling.

She can't experience what I'm feeling. What I was looking for was Galatians 5 16, it says, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Wow. So 2 Peter 1 5-7 is more about climb these wrongs. Galatians 5 is more about let the Holy Spirit lead your life, and you will bear the fruit. That's incredible, because... Two different purposes.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think of some of the godly men that I know, especially you two, but even some of the other godly men that I've seen, where I can see Christ in them. And I see the fruit that they're bearing. And it makes me feel that love. You know what I mean?

It's not that feeling love is bad. That comes when you see Christ being exemplified in the people that you admire, especially the godly men and women that He's put in your life. Hopefully today was helpful for you guys. Hope it enhanced your level of love for other people. Write in and let us know what you got from today's episode.

2-5-2-5-8-2-5-0-2-8. Or you can visit us online at clearviewtodayshow.com. And we would love for you to scroll to the bottom and click that donate button. Amen to that. What did you say? Amen to that. Oh, I didn't hear what you said. I was like, what? I said, amen to that.

Click that donate button. Let us know what's coming from our Clearview Today Show family. Also, I want you to go over and visit... You tried to confront me on the air. No, no.

I thought I misunderstood you. No, you're good. Go over and visit mightymuscadine.com, the sponsors of today's episode. Use the promo code TODAY when you check out.

That's T-O-D-A-Y. It's going to get you a discount. And a portion of that purchase comes right back here to the Clearview Today Show. What's coming up tomorrow? Circling all the way back to 2 Peter, one of the things he talked to us about was people who profess Christ and yet lead you away from Christ.

Believe it or not, there are people out there who will claim the name of Jesus who maybe don't mean you harm but will absolutely start doing you some harm. We're going to talk about that tomorrow right here on Clearview Today. Make sure you guys tune in. Love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview Today.