Seven Supplements that Guarantee Spiritual Strength

This sermon unpacked the seventh and crowning supplement Peter urges us to pursue: agape—God‑shaped love. We traced how agape differs from the other Greek words for love (storge, philia, eros), why the early world found it odd, and why Scripture repeats it so often. Using 1 Corinthians 13, the sermon moved from definition to action: agape is shown by what it does and what it refuses to do. Rather than a warm feeling or a one‑time decision, agape is a Spirit‑enabled practice that corrects our motives, steadies our behavior, and makes the gospel believable.

Key Takeaways

• 1. Love as the crown and guardrail of Christian growth: Agape is not an optional extra or a sentimental add‑on; it is the element that keeps every other virtue from becoming a distortion. Without it, knowledge puffs up, steadfastness hardens into self‑preservation, and virtue calcifies into legalism. A daily spiritual check asks not only what you do for God but why you do it—are your acts of faith shaped and bounded by sacrificial love?
• 2. Agape shows itself in patient, kind action, not just feeling: Paul begins his picture of love with the twin verbs “patient” and “kind,” which means love is first learned in the slow, awkward, annoying places of life. The little‑boots story reminds us that true love stays at the task, calms its irritation, and serves even when it’s inconvenient or humiliating. Practically, this makes love a discipline: choose small acts of patient kindness and let the Spirit teach your heart to mean it.
• 3. Love refuses to keep a ledger; it chooses forgetting and mercy: Agape does not count grievances or stir the pot of past injuries; it turns off the stove where resentments simmer. This is not naive amnesia but a deliberate, Spirit‑wrought refusal to rehearse wrongs that would harden your heart and poison relationships. Cultivating such forgetting requires a practiced habit of confession, repentance, and a willingness to absorb cost rather than demand reparations.
• 4. Agape bears, believes, hopes, and endures—resilient realism, not sentimental optimism: Paul’s verbs show love as a structure that carries weight and keeps expecting good even when evidence is mixed. Loving like this means taking responsibility to support others under pressure, choosing trust when suspicion is easier, and holding hope for growth when failure is frequent. It is a tough love that endures friction without capitulating to cynicism, because it roots its confidence in Christ’s character and promises, not human performance.
• 5. Love is the church’s essential witness: without agape, eloquence, prophecy, and knowledge are mere noise—a cymbal crash that fails to persuade. The gospel is most convincing not when we win arguments but when we live a costly, other‑centered love that echoes Christ’s giving. The practical test of discipleship Jesus gives is relational: our distinctive identity before the world is shown by how we love one another, so measure your ministry by the warmth and sacrificial care people find in your presence.

1. Which seven “supplements” does Peter list in 2 Peter 1:5–7, and where is agape (love) placed in that chain?
2. How did the sermon describe the difference between agape and the other Greek words for love (storge, philia, eros)? What made agape strange to the ancient world?
3. According to 1 Corinthians 13 as used in the sermon, what specific behaviors or habits show what agape “does” and what it “refuses to do”? Name at least four positive actions and four things love does not do.
4. What two short stories or images did the speaker use to illustrate patience/kindness and refusing to keep a ledger?

1. What does calling agape the “crown” or “guardrail” of the Christian life imply about how the other virtues (knowledge, steadfastness, godliness) function without it?
2. In what way does agape change the motive behind a believer’s actions, according to the sermon? How would the same action look different if done with agape versus without it?
3. Why was agape countercultural in the first‑century Greco‑Roman world, and how does that cultural contrast help explain the sermon’s claim that agape must be learned by the Spirit rather than assumed?
4. The sermon described agape as a Spirit‑enabled practice rather than merely a feeling. What implications does that have for how someone should intentionally pursue growth in love?

1. Think of one person who consistently tests your patience (a spouse, child, coworker, neighbor). What concrete act of patient kindness will you do for that person this week? (Be specific: what, when, and for how long.)
2. When was the last time you found yourself “keeping a ledger” of wrongs? Name the grievance and choose one immediate step you will take this week to “turn off the stove” (for example: confess to God, apologize, initiate a restorative conversation, or decide not to rehearse it).
3. Identify one ministry or relationship where you might be tempted to perform for approval (pride, bragging, self-promotion). What one accountability step will you put in place this month to check your motive? (Examples: ask a friend to speak truth to you, remove a social post, or keep a private journal of motives.)
4. Who in your circle needs someone to “bear, believe, hope, and endure” for them right now? Name a practical way you can support that person in the next two weeks (a meal, an encouraging note, an hour of listening, financial help, prayer visits).
5. Pick one small daily discipline to cultivate agape as a habit for 30 days (examples: a short prayer before difficult interactions—“Lord, show me love”; pause three deep breaths before replying in anger; write down one act of unnoticed kindness each day). What will you choose, and how will you measure whether it’s helping?
6. The sermon said the church’s witness is measured by warm, sacrificial care. How will you invite honest feedback this month from one person you serve (family member, team member, someone in church) about whether they feel loved in your presence? What will you do with that feedback?
7. Close practical step: each person name one specific way the group can pray for their growth in agape this week and one action they will take; then pair up (or form triads) to follow up next meeting.