At times we can see self-reproach as a spiritual virtue. It appears to be in the category of agreeing with God that I am a sinner.” Which is a true statement. However, self-reproach is applied in such a way that “I am chief among sinners” becomes “God must hate me” rather than “God must love me.” This interpretation leads to all kinds of corrosive beliefs. A self-examined life becomes a search for some hidden or unconscious sin, rather than a celebration of the grace we find in Christ.
Showing posts with label Jesus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesus. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
Monday, February 14, 2022
Love Sustaining Love
Watch Sermon Here: https://www.sermonaudio.com/solo/rbcchurch/sermons/213222013388097/
A few weeks back someone asked me, “How love could be both
the root and the fruit of the Christian life?” It is a very good question. Today
I hope to describe how love and be the root, growth, and fruit of the Christian
life. To illustrate this, I am going to use the analogy of an apple tree. I am
holding in my hand here an apple seed. And in my other hand an apple. Now we
can understand how this can become this over time. This analogy is useful in
understanding love of God and how it can be the seed, root, growth, and fruit
of our lives.
Another way to examine love is to look at it grammatically.
“Love loves love!” is a complete sentence. Love is the subject, action, and
object. In this way we can look at love as being a complete package. It is the
fullness of love that is lived out in the Christian life.
As I mentioned in last week’s sermon God is the source and
author of love. God is love. In this way when we come to Christ God plants the
seed of love in our heart and lives that is His Holy Spirit. When we allow this
love to mature in our lives it is the action of this love to produce
sanctification in our lives. By loving God and others well the seed of love
grows into maturity. In the flesh we simply love those who love us. Jesus says
“What good is it to only love those who love you. Even sinners do the same.” So,
then the higher mature love is to let God through His process of sanctification
work in your heart to put to death selfish and unloving ways. As we mature then
God uses our lives to produce mature fruit. This fruit of love is then a
witness to a lost world, but also a ministry to the brothers and sisters in
Christ.
In this way love can be both the source and the fruit. And
this should not come as a surprise to us. The Bible frequently describes how we
reap what we sow.
Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a
person sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap
destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap
eternal life from the Spirit. Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will
reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.
Why should we expect anything different when it comes to the
greatest spiritual virtue of love?
The point is this: The person who sows sparingly will
also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap
generously.
Let’s dig into God’s Word!
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every
branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. You are already
clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I in you.
Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the
vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the
branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because
you can do nothing without me. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown
aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire,
and they are burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever
you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: that you
produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples. “As the Father has loved me, I
have also loved you. Remain in my love. 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. “I
have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be
complete. “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. No one has
greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. You are my
friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants anymore,
because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you
friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my
Father. You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and
produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the
Father in my name, he will give you. “This is what I command you: Love one
another.
I have already talked about the second part of that passages
in the past two sermons. Jesus has laid down His life for our sins. He is
talking about those that place their faith in Him the ones that listen and obey
Him. Jesus is calling them friends. This is what happens when we turn from
living a sinful and selfish life to trusting in Christ as our Lord and Savior.
What a friend we have in Jesus.
This command to love is connected then to the sacrifice that
Jesus has made. Jesus also is a commanding us to “love one another.” This
command to love one another is connected then to the first part of this passage
with an important phrase. Jesus says in John 15:9
““As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love.” The
phrase “remain in my love” establishes a clear connection between the visual of
vine and branches and His teaching on loving obedience to God and sacrificial
love toward others. Taking it a step further I believe that the description the
follows the metaphorical language is one of Jesus’ explanations to his
disciples (See Matthew 13:10-17). We know that Jesus would use the
metaphorical language of parables and then pull His disciples aside to explain
what the parables meant.
The Source of Love
Ultimately Jesus is our source of Life and Love. In this
passage Jesus refers to himself as the vine and refers to us as branches. God
the Father is the gardener. We see then that it is our connection to and
abiding in Christ that gives us life and fruitfulness. We often look at our
salvation experience through the lens of getting a ticket to heaven. However,
if we take the metaphoric language seriously there is a life sustaining
connection to Christ that is needed. It also says that those that are not
fruitful are cut off and thrown into the fire.
The question might be what causes a branch to be unfruitful?
There is a verse I want to zero in on here. John 15:6
“If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he
withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”
I recall when we used to have rose bushes that I would cut
back once a year. In the spring as the bush would grow there were on occasion
branches on the bush that although they were connected to the base of the rose
bush physically, they were not connected in a life-giving way. This is referred
to as die back. It is important to cut out the die back when it is detected as whatever
is causing it can infect the health tissue in the rose bush and cause it to
die. I bring this up because Jesus seems to be saying that there is a
difference between being physically connected to the vine and abiding in the
vine. When we are merely physically connected, we do not produce fruit because
we are dead. In the same way a dead rose branch will never produce a rose and
needs to be cut off if we are not connected to abiding in Christ then we will
likewise be cut off. That is dead in a spiritual sense. This has eternal
consequences. This passage also says that these branches will be burned up.
This is a clear representation of eternal punishment in hell in my opinion.
John 3:16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his
one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have
eternal life.” This is a familiar verse to most church goers. It also can be
familiar to the world at large. Less familiar is John 3:18
“Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe
is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and
only Son of God.” It is this condemnation that leads to branches being burned
up.
Notice the connection to love though. In John 3:16
we read “For God so loved the world.” In John 15:9
we read “remain in my love.” The Gospel is an expression of God’s love for us.
We experience and are connected to God’s love when we believe in Jesus Christ
as our savior.
Jesus is the source of our love. It is his love that flows
into our lives and enables us to bear the fruit of love.
Using the picture then this apple seed is symbolic of the
gospel of God’s love. If this gospel it received and planted then it grows up.
Love, more specifically God’s love is that seed.
The Growth of Love
Pruning
It would seem that there is more to this than simply
believing in Christ. In this metaphorical language Jesus also says that God the
Father is pruning those that remain in Christ. There is not only salvation, but
also a process of sanctification that is occurring as God removes those parts
of you that are getting the way of being fruitful. As followers of Christ then
we must be willing to respond to God to remove those barriers. Jesus not only
describes the action of being cleaned, but also the method of being cleaned.
Notice John
15:3 “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”
It is the Word that God uses to do His pruning. Our Heavenly
Father is the Gardener and His Word is the pruning shears. God’s word is often
represented as an instrument that cuts.
For the word of God is living and effective and sharper
than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and
spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of
the heart.
There are so many things that get in the way of the fruit of
love. None greater in my estimation than the thoughts and intentions of the
heart. Truly as I think about the times that I have failed to love well it is
nearly always one of these two. On the one hand the way that I think about the
other person has a huge influence on how I treat them. It is also possible that
when it comes down to it, I really never intended to love them in the first
place. My thoughts about the other person simply become a way to soothe my
conscience for acting in an unloving manner toward them. I can justify being
unloving because they deserve it.
One more point before moving on. I realize that we can push
metaphors too far so as to lose their meaning, but if you will indulge me just
a bit. Pruning shears are no good to us if they simply sit in the shed
collecting dust. It is only when we take them out and use them to prune that
the purpose of the shears is fulfilled. Can I just say an unopened Bible is
like pruning shears stored away in a shed. As we talked about last week it is
only by being in the Word of God that we can know what it is that we are to
obey. This week I would extend that to say that it is only by studying the Word
of God that God can actively remove those things that God wants out of our
lives. If you wonder why God is not producing fruit in our life individually or
in the collective lives of our church is it possible that we do not spend
nearly enough time in His Word if we spend any time at all?
So back to my analogy then. The seed of the gospel grows up
into a tree. This apple tree is cared for by God. He loves and cleans the
believer so that they will be fruitful. At times this cleaning is unpleasant.
No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful.
Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who
have been trained by it.
We often consider suffering and discipline as being the
opposite of love. But it is not so God genuinely cares for you and longs for
good in your life. Submitting to His discipline is for our ultimate well-being.
Apathy that is a lack of care or concern is the opposite of love.
Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son, and do
not loathe his discipline; for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, just as a
father disciplines the son in whom he delights.
So then love is the growth of the apple tree toward
maturity.
The Fruit of Love
Keep my commands / Love one another
I know we discussed this last week. One of the key ways that
we express love toward God is through obedience to His commands. Jesus tells us
that keeping His commands is the way that we remain in His love. This truth can
generally apply to all the commands of God. In the New Testament there are over
300 commands of Christ. Admittedly not all the commands apply to us. Some apply
to the disciples alive at the time of Christ. Jesus in this passage focuses on
one command in particular. In John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, I have also loved
you. Remain in my love.” He then redirects the command to focus on others in John 15:12
“This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.” He repeats the
command again saying John 15:17 “This is what I command you: Love one another.”
The command to “Love one another” placed so closely to the
Vine metaphor and the keep my commands statement would make this particular
command of primary importance. The fact that Jesus says it twice would make
this an especially important emphasis of His teaching to “remain in his love.”
It seems that to remain in Christ’s love that we are obliged to love one
another. This is consistent with other passages in scripture as well. I have
covered many of these “love one another” commandments in my previous two
sermons. Just to highlight a couple of them:
Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since
love covers a multitude of sins.
Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must
love one another.
Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take
the lead in honoring one another.
Truthfully, I could go on and on with the multitude of
verses that command us to love one another that are in God’s Word. The command
to love is an unambiguous teaching of God’s word. If we are to remain in Christ
then Love ought to be central theme of our relationships. Further Love that is
our ability to love one another is the central evidence that God’s love is in
us.
The primary purpose of abiding, pruning, obeying, and loving
is found in John
15:8 “My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove
to be my disciples.” The aim is to glorify God through being fruitful and
proving to be Jesus disciples.
In Galatians and Ephesians, we find a good summary of what
this fruit is to look like.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The
law is not against such things.
Ephesians
5:8–10 (CSB)
Walk as children of light—for the fruit of the light
consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth—testing what is pleasing to
the Lord.
Love is a sort of shorthand for all these things. Notice
that the in the Fruit of the Spirit that Love is the first thing that is
mentioned. It is not a stretch to suggest that Love is the premier fruit.
Notice also that the Fruit of Light which is goodness, righteousness, and truth
is consistent with Loving God which is to say obeying His truth. Fruitfulness
in the Christian life necessarily involves love both loving God and loving
others. That is why Jesus said:
Matthew
22:37–40 (CSB)
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important
command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and
the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
Love also is how we prove that we are Jesus’ disciples as
well:
“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I
have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know
that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
When the people outside the church look in, they don’t say,
“Oh those people sure are smart!” Nor do they say, “Those Christians they are
so righteous.” No Jesus says it plainly, “Everyone will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another.” Love is our witness to a dark world. Love
is our witness when everything around us is violence. Love is our witness when
contempt is the way of the times. Love is our witness while the world is
tearing itself apart. Love, it is love that is our witness. It is love that
shows others that we are abiding in Christ. In short if you want to Glorify God
then you must love Him and love one another.
This apple is the fruit of the seed and the tree of the
apple. In this same way Love in particular the love of Christ is the seed of
love in our lives. As we abide in Christ the love and life-giving sap allows us
to grow up and mature like an apple tree. God prunes us with His word. Finally,
this same love become the fruit that glorifies our Heavenly Father. Love
sustains love.
Love Sustains Love
As we draw to a close this series of messages on love, I
want to challenge you all to consider a few things.
First are you in Christ? This message only makes sense if
you are in Christ. If not then I want to encourage you to seek to be in Christ.
Truthfully Jesus is seeking for you this morning. If you want to be found in
Christ then in a few minutes we will be having a time of commitment. I would
love to have a chance to share with you about how to abide in Christ. Our staff
would also be available after the service if you want to pull one of us aside
to learn more about this.
Second, if you are in Christ are you in God’s Word? As we
have learned the only way, we can know what is pleasing to God is to study His
message to us found in the Bible. We also learned today That God prunes the
dead things in our lives using the Word found in scripture.
Finally, Are you fruitful in love? This is a burden for me.
Everywhere I look in our times there is contempt, mean spirited words, hate,
and violence. Brothers and Sisters, we must present ourselves different from
the world. We cannot fall into the darkness of the world or follow the ways of
the world. Let our love that is love for God and love for others shine brightly
in a dark dark world. Further let’s not make this love mere lip service. Let’s
not make this love be a simple attitude adjustment. No let’s serve God with all
our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Let’s sacrificially love and build up one
another. Let’s take the greatest love story humanity has ever known to a world
that desperately needs His love. That is the heart our Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s
pray!
Monday, February 7, 2022
From Love Commanded to Love Lived Out
Here is the link to this sermon: https://www.sermonaudio.com/solo/rbcchurch/sermons/26222242321050/
God’s Faithful Love
Prayer as it relates to love
God’s Love Is Faithful
Loving God’s Truth
Loving Others
What does love look like?
Conclusion
Bible college professor Yohanna Katanacho, who pastors a
small church in Jerusalem, is subjected to much persecution. Israeli soldiers
who patrol the city looking for potential terrorists impose spontaneous curfews
on Palestinians and have the legal right to shoot at a Palestinian who does not
respond quickly enough to their summons.
Yohanna tried and failed in his attempts to love his
enemies. The Israeli soldiers’ random daily checks for Palestinian
identification cards—sometimes stopping them for hours—fed Yohanna’s fear and
anger. As he confessed his inability to God, Yohanna realized something
significant. The radical love of Christ is not an emotion, but a decision. He
decided to show love, however reluctantly, by sharing the gospel message with
the soldiers on the street. With new resolution, Yohanna began to carry copies
of a flyer with him, written in Hebrew and English, with a quotation from
Isaiah 53 and the words “Real Love” printed across the top. Every time a
soldier stopped him, he handed him his ID card and the flyer. Because the quote
came from the Hebrew Scriptures, the soldier usually asked him about it before
letting him go.
After several months, Yohanna realized his feelings
toward the soldiers had changed. “I was surprised, you know?” he says. “It was
a process, but I didn’t pay attention to that process. My older feelings were
not there anymore. I would pass in the same street, see the same soldiers as
before, but now find myself praying, ‘Lord, let them stop me so that I can
share with them the love of Christ.’ ”
—“When Love Is Impossible,” Trinity Magazine (Fall 2005)
This morning I hope I can give you a taste of what it means
to love God and love others. Truthfully, I have been working on this for nearly
a year and half and I still believe I have much more to learn about Love. The
likelihood that I will be able to condense all there is to know about
practically living out love in a 30-minute sermon is nil. If I were to preach
on the what the Bible teaches about love every Sunday it would take nearly 4
years to deal with every passage that the Bible mentions love. There is no way
possible to accomplish that task in a few sermons. So, my hope is to highlight
a few things and then encourage you to do some exploring on your own.
God’s Faithful Love
In God’s word we read that God is love.
Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is
from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one
who does not love does not know God, because God is love. God’s love was
revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so
that we might live through him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but
that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. No
one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and his love
is made complete in us. This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us:
He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and we testify that the Father
has sent his Son as the world’s Savior. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son
of God—God remains in him and he in God. And we have come to know and to
believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in
love remains in God, and God remains in him. In this, love is made complete
with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he
is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; instead, perfect
love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So, the one who fears
is not complete in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I
love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the person
who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom
he has not seen. And we have this command from him: The one who loves God must
also love his brother and sister.
God is love. We look to the life of Christ as the
manifestation of God with us. He is our Emmanuel which means God with us. In
this passage I just read Jesus demonstrates His love by pursuing us and
ultimately sacrificing His life for our salvation. He was willing to give all
for you and for me for our ultimate wellbeing. That we might be able to be
saved from sin and destruction.
In the Old Testament we learn about “Faithful Love.” The
Hebrew word is hesed (Hay-sayd). This word is most often translated “faithful
love.” It also is translated “Kindness” “Loyalty” “Gracious” “Faithfulness” and
“Constant Love.” When we say God is love it is this love that we are
referencing. God’s love is faithful, God’s love is kindness, God’s love is
gracious, God’s love is constant!
The first time this word is used in the Bible it is in a
prayer by a servant of Abraham while seeking a bride for Abraham’s son Isaac. Genesis
24:12-14
“Lord, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “make this
happen for me today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. I am standing here
at the spring where the daughters of the men of the town are coming out to draw
water. Let the girl to whom I say, ‘Please lower your water jug so that I may
drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also’—let her be
the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you
have shown kindness to my master.”
As he finishes the prayer Rebekah arrives. She is beautiful
and full of hospitality and grace. She invites the servant of Abraham back to
her father’s house. She was a perfect match for Issacs. So the Servant praises
God saying: Genesis
24:27 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not
withheld his kindness (hesed) and faithfulness from my master.”
Prayer as it relates to love
Before moving on I want to note something about prayer as it
relates to love. This servant knew something about God’s faithful love. He
prayed that God’s faithful love would be made reality. When it came to pass
then He worshiped and praised God for His faithful love. This seems to me a
good pattern for us to follow. We seek to learn about God’s faithful love, we
pray that God’s faithful love be a reality in our lives, and praise God when
His faithful love is manifest in our lives.
There are many other occasions that God’s people praise
God’s faithful love. One such instance is in the song the Israelites sang after
crossing the Red Sea on Dry land. The whole event was evidence of God’s mighty
hand at work. The protection from the Egyptians pursuing them, the parting of
waters, the crossing all of it was God’s hand. They sang a song of praise. One
stanza of this song says
With your faithful love, you will lead the people you
have redeemed; you will guide them to your holy dwelling with your strength.
300
Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon The Love of God Burns in Our
Hearts (1
John 4:7, 19; Jude 21)
You have a magnifying glass and hold it up before the
sun until you focus the rays on a piece of dry wood and set it on fire. Now,
while you see the wood burning to ashes, will you tell me what it is that
burns? Does the heat of the sun burn the wood or does the wood burn? The heat
that you feel while the wood is burning, is it due to the sun or to the wood?
Of course at first the fire is purely and simply the flame of the sun, but
afterwards the wood itself begins to burn; the sun burns the wood and then the
wood itself burns.
Even so the love of God comes into our heart, and then
our heart loves too, and in both cases “love is from God” (1 John 4:7).
No man is a Christian unless he himself loves God with his own heart, but yet
our love to God is nothing more or less than the reflection of God’s love to
us: so that it comes to the same thing.
The point I think is to understand how to love God we must
first learn to understand God’s faithful love for us, seek to have that love
manifest in our lives, and praise Him for his faithful love. The foundation of
our love for God is not something that we find in ourselves ultimately. It is a
manifestation of God’s faithful love flowing through us back to God and toward
others. God’s faithful love in us.
God’s Love Is Faithful
Our affections can ebb and flow. The things I loved as a
young adult seem quite trivial to me now. And the things that seemed trivial
back then have become more important to me now. Love expressed in this way is
not really the type of love we are seeking to understand here. God’s love is
faithful. If we are to represent and manifest God’s love then our love ought to
be faithful as well. What does faithful love look like?
As a Christian we know that God highest love is the atoning
work of Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Jesus said before He died on a cross
that
“This is my command: Love one another as I have loved
you. No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
We also read that:
This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his
life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
When we look at these words of Christ and John, Christ’s
sacrifice is central to the love we are discussing here today. You see our sin
separates us from the faithful love that God wants to show us. So much so that
left to our own ends we remain separated and unable to obey the command to love
others. So, is Jesus asking us to do something that is impossible then? Well
yes and no. It is impossible to love as God has commanded us without some
supernatural change in our hearts and lives. Jesus is more than an example of
how to love others. He is the very substance of Love that enables us to love
God and Love others. It is the Gospel that is the source of ultimate love that
flows into our lives and redeems our souls so that we can love God and love
others empowered ultimately by God’s Holy Spirit.
Now if you have obeyed the Gospel then you already know what
I am talking about. However, if you are here this morning and you have never received
the message of salvation for your soul then the rest of this sermon is unlikely
to do you any good. You must settle in your heart today whether you will
surrender your life to Jesus Christ and make him savior and Lord of your life.
Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the dead is the most supreme
and loving act of all history. He wants you to respond and follow in his loving
sacrifice. That is the obedience Jesus and John are proclaiming here. To Love
God is to respond favorably to this Gospel call. This is the first step of
obedience that grows and matures into the fullness of loving God and loving
others.
Loving God’s Truth
Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the
truth.
Time and again God’s word connects obedience to loving God.
Last week a shared several verses with you that stated how if we love God, we obey
his commands.
But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God
is made complete. This is how we know we are in him:
Truly obedience to God’s word is our act of love. We are
walking in love when we are faithful to God’s commands. This loyalty to God’s
commands then is an expression of faithful love. It is this love for which we
are striving. Why do we love God? Because God first loved us!
Jesus said it this way:
He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
You see this love for God is Loving God with all your heart,
soul, and mind.
How do we know God’s truth?
So, if loving God is obeying his commands, then the next
logical question is how do we know God’s commands? Jesus has already answered
that by quoting the verse in the Old Testament. Let’s look at that verse now:
“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to
your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk
along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on
your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the
doorposts of your house and on your city gates.
So how do we know God’s commands? Well one thing you are
doing correctly right now is showing up. When we come together to hear from
God’s Word, we are learning a bit about God’s commands. So, seeking out solid
Bible teaching is essential. We have life groups that meet on Sundays and some
during the week. These groups spend time in God’s word learning from God’s Word
and challenging one another to live out God’s commands in our lives. One thing
though that is often missing is study God’s word for ourselves. Your love for
God will be directly related to the amount of time that you spend in the Bible.
This passage says to have God’s word in your heart repeat them to your
children, talk about God’s word as you go through life, bind them to your hand
write them on your forehead. God’s word is to be an intimate part of everyday
life not just something you study once or twice a week. If you want to love God
more, you would do well to spend more time studying and meditating on God’s
word. Then as God’s will becomes more and more apparent, then you will learn
and live out faithful love.
I just finished reading the Bible cover to cover in 90 days.
I am going through a second time and am about a third of the way through. I
read about an hour a day. Now think about this how many activities during the
day do you spend an hour or more that have no eternal consequence. Would you be
willing to join with me this year to give an hour a day for studying God’s word?
Maybe you don’t read as fast. That is OK it is not a race. Read at your pace,
just get into the word. Maybe you have a short attention span. That is OK as
well. Take 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes midday and 20 minutes in the
evening. My challenge to you is to regularly get into God’s word. It is only by
knowing God’s word that we can truly obey His word and it is only by obeying
his word that we can genuinely love God! If you commit to this hour a day you
will be able to read through the Bible easily within the next year. Even when
you miss a day or two along the way.
Loving Others
I would like to now turn our focus on to loving people. I
will not be able to adequately cover the breadth of this subject. I only hope
that we can get a taste of what it means and that you would as you dig into
God’s word to get the depth of how we are to love each other.
Without rehashing last week’s sermon let’s makes some quick
observations and then dig into a couple points. When we think about love for
others there are multiple categories of people that this applies to. Each group
we will experience and express love differently. This is mainly the nature of
the relationships that we have. For example, the love I express toward my wife
Amy is going to be different in experience and expression than the love I
generally express to all of you. Some key groups then we see in scripture are
spouses, family, elders (family and church), friends, fellow Christians,
enemies, and the people world in general. Quickly then in a marriage love is to
be demonstrated in the way that a husband lays down his life for his wife (Ephesians
5:25-33; Colossians
3:19; 1
Peter 3:7). This also is demonstrated in the way that a wife in turn
respects her husband’s loving sacrifice toward her and submits to him. The
Bible is unambiguous on this: A loving marriage is between a man and a woman.
Our culture is working hard to redefine the nature of marital relationships. We
cannot compromise on this to disobey God is to say we really do not love Him.
That being said Husbands if you want to learn love, learn to lay your life down
for your wife. This is not an either or. This love only works when both husband
and wife are doing their part in relationship. With family we are to raise our
children not in anger but to love and honor God (Ephesians 6:4).
With our parents we are to honor them (Ephesians 6:1-3).
With fellow believers we love each other by building one
another up, encouraging, meeting together, seeking unity, seeking peace, and
provoking loving works (Ephesians 4:1-3,Colossians 3:14,
Hebrews
10:24). With our elders we are to care for them (1 Timothy
5:3-4, 8). With church elders we are to honor them and make sure they are
adequately compensated for their work (1 Timothy
5:17-20).
With friends we tell them the good news of Christ and serve
them where we are able; we love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31;
John
15:12-13). With our enemies we love them by providing for their basic
needs, treating them with kindness, and praying for them (Luke 6:27-36).
I have included the references to these verses so that you in your personal
Bible Study time can get into God’s Word and write upon your heart the reality
of God’s faithful love, our love for God, and our love for others. This week
and in the last sermon I referenced about 70 passages about this subject. There
are so many more I could have referenced. Someone joked after the last sermon
“I hope you don’t run out of verses to use in your sermon.” This is not
possible. In fact, God’s word mentions love over 752 times. To put this into perspective
the Bible (The numbers vary a bit depending on the English translation)
mentions the word doctrine 6 times, Discernment 36 times, Teach and teaching
231 times, learn 82 times, truth 170 times, and Holy 653 times. God’s
overwhelming message to is in His Word is Love! The word love is found
throughout the Bible. Here is a graph that shows the frequency of the word
Love.
I will make all the Bible references in the last two sermons
available on the RBC website and a paper copy is on the table in the back. I
encourage you to dig into God’s word.
What does love look like?
I would like to spend these closing moments highlighting a
few things from the love chapter.
Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is
not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not
irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in
unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for
prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for
knowledge, it will come to an end.
Love is long-suffering. The word patient is defined as
suffering long for the one that you love. It is interesting to me that the very
first characteristic of love is suffering. It seems strange, but as you
meditate on in it ultimately becomes a profound truth. When we suffer long for
the person, we love it becomes the ultimate expression of love.
Love is kind. Kindness is greatly missing from our lives in
our culture. We are more likely to experience contempt and rejection that
kindness and love. We can all work at being more kind to one another and those
around us.
Love is not self-seeking. When we use relationships for
selfish ends we cannot claim to be loving.
Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take
the lead in honoring one another.
The goal is to take the lead in the race of loving and
honoring each other. Further:
In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help
the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus,
because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Giving is a blessing. In fact, Jesus says the blessing that
comes from giving is greater than the blessing from receiving. Giving Love is
greater than receiving love from others! Showing Kindness is greater than
receiving Kindness. This is the mark of the Christian faith, “that we love one
another.”
Conclusion
What can we say then? First Love reflects God’s faithful
love. It is this loyal, kind, gracious, and steadfast love that God has for us
that is the foundation of the love that we have for God and others. It is only
by having this love in us through faith in Jesus Christ that this love is
possible. Second, to obey God is to love God. The only way we can know and obey
God is to saturate ourselves lives in His teachings. We do the through sermons,
study groups, and most importantly individual study of His word. Third, we know
that God has commanded us to love others. This takes many forms depending on
the nature of the relationship. It is unquestionable that we are to love in all
these relationships whether the inmate relationship of a spouse to the
challenge of those that persecute and hate you and everything in between. In
all things persevere in love. Finally, we need to recognize the love is
long-suffering, kind, and self-sacrificing. When we commit to this type of
love, which by is ultimately is expressed in Christ’s laying his life down for
our salvation our souls, then we will be revived, our church will flourish, and
our world will be transformed by the powerful faithful love of God. Let us
pray.
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Judgement is Coming
Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal
comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you.
Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may also
rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed. If you are ridiculed for the
name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests
on you. Let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a
meddler. But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let
him glorify God in having that name. For the time has come for judgment to
begin with God’s household, and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be
for those who disobey the gospel of God? And if a righteous person is saved
with difficulty, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? So then, let
those who suffer according to God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful
Creator while doing what is good.
In my last post I talked about how we as Christians can face
end times when we “stay alert, be sober minded, spend more time in prayer, love
in all ways and all circumstances, Practice being hospitable, and serving each
other well.” Now I would like to turn my attention to God’s Judgement and our
response to His judgment.
The first thing I would like to point out is that Peter
seems to be indicating that God’s judgement starts with “God’s household.” By
stating this we learn that God’s judgement is normal and expected. What is
more, for those in God’s household judgement is a sanctifying good! We must
shift our thinking about God’s judgement and learn how we can respond with hope to God's coming judgement!
When we are facing God’s Judgment it is easy to fear and
feel hopeless. I certainly have felt that way often as I look at the decay of
the society around us. Even a bit closer to home I see the decay in Christian
institutions as well. Anger, Hatred, Disgust seems to rule the day at times.
All of this makes sense to me. Been there done that!
Peter on the other hand offers a better way in this passage.
The answer is found in two paradoxes of the Christian faith. We can rejoice in suffering
and be blessed by insults. These two things it seems are related to God’s
judgment for His people. Let’s explore how these apply to us.
One of the first things Peter says in this section is that
we should not be surprised that when all around us has descended into
unrighteous and ungodly chaos that we as believers will experience “fiery
ordeals.” Further he suggests that these “fiery ordeals” are a test. We often
read that word test through and academic frame of reference. That is, we look
at tests as something we take to get a passing grade. However, test in this
since is an investigation into the quality of character you have in you. “What
are you made of?” is a better way to look at this test. When hardships come you
discover what a person really believes.
It reminds me of the parable of the soils. Remember the soil
in which the Word of God died in the heart of one of the people. Matthew 13:21
explains why this happens “But he has no root and is short-lived. When distress
or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away.” This test
is a benefit. We learn whether what we have in our hearts is true or false
faith. It can even be a benefit for the one that falls away for as long as he
or she continues to live there is an opportunity to come to God in true faith. It
is better to understand your faith is false and turn to true faith than to find
out in the last judgment that you never knew Christ (Matthew 7:23).
A common question that comes to mind during fiery ordeals is
“Why is this happening to me?” We treat it as something that is not supposed to
happen. Peter is saying that we should not see this as something that is
unusual. We should reach a point in our walk with God that we expect to be
tested. It is a part of our walk and more importantly our sanctification with
(and by) God (Hebrews
12:10). A “fiery ordeal” is similar in the way that precious metals are
made pure. Gold is purified by heating it up and burning off the impurities.
God wants us to be pure and turning up the heat is the instrument that he uses
to accomplish His purpose.
Next, we find the first paradox to rejoice in suffering.
These are not any kind of sufferings. These are the sufferings of Christ.
Handfuls
on Purpose for Christian Workers and Bible Students, Series I–XIII
Sufferings and Consolation
If we, as Christians, have consecrated ourselves to God
to do His will and to manifest His truth, as Christ did, we shall understand
something of the sufferings of Christ.
We in our western cultural mindset have adopted the belief
that rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness are a formula for
prosperity and comfort. To be honest we have had a good run of these things. So
much so that we begin to view this as the normal way of life. However, the
prosperity and relative ease of life we experience in the United States is an
oddity worldwide and historically. Even when many of the horrific world events
of the last 100 years have happened, we have for the most part been insulated
from the suffering these events have caused on individuals. As a result,
rejoicing in suffering is difficult to conceive. This lack of awareness of what
it means to suffer leads us to replace our idea of true suffering with trivial
inconveniences. The fact is we do not know suffering. Don’t get me wrong evil
still happens in the United States and suffering from that evil is a real thing.
However, we do not as a whole understand the depth of suffering that has
afflicted the whole of humanity.
What is my point? When we see suffering as abnormal then we
come to a passage that says “rejoice in suffering” we relegate suffering to
some far-off time and place. We do not see suffering as being expected and
normal for us. Further if we do have some sense of suffering if we are honest
about it most of the time it would fall into the category of nuisance.
We need to change this mindset. I am not saying that we need
to engage in self-flagellation. Self-inflicted suffering is something the Bible
clearly teaches us to avoid. However, if suffering is normal and as this
passage seems to indicate beneficial, then we need to work on changing our
mindset on this so that it aligns with the Word of God!
What are the sufferings of Christ? Two major areas in which
we as Christians can participate in the “sufferings of Christ” is through
obedience to God and speaking the truth.
Again, with the comfort mindset we think obedience to God
ought to lead to happiness. Eternally this is true. However, in this life
obedience can lead to sorrow, obedience can lead to extreme discomfort, and
obedience can lead to persecution. In the case of Jesus obedience led to death.
Taken a step further the torturous death of Christ was the plan from the
beginning. The sufferings of Christ were on purpose and not some unplanned
result of coming to an evil and chaotic world. Let the sink in. If this passage
is true then it may be part of God’s plan for you to experience deep sorrow, it
may be his plan to have you be extremely discomforted, and God may intend for
you to experience persecution. Now let me say something difficult. If you see
that as a dreadful thing then you are not yet prepared for the coming
judgement. It is time to steel your mind. If I am honest here, I am with you. I
don’t like it. But I also see the need to get ready. We need to put our house
in order!
Speaking the truth is vital to the sufferings of Christ. If
someone suffers for a lie then that does not seem all that special. That is the
way of the world. Again, and again lies and deceptions are creating all manner
of suffering in the world. No wonder the ruler of this world is the father of
lies (John
8:44). So, the world suffers for lies because it is in its nature to do so.
On the other hand, we as believers suffer for truth (at least we ought to).
This means that we need to be both selective and bold as to what we proclaim.
We need to be selective because we need to stand on the
truth of God. There are so many lies around us that it is easy to fall into the
trap of standing for something that sounds true, but in reality, is just a lie
dressed up in light. Please hear me on this. I have been grieved by how much
deception is in our world today. Not so much by the deception of those who hold
animosity toward God. That does not shock me or surprise their father is the
Devil. I have grieved over the deceptions that are promulgated by my brothers
and sisters in Christ. We have thrown discernment to the wind and hitched our
future to anyone that sounds like they might agree with us. I do not say this
as a judgement. Please understand my heart longs for Christians to stand for
the truth of God no more and no less. So being selective is vital to an end
times mindset. We cannot afford to fight battles that ultimately are rooted in
deception. This is not participating in the sufferings of Christ. And I
sincerely believe that the Devil wants to use these to rob us from rejoicing in
the sufferings of Christ. We will suffer! Whether we rejoice in suffering is
strongly connected to discernment starting with those that most agree with us.
This because the Devil is a crafty one and able to masquerade as an angel of
light (2
Corinthians 11:14). Test everything and hold on to what is true (1
Thessalonians 5:21); and not what I feel is true or sounds like it could be
true. Be selective!
Boldness is also needed. Too long we have been willing to
live quiet lives so as not to disturb the negotiated peace with the world. Here
is something that is vital. We cannot be bold in a worldly way. We must be bold
in the Love of God and in the Name of Christ. I have written many things about
God’s love and there is much more to write. It is God’s love that characterizes
the transformed believer. When we are bold in worldly ways (sarcasm, insults,
coarse jesting, deception, arrogance, instilling fear, shame, condemnation, and
the like) we trade power for love and in the end, we will lose both. We must
not let the world’s weapons of boldness become the poison that spews from our
mouths. It is sick and wrong. It dishonors the name of Christ. We must rise
above such pursuits and pursue love! Boldness in Love is the only redemptive
way to speak truth. Just to drive the point look at this passage:
Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the
waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with
cleverness in the techniques of deceit. But speaking the truth in love, let us
grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ.
By truth and obedience we will naturally experience the
sufferings of Christ because the world hates Christ and will in turn hate us (John 15:18).
Boldness that we have is rooted in the Name of Christ (1 Peter 4:16).
In times of judgement there will be pressure to be ashamed of the name of
Christ. However, our boldness comes from the very name the world wants us to be
ashamed of. One benefit of judgement of God is that the label Christian (i.e.
follower of Christ) that has been so distorted that it is meaningless in our
modern culture, will have a restored meaning. Those who do not follow Christ
will abandon the name Christian out of shame. Those that truly follow Christ
will be bold in their Christianity.
So then how do we rejoice in this?
One key point Peter is making to us is to look forward
beyond the present sufferings to when the Glory of Christ will be revealed (1 Peter 4:13).
The glory of Christ is hidden from those that are perishing (2
Corinthians 4:3-4), but one day it will be revealed for all to see. To
those that are perishing it will be to mourning (Revelation 1:7).
For the believer it will be rejoicing. So, one thing we keep in the forefront
of our mind is that we will be glorified IN CHRIST!
We also rejoice since God is using these sufferings to help
us to become the people he has called us to be. A call to Christian life is a
call to suffering. This suffering is for our benefit and growth in faith and
obedience. Without resistance of lifting weight our muscles don’t grow. Without
suffering our faith does not grow. Therefore, we rejoice in the sufferings of
Christ that our faith and character might be forged in the fires of ordeal.
Rejoicing is also protective. No suffering is pleasant.
Let’s be honest in our hedonistic selves we would never choose suffering. When
we expect to not suffer then we can easily become bitter when we do suffer. So,
in this way rejoicing protects us from the bitterness that naturally follows
most periods of suffering. There is a saying that “suffering can make you
bitter or better.” It is my belief that the outcome is related to whether you
can rejoice in suffering or not.
This brings us to the second paradox. It is a blessing to be
ridiculed. This is something that I can understand intellectually. It seems
heroic to stand for righteousness, love, and justice in the face of ridicule.
Every remarkable story has an element of this heroic stand in the face of evil.
However, we don’t live in the heroic fantasies of books, tv shows, or movies.
We don’t even really live in the fantasy in which we are the hero of our own
story. No in reality ridicule is something that tears us to the heart and will
inflame passions of rage (at times even murderous rage). Since enduring
ridicule is participating in the sufferings of Christ how did Jesus handle
ridicule?
For you were called to this, because Christ also
suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth; when he was
insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten
but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in
his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for
righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Jesus did not sin. Now I am not saying that we will live a
life of sinless perfection. We can and likely will miss the mark. However, just
because we miss the mark does not mean that we stop aiming. Jesus was not
deceptive. I have already talked about this, but it drives home how important
truth is. Jesus did not return insults. Jesus did not threaten those that
caused his suffering. He entrusted himself to God becoming obedient and laying
down his life for the forgiveness of sins and our righteousness. In this same
way we can entrust ourselves to Him and lay down our lives for the service of
others. That is how we respond to ridicule.
When we have a godly response to ridicule it is a blessing.
When we have an ungodly response to ridicule, we get what negative consequences
we deserve. Another way to think about it is when we respond insult for insult,
we rob ourselves of future blessings that God has for our lives and for
eternity.
The Holy Spirit figures strongly into how we respond to end
times judgment. God’s Spirit “rests on you.” Stop and think on that for a
moment. As judgement comes God covers us with his Holy Spirit.
Often wild land firefighters carry an emergency fire shelter
that can be deployed as a last resort if they become trapped by a fire. The
purpose of the shelter is to deflect the heat allowing the firefighter to
potentially survive a lethal situation.
This is similar to how God deals with us. The fire of God’s
wrath and judgement is coming. However, his Holy Spirit covers us and shelter
us to deflect the heat of His wrath. I do not think this analogy is much of a
stretch in light of the verse that follow later 1 Peter 4:18
“And if a righteous person is saved with difficulty, what will become of the
ungodly and the sinner?”
The Holy Spirit also strengthens and gives wisdom and
knowledge in addition to protecting the believer (Isaiah 11:2).
The Spirit of God gives us reverence for God. This reverence for God is greatly
beneficial in times of Judgement. Reverence and not bitterness is the
appropriate response to God’s discipline of our nation.
When the Spirit of God rests upon us, we have the Glory of
God resting upon us as well. Think about that for a moment. The eternal glory
of God is a covering as you face fiery ordeals. That should put hope in your
soul.
It is in this context that sufferings and insults become joy
and blessings.
There is a warning to us here though. When judgement comes
there will be a temptation to respond in a worldly manner. Peter stresses that
we cannot go that route. He lists four sins that will place us out of God’s
will for this trial: murder, theft, evil doing, and meddling. The first two seem
obvious enough, but what are the second two?
An evildoer is a person who deliberately engages in evil
activity and is worthy of punishment of that activity. That is an extensive
list of things that is covered by this one term. I won’t list all of them but Galatians
5:19-21 contains a partial list of evil actions. One bible word study I did
I came up with a list of 55 different evil actions that would be considered
evildoing. Some that I would think are relevant to this conversation are
deceiver, insurrectionist, slanderer, sexually immoral, false witness,
pretender, false teacher, scorner, and oppressor. As I said the list is long
and I could go on. Perhaps I may publish the list in a separate post. The point
is this, evildoers do not participate in the joy and blessings of God’s
judgement. Knowing this then we must make every effort to avoid every evil as
we face trials. This can be difficult. For example, when facing insults for
example we may naturally have the urge to counter attack, spread lies, be
cruel, become proud, engage in slander, and so on. Peter is warning that our
response to these things must be upright.
What is meddling and how do we avoid it? A meddler is a
particular type of evildoer. Peter must see this as something that needs to be
highlighted as we face trials. another translation of this word would be
busybody. It describes someone who is more interested in the affairs of others
than attending to their own issues. It is a tendency to point out the wrong of
others to gain a sense of moral superiority. Well the Bible makes it clear that
you do not gain moral superiority, but that you are an evil doer when you
engage in meddling (See 1 Timothy 5:13; 2
Thessalonians 3:11). We avoid meddling by following the teaching we find in
Ephesians
No foul language should come from your mouth, but only
what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those
who hear. And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the
day of redemption. Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be
removed from you, along with all malice. And be kind and compassionate to one
another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
This post is already long enough otherwise I would elaborate
on this a bit more. Maybe a future post.
Let me just be real for a moment. I have failed. The reality
that there are times of trials in my life that I have resorted to evil rather
than placing my faith in God and allowing the covering of His Spirit to guide
me. I say this with great shame and sorrow. To those I have hurt I am deeply
sorry. It is a shame that I carry and regret in the depths of my heart. God’s
grace rescues me from being hopelessly lost in regret. He is able to forgive me
when I confess my sin to Him (1 John 1:9).
Redemption from past mistakes is a blessing of God that even when we miss the
mark God is greater than all my sin and shame.
In the end the admonition of Peter is a good place to wrap
this post up.
So then, let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust
themselves to a faithful Creator while doing what is good.
God Bless You
~BJ
Sunday, October 10, 2021
Do Everything In Love
1
Corinthians 16:13–14 (NASB)
Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men,
be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
This is Paul’s final exhortation in his first letter to the
Corinthians. It is interesting in that the first part of the exhortation sounds
like a military recruiting commercial. Be Alert, Stand firm, Be a man, Be
strong. Then he turns the whole thing on its head with the last part by saying
“Do everything in Love.”
That modifier completely changes the message. In the New
American Standard translation, it says “Let all that you do be done in love.”
We want to do the right thing. We strive for living a life that honors
goodness. We long to be pleasing and holy. However, we miss this particularly critical
point by ignoring “in love.” Love is to be the overarching thing that guides
all that we do.
So, looking at the list you could say “Be alert, in love;
Stand firm in faith, in love; act like men, in love; Be strong, in love” If we
add the admonition “do it in love” to everything that we do something
fundamentally changes in the way that we approach life.
As I have tried to do this, I have realized how many
shortcomings I have. It is humbling to take this seriously and to apply it to
everything that you do.
If you are alert in love, it is a hopefulness that something
exciting is about to happen. Some great opportunity to show some bit of
kindness is going to present itself in an otherwise very harsh and unloving
world. This is contrasted with being alert in fear. This alertness is dread
that something bad is about to happen. Both are true by the way. But notice how
love redeems the moment.
Stand firm in faith with love is also sanctifying. Jesus
said those that have been forgiven much love much (Luke 7:47).
What does this mean. Well love is the action of a faithful believer that has
been forgiven. We stand firm when we allow our faith to guide us into good
works guided by love. The weapon against the evil in our world is not a to be
more evil than our enemy. The weapon is to love in the face of evil.
Act like men is a statement of maturity and courage. When we
love in maturity and courage it is powerful. Mature love is secure, lasting, confident,
and not easily beset by difficult circumstances. Courageous love takes it to
the difficult and dark places in life. It is a love that is bold and
uncompromising. Shame causes us to hold back and hide. Courage takes it to the
need and takes risks to accomplish great good. This is contrasted with “Be a
man” which is a statement of adequacy versus inadequacy. The fear of being
inadequate can drive many to say and do many destructive things. You see “in
love” focuses maturity and courage in a way fear can never can.
Be strong in love radically changes your focus from self to
other. Be strong makes you think about what you need to do to fortify yourself
and position. This self-focus is preparation for some great feat or battle.
There is a element of self-determination in the statement “Be strong.” When you
add in love the focus shifts. We are strong in love when we identify the object
of our love and use our strength to serve that object. If moves strength from a
mode of self-protection to active and transforming force to the world around
us. We do not need to be strong because the world seeks to bring down God’s
people. No! We need to be strong because the world needs the transforming power
of God’s love.
So as you can see when love is the guiding force of our
actions it really provides a redemptive and transforming power that we need in
our lives. It also provides something that the world desperately needs but is
unable to achieve. Love is a witness of that great redemptive and transforming
power of God. Love well my brothers and sister. Love Well!
God Bless you
~BJ Olson
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