More Love…
No, I’m not singing a contemporary chorus to myself. But, I have been encouraged reading Heather’s recent accounts of her struggles with love. Remember, 1 Corinthians 13 is not just for weddings anymore. I hope these three posts encourage you as well:
- Love Never Fails – Heather and her husband, Brandon, recently returned from L.A. where they got a “first-hand look” at love.
- Love Never Fails (Part 2) – Heather shares some of her own struggles with love in her own home. But, is love enough?
- Love Never Fails (Part 3) – a testimony – What happens when we decide to love… just love?
And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8 NKJV)
Love is in the air…
Don Edelen at Cerulean Sanctum writes about “The Jesus Love Revolution“. His post prompted Heather at free heart reflections to write “The word love isn’t mentioned anywhere in the Book of Acts“. These are both excellent articles, well worth reading.
I have little to add to this discussion. A few months back, I posted the following statement by Robert C. Girard: “If we fail at love, there will be nothing left.“
“Love” is not something that is “tacked on” to a believer’s life, like the perfect tie or just the right handbag. For a believer, love is everything. As Girard stated, if we do not have love, we do not have anything. Similarly, we cannot confuse this love with attraction (romantic or otherwise). Our love is not based on our response to the person being loved. Our love is not based on our own feelings. Our love is based on the response of the Holy Spirit toward others – the same love that Jesus Christ demonstrated toward us while we were still sinners (Rom. 5:8). God loved the world in this way: he gave. When Jesus came, he cared, he touched, he healed, he listened, he loved… he loved with more than his words. Though Jesus taught, people did not understand his teachings. However, they did understand his love.
Unfortunately, we are now known more for teaching than for loving. Actually, the church is known more for disagreeing about its teaching among itself than it is known for loving anyone – even those within the church, much less those outside the church.
If we are having problems loving other people, the problem does not lie with the other people. The problem lies with our relationship with God through the Holy Spirit: we are quenching the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. As believers, if we are not known for our love, then something is wrong with us.
Consider these passages:
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35 ESV)
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Gal 6:10 ESV)
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8 ESV)
By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:10 ESV)
Given the church’s history and contemporary culture’s attitude toward the church, we have a long way to go to convince the world that we love them. However, may that be our aim. May we demonstrate the love of God in such a way that the people around us cannot deny our love for them, even if they disagree with our beliefs. May our love be evident to all – especially those who reject our teaching.
Praying with the Church…
I know that the title of this post is also the title of a book by Scot McKnight, but this post has nothing to do with the book.
We recently spoke with a dear, dear sister in Christ who is currently living in South Asia with her family. God moved them from a community of light and encouragement, to a place of darkness. They are hurting physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Please pray for my friends. When we talked to her, we wanted nothing more than to hold her and comfort her. However, we know that God is more capable of comforting them. So, this is our prayer for them:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is
unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:2-7 ESV)
Owe no one anything except to love one another…
The title for this blog post comes from Romans 13:8. November was a hectic month. Now, most of our months are hectic: homeschool, Tae Kwon Do, piano lessons, Spanish lessons, school, teaching, work, Bible study, gathering with the church… At the beginning of the month, we found out that my wife needed surgery on her ankle. We had already planned a family trip to Washington D.C. in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, so we scheduled the surgery for the week after our trip. So, for most of the month, we had to “limp” through our normal schedule while my wife stayed off her feet, recovering from surgery. How did we make it through?
Well, we made it through the month because God continually lavished his love on us through our family, both our earthly family and our brothers and sisters in Christ. We try to live every day dependent on God. That’s not always easy. Sometimes we end up depending on ourselves. Its easy to fall into step with what we know that we can accomplish. Meanwhile, whenever we must depend on God, he is faithful. May we continue to live each day dependent on him.
However, the more we live dependent on God, the more we must realize that everyone is dependent on God. Do we recognize that we owe “love” to one another… not because of what they’ve done for us, but because of who God is and what he has done for us?
As my wife continues to recover, it is my desire to allow God to use us to lavish his love on others. We owe one another love, because we owe God love. I know… I’ve been the recipient of his love in very practical ways over the last few weeks.
Love one another…
There have been a couple of blog entries concerning the life of our church over the last week and love for another (for example, see Theron Stancil’s entry and Alice C.’s entry, and a related article by Isabel here). Last Saturday, we were the recipients of Christian love. We moved from seminary housing to a real house in a nearby city. Our brothers and sisters began arriving at our duplex by 9:00 a.m. to help us move. Many worked tirelessly moving boxes and furniture. Others provided meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) for our family and those helping (with enough leftovers to feed our family for a couple of days). Since we could only rent a small moving truck (apparently last weekend was the busiest moving weekend of the year), we had to make two trips. Our friends not only helped us load and unload the truck twice, but they also stayed to help us set up the new house. (Yes, we still have boxes to unpack, but we can live in the house as it is.) Some stayed until after 9:00 p.m. helping us. But that’s not all… we also had help cleaning our duplex on Monday!
So, why did I go into all of that? Well, let me start with a few passages of Scripture…
Jesus said to him, ” ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35)
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:12, 17)
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (Galatians 5:13)
For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another… (1 John 3:11)
Sure… we’ve heard these commands to “love one another” since we were children. But how often have you (or I) been the recipients of true love… love that is patient, kind… love that demonstrates itself in unselfish ways… love that gives and gives and gives… love that lifts and carries and sweats and aches… love that sacrifices time and effort… Over the last few days, as I’ve contemplated this demonstration of love, several other Scripture passages have come to mind:
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18)
If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:15-17)
Certainly, we were not naked nor destitute of daily food, but we were in real, physical need, and the love of Christ was demonstrated to us in real, physical ways. Isn’t it amazing that James uses this (a physical demonstration of love) as one of the visible manifestations of true faith? So, our family has been the recipients of real, biblical, Christ-honoring love.
So what? Do we thank God for His goodness and go on with our lives? Well, that brings me to the last passage of Scripture:
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
You see, as our church gathered on Saturday (yes, I did mean Saturday) in order to move us, we were encouraged (exhorted). We were stirred up and provoked to provide the same type of love to others. It is our prayer that God provides opportunities for us to love our neighbors in similar ways. Through our loving deeds and words (not just loving deeds and not just words!), perhaps some of them will come to recognize that it is not the Knox family alone that loves them, but it is God who loves them through us.
Church…
Well, it has been over a week since I’ve posted on this blog. It has been a busy time for me… without much time for contemplation or study. Lately, my thoughts continue to revolve around the church. “Church” is not something that we do, its something that we are. It is my goal to learn how to live as the church with those believers God has placed in my life. This goes far beyond a weekly gathering. It goes far beyond a membership list. It has little to do with “preaching” and much to do with love. It has little to do with “pastors” and much to do with brothers and sisters. It has little to do with “worship sevices” and much to do with hospitality. It has little to do with “programs” and much to do with discipleship.
I have much to learn about what it means to live as church with other believers. However, I have learned some… and what I have learned, I must practice.
Love one another…
My heart has been burdened over the last few days. I thank God that through this time the body of Christ has been encouraging, loving, and accepting.
I thank God that he has surrounded me with brothers and sisters who will listen when I need to talk and who do not expect every believer to be a “stained-glass saint” (even pastors!).
It is during times of crises that the church should truly become the body of Christ. I thank God that he has surrounded me with his body.
Who is qualified to speak during the meeting?
“For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged.” (1 Corinthians 14:31)
Does Paul really mean “all”? Does he really mean that every believer in the meeting has the potential for speaking edifying words during the assembly of the church? Does he really expect that a new believer could speak words that would “teach” a pastor?
The answer to all of these questions must be “Yes!”
Consider the ones to whom Paul is writing. For the most part, they do not have a personal copy of the Scriptures. And yet, Paul expects all of them to be able to speak during the meeting. “Knowing” Scripture must not be a prerequisite for speaking during the assembly.
So, what qualifies someone to speak during the meeting? In the context of 1 Corinthians 12-14, Paul offers three different qualifications:
1) The person must be endwelled by the Spirit of God, and therefore gifted by the Spirit.
2) The person must speak from a motivation of love.
3) The person must speak in order to edify the body of Christ.
These are the only qualifications. Education is not a qualification. Experience is not a qualification. Speaking ability is not a qualification.
Who is allowed to speak in our assemblies? Perhaps there are times when those “qualified” should be silent in order to allow others to speak “that all may learn and all may be encouraged.”
If we fail at love, there will be nothing left.
In his book Brethren, Hang Together, Robert C. Girard describes his journey from an institutional mindset of the church, to an understanding of church based on relationships. He concludes the book with the following:
The structure that now ties us together is the structure of personal relationship – to each other, to the group, and to God. If we fail at love, there will be nothing left. But, then, is there really anything of value left in the church, when love isn’t there (1 Cor. 13:1-3)? [330]
If a church is based on tradition, hierarchy, and institution, is it truly a church? Church must begin with the love of God, which leads to the love of each other.