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Built Up Together in Love

Bible Reading: Ephesians 4:1-16

There is a famous story of the days when Sir Christopher Wren was building St. Paul’s Cathedral. On one occasion he was on a tour of the work in progress. He came upon a man at work and asked him: “What are you doing?” The man said: “I am cutting this stone to a certain size and shape.” He came to a second man and asked him what he was doing. The man said: “I am earning so much money at my work.” He came to a third man at work and asked him what he was doing. The man paused for a moment, straightened himself and answered: “I am helping Sir Christopher Wren build St. Paul’s Cathedral. All three were working on the same project, but only the third man grasped the glory of what he was privileged to be a part of.   We sometimes lose our focus and forget that as members of the body of Christ we are incredibly privileged to be a part of the greatest work of all!  

It is to the praise of the glory of God’s grace that He would work, in Christ, to unite people of all different backgrounds, young and old, rich and poor, men and women, having all sorts of differing goals and perspectives and possessing all sorts of divergent thoughts and idiosyncrasies.  And that He would devise to take such a rag-tag group of ordinary and imperfect souls and grow them up together into Christlikeness, thereby using  them to make the truth of his gospel known to others!  The church is not just something you go to, it is the church of the living God into which you’ve been intimately identified (1 Corinthians 12:13).  It is the church Christ purchased with his own blood (Acts 20:28).  It is the church He is even now building, which will prevail over all the forces of hell (Matthew 16:18).  Jesus loves His church!  How about you?  How we view the church will determine in part how we relate to it.

According to our text, we are to “bear with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2). Sometimes people do things we don’t like, things which irritate us, or even make us mad.  Perhaps you’ve heard this little diddy, “To dwell above with saints we love, Oh, that will be glory.  To dwell below with saints we know, well that’s a different story.” Which is why forbearance is necessary.  Bearing with one another means showing patience towards others in their weaknesses and failures.  The temptation is to flee, or fight when offended.  Yet when we love like Jesus we value others and are patient and forgiving instead.  Such situations are “teachable moments” in which we can learn to love like Jesus.

We are to be exercising our spiritual gifts in love (Ephesians 4:7-12).  We’ve all been uniquely gifted with some supernatural spiritual abilities in which we are to serve the body of Christ.  These gifts are to be used for the common good, for the building up of the body of Christ and to the glory of God.  Every gift is important to the health and growth of the body.  The body needs your particular gift(s) and you need the ministration of the gifts of others.  There are a myriad of ways to serve in a local church.  We love like Jesus when we prayerfully seek and then serve in our God-given roles.

We are to be speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).  The ministry of the Word is essential to the building up of the body.  That happens through the preaching and teaching of the Word.  But it also happens through the ministry of the members of the body to each other.  We are not just to speak the truth apart from love, for that would likely be harsh and thereby likely fall on deaf ears.  Nor are we to speak apart from truth, for then we’ve provided no lasting benefit.  We love like Jesus when we are Spirit-led to speak at the right time, with the right words, in the right spirit, and for the right purpose (Ephesians 4:29).

Bearing with one another in love.  Using our gifts in serving the body in love.  Speaking the truth in love.  These are all a part of what it means to love like Jesus.  And they are all essential to the building up of the body in love.  Take some time to prayerfully consider where you are at in fulfilling your role in these ways in the church to which you belong.

We Love Like Jesus when we Love His Church

Lord Jesus.  How beautiful is Your church!  How miraculous the work You’ve done and are doing in building Your Church.  How encouraged we are to know that You love Your church and You’re protecting her and preparing her to be presented to You one day!  Forgive us for not always loving Your church as we should.  Grant us a renewed vision of the incredible privilege and blessing You’ve given to us in being united in Your body.  We are prone to selfishness and too often easily offended.  Grant us the humility of spirit such that we might bear with others, even as they bear with us.  You’ve gifted us all, in one way or the other, that we might be using our gifts to the building up of Your body.  Help us to serve one another well according to the gifts you’ve given. And take our lips and let them be filled with messages from Thee–as we speak the truth in love.  Amen. 

Set Free to Love

Bible Reading: Galatians 5:13-15

Pete Maravich was one of the most famous basketball players who has ever lived.  He could do things with a basketball no one had ever seen before.  Pete was the leading collegiate scorer of all time.  He was an All Star and voted one of the best 50 NBA players of all time.  Whenever he played crowds would flock to see him.  He had it all–fame, fortune and fun playing the game he loved.  Yet he was miserable.  He was a drunkard.  A bad husband and a bad father.  He was suicidal.  One night, as he laid upon his bed, he was thinking about his life and his misery and his sins.  He couldn’t get away from his despair.  So he prayed.  He asked God to save him.  He had heard the gospel before, but he had previously resisted.  Now for the first time he sincerely trusted in Jesus.  Jesus saved him and set him free and transformed him.  He became a great father.  He went on to share the gospel in every opportunity God provided.  Pete died unexpectedly at the age of 40, but until his death he’d been set free to love and serve Jesus.

The believers in Galatia had heard the gospel message and responded.  Sadly false teachers had crept into the church and were promulgating a different message than what the Apostle Paul had preached to them. He indicted the false teachers in the strongest possible terms, “As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:9).  These false teachers were saying it was necessary for a person to keep the Jewish law to be righteous before God.  

Apparently, some of the Galatians were buying what the false teachers were selling, for Paul chided them in a striking manner: “O foolish Galatians!  Who has bewitched you?  It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.  Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?  Are you so foolish?  Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh” (Galatians 3:1-3).  In contrast to what the false teachers were selling, Paul reminded those believers that they had received the Spirit not by the works of the law, but by hearing with faith.  And the work begun in their lives by the Spirit, was to be also perfected by the Spirit.  Same goes for you.  You received the Spirit when you believed in Jesus.  You have the Spirit, and it is by Him alone you can transformed into Christlikeness.

This context is important if we are to understand and appreciate what is being said in Galatians 5:13.  As a believer in Christ you’ve been called to freedom!  You are no longer under the law.  You’ve been saved out of a works-based approach to spirituality.  Yet this freedom could be misunderstood. The freedom spoken of here is not the freedom to do whatever a person wants to do, but the freedom to do what a person ought to do–the freedom to do what we were first created to do, which is to know and love and worship God! The believer in Christ has been born again by the Spirit and is being perfected by the Spirit.  And by the Spirit he is led and empowered to love like Jesus!  By the Spirit we’ve been set free to serve Jesus, and to serve Him by loving others.

The Believer in Christ has Been Set Free to Serve

Heavenly Father.  How wonderful that day when we were born of the Spirit with life from above into Your family!  You did that which we could never had done for ourselves.  Forgive us for our sinful tendency to gravitate towards a self-effort approach to our Christian lives.  By the Spirit You caused us to be born again. By the Spirit we are being transformed.  By the Spirit we’ve been set free to love and serve You by loving and serving others. As we walk in dependence on the Spirit and Your Word, may our heads and hearts and hands all rejoice in the new freedom they now have to now have to worship You.  In that freedom may we love one another, that Your presence and work in our lives might be evident to all. In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Born Again to Love

Bible Reading: 1 Peter 1:22-2:3

If you’re a believer in Christ you’ve been born again to love like Jesus.  The Word of God has made a wonderful change in you.  You heard “the good news which was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:25).  And through the “living and abiding word of God” you were born again (1 Peter 1:23).  It is as Matthew Henry has commented, “The word of God is the great means of regeneration. The grace of regeneration is conveyed by the gospel.  This new and second birth is much more desirable and excellent than the first. This the apostle teaches by preferring the incorruptible to the corruptible seed. By the one we become the children of men, by the other the sons and daughters of the Most High.”

In obedience to the truth your soul has been purified for a “sincere brotherly love (1 Peter 1:22).  Previously, in sin, your life was characterized by such things as “malice…deceit and hypocrisy and envy and…slander” (1 Peter 2:1).  But in your obedient response to the truth you experienced an internal, supernatural cleansing, such that your heart was purified and radically changed.  You were born again to walk in “newness of life” (Romans 6:4).   And an integral aspect of your new life in Christ is a newfound desire and ability to love like Jesus.

Our love for one another is to be characterized by two traits.  It is to be sincere, meaning genuine, authentic, and without pretense.  And we are to “love one another earnestly” (1 Peter 1:22).  The term translated earnestly was an athletic term conveying the idea of striving with all of one’s effort and was used to describe a runner straining and stretching to the limit.  Used here the thought is we should be stretching ourselves to the limit in our determination to love others selflessly and sacrificially.  

The ability of the Word of God to work its transformative power is reinforced to us again in 1 Peter 2:1-2.  As we put away the sins that characterized our old manner of life, we are to “long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” (1 Peter 2:2).  As newborn babies long for mama’s milk, we long for the pure milk of the Word.  Babies need milk to grow, we need the pure milk of the Word to grow up in Christ.  The Word is powerful to save and to transform (1 Thessalonians 2:13).  As the Word of God richly abides in us, it works to change us from the inside-out, and leads us to learn to love like Jesus (Colossians 3:16).

In 1789, a group of mutineers put their officers on a longboat, took control of the H.M.S. Bounty, and sailed to Tahiti to enjoy a comfortable life. Fearing punishment, some of them, along with several Polynesians, later moved to uninhabited Pitcairn Island and burned the ship so there would be no evidence. Despite the South Pacific paradise-like setting, sexual immorality, jealousy, anger, alcohol, and disease took their toll, until there was only one Englishman, ten women and many children left. The remaining Englishman, Alexander Smith, discovered a Bible in the ship’s goods and thankfully, the next-to-last man had taught him to read before he died. Smith studied the Word, decided it held the answer to the community’s problems and initiated Sunday worship and daily prayer times for the remaining people. In 1808, an American ship happened upon the island and was surprised to discover a thriving group of 35 English speaking Christians. Indeed, the Word of God is powerful to save and transform lives! And grow us up in Jesus that we might love like Him.

The Word of God is Powerful to Save and Transform Lives

Heavenly Father.  How thankful we are for Your living and abiding Word!  In these difficult times, how good it is to be protected by your unchanging truth from the changing whims of culture and deceitful schemes of the evil one.  Through Your Word you’ve caused us to be born again.  Praise You for making that miraculous change in us.  You’ve called us to a sincere and fervent love for our brothers and sisters.  Forgive us for falling short of your design far too often.  You’ve already shown us how the Word can work to make such a dramatic change in us, may we now long for the Word even as a newborn babe, that we might grow up into salvation.  That we might love like Jesus.  That You might be honored in our lives.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Taught by God to Love

Bible Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Many years ago I taught a beginning Algebra class in the local community college. It was a required class for nearly every course of study, and some of the students had little, or no interest, in math. On more than one occasion they expressed to me that they didn’t understand why they were required to take the class. I’d usually respond by jokingly telling them that they needed to take the class in order to move on to the next one.

If you are a believer in Christ you’ve been enrolled by God in a unique course of study.  It is a study of the utmost importance, one which will work to instruct you in how to love like Jesus.  The class began at the moment of your new birth and will extend in duration until you depart to be with Jesus. 

Before we proceed further with that thought, let’s stop to consider the exceptional example set by the believers in the church in Thessalonica. Receiving no condemnation by the Apostle Paul, he instead commended them for their “work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope” (1 Thessalonians 1:3).  And for their example of receptivity to the Word which was revealed “in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,” the news of which had spread throughout the region (1 Thessalonians 1:6-8).  Paul commended them in their practice of brotherly love.  “Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers in Macedonia” (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10).  

Let’s call our course of study Love 101.  It is, as I mentioned before, a lifelong course.  The believers in Thessalonica were practicing brotherly love, but still Paul admonished them to “excel still more” (1 Thessalonians 4:10b, NASB).  No matter how much we know about love, or how much we grow in the practice of it, we’ll always have more room to grow, because our example is Jesus Himself.  We have a tendency to measure our spirituality according to what we think it ought to be, or what we see in others (2 Corinthians 10:12).  But Jesus is the standard!

Note that we have the best of teachers to lead us in our study–God himself.  You “have been taught by God to love one another” (1 Thessalonians 4:9).  There is no better teacher, for He is love (1 John 4:8).  No other act of love can compare with the sacrifice of His own Son for our sins (John 3:16).  From beginning to end, the Bible is replete with examples of His loving care.  How amazing His patience as a teacher in His divine classroom!  How many times has He repeated His lessons when we’ve been slow to learn!  Yet still He is ever teaching us so we would be ultimately conformed to the image of His Son.  In Jesus, God has set before us a perfect example when it comes to learning what love looks like.

Life is like a classroom.  We interact with people in a myriad of ways.  We are sometimes ignored, or treated badly and we’ve a sinful tendency to respond in kind when that happens.  It is good to remind ourselves that our Divine Teacher is well able to use all our circumstances to advance us along in our course of study.  Difficult situations provide unique opportunities for us to learn that which God has to teach us.  In order for that to happen we must maintain a humble attitude and teachable spirit (1 Thessalonians 2:13).  In challenging situations ask yourself, “What would be the Spirit-led, loving response, and then endeavor to respond accordingly.”  In so doing, you will continue to advance in your course of study learning even more how to love like Jesus.  And God will be honored in your life.

You Yourselves Have Been Taught by God to Love One Another

Heavenly Father.  We were utterly sinful and selfish.  That You would graciously intervene in our lives to forgive us is to the praise of the glory of Your grace.  That You would purpose to change us and make us to be like Jesus is indeed an incredible thing!  Forgive us for being such slow learners.  You’ve well provisioned us, providing to us everything we need for life and godliness, but we oftentimes neglect the spiritual disciplines which would advance us along.  Grant us a renewed vision of this amazing work You are doing in us, that we might pursue Christlikeness as eager students.  May we listen attentively and learn readily, that we might put into practice the truths we learn from You.  That others might see You in us and look to You for salvation. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

The Fruit of the Spirit is Love…

Bible Reading: Galatians 5:16-26

Spring is sprung!  It’s almost time to start planting my garden!  It takes a fair amount of work. There’s the planning of the layout, after that, the preparation of the soil, then the actual planting of seeds, or small plants. But that’s just the beginning, because what follows is the ongoing need to water and fertilize and deal with those dastardly weeds. The funny thing about weeds is they grow under any conditions. You don’t need to water, or fertilize them, they are inevitable and invulnerable. They serve to remind us of the curse God put on the ground as a result of sin (Genesis 3:18).

The deeds of the flesh spoken of in this passage are like weeds in the garden. That as-yet-unredeemed part of us, the flesh, is doomed to generate all sorts of sinful deeds. It’s an ugly list of all-to-common human behaviors (Galatians 5:19-21). The deeds listed are not only destructive when it comes to humans and their relationships, they are dishonoring to God and work to undermine a believer’s testimony. They are like weeds inasmuch as they inevitably crop up. Only by the Spirit can they be eradicated from the garden of our lives.

It is as we “walk by the Spirit” that the battle against the “desires of the flesh” is won and ugly deeds give way to the beautiful Christlike virtues listed in Galatians 5:22-23.  The battle is not won by trying harder to be better, as if that’s something we could ever do.  Putting off sin is something which can only be done by the Spirit (Romans 8:13).  It is only as we walk by the Spirit that His fruit can be borne within us.  To walk by the Spirit is to live in dependence upon the Spirit, allowing ourselves to be led and empowered by Him (Galatians 5:18).  Though walking by the Spirit does not equate to practicing the spiritual disciplines (i.e. being in the Word, and in fellowship and devoted to prayer), the disciplines all play an important and necessary role.  Amongst other things, a person who is walking by the Spirit is one who has the Word richly dwelling within and who is devoted to prayer.

S. Lewis Johnson commented on this: “The evidence of the leading of the Spirit lies in a cluster of nine virtues that make up “the fruit of the Spirit.” This fruit is the product of the life of the Spirit in the believer. It is characterized by several interesting features.  First of all, in the fruit of the Spirit there is unity. We notice that the word, “fruit,” is in the singular number. There is only one fruit of the Spirit, but it contains nine virtues…Many commentators have suggested that the nine virtues illustrate the full-orbed, symmetrical character of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is His life that the Spirit produces in the believer. Second, the fruit of the Spirit possesses a notable harmony, the first triad of virtues being inward in nature, the second, outward, and the third upward. Third, there is a necessity that believers have the fruit of the Spirit. The lack of the virtues indicates sin against the Holy Spirit who is engaged in producing the virtues in the lives of the saints.”

It follows that if we are to love like Jesus loves, it is essential that we be those who are walking by the Spirit.  The chief ministry of the Spirit is to mediate the presence of Jesus to us, in us and through us (John 16:14).  So, it is in the fruit He bears in our lives.  How is your garden growing?  There are lots of different kinds of weeds which could potentially work to hinder and undermine the beautiful work God intends to do in and through you (Galatians 5:19-21).  As you walk by the Spirit that fruit borne by Him will produce in you a beautiful garden of Christlike virtues, virtues which will both bless you and bless others as You serve the Lord Jesus!

Sinful Deeds Grow Like Weeds, but By the Spirit Christlike Virtues Take their Place

Heavenly Father.  Praise You for Your creative power and Your infinite wisdom displayed throughout the beauty of Your creation!  Out of nothing You made it all.  We think about our own lives and marvel at the love which has worked not only to redeem us from our sins, but to set in motion Your plan to conform us to the beautiful image of Your Son.  But still we sin.  Ugly deeds inevitably crop up in our lives.  Forgive us!  Thank You for your patient and enduring work in our lives.  You’ve reminded us that the beautiful fruit of Christlike virtues are borne in us only as we walk by the Spirit.  May we forever abandon all our foolhardy attempts to improve ourselves by trying harder to do better and instead depend fully on the Spirit, that He might have the freedom to bear in us the beautiful fruit of Christlikeness.  To Your honor and glory.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Love Comes from God

Bible Reading: 1 John 4:7-21

Some of us are old enough to remember the words from this song: “What the world needs now is love, sweet love; It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of. What the world needs now is love, sweet love; No not just for some, but for everyone. Lord, we don’t need another mountain; There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb; There are oceans and rivers enough to cross; Enough to last ’til the end of time.”

Written by a fellow named Hal David, Burt Bacharach added the music, and Jackie DeShannon sung the song. The song became quite popular and peaked at number seven on the US Hot 100 in July of 1965. Those were tumultuous times in America. The Vietnam War was in full swing, a war which would ultimately claim the lives of 58,220 U.S. service members. War protests swept across the country and disagreements among Americans about the rightness of the war served as inspiration for the song’s lyrics. Later, following the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, the song was played over and over on the radio. The song got two things right, the world needs love and if we are to find it we must look to God. Yet it failed to explain how a person might come to know it and show it.

What’s wrong with us?  Any student of history knows we humans have an amazing inability to get along with each other.  The explanation for our troubles is what we read about in the earliest chapters of the Bible.  In Genesis chapter 3 we read of how sin entered into our world.  In chapter 4 we read the story of how Cain killed his brother Abel.  We humans have been fighting each other ever since.  Sometimes in horrendous fashion, just like we are now witnessing in the war in Ukraine.

The problem is sin. We are all born sinners. Sin reveals itself in all kinds of ugly and malignant behaviors. Consider the list in Romans 1:28-29: “They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.” The potential for hatred and violence lies hidden in the heart of man. Since we are all born sinners (Romans 3:23, 5:12), we are all fully capable of any of these ugly kinds of behaviors. It’s a good thing God has put some restraining factors in place (the church; human conscience; human government along with its laws and enforcement, etc.), or we humans destroyed ourselves a long time ago!

What hope is there for any of us then?  Our passage is full of hope. There is a God who is love (1 John 4:8)!  A “God (Who) sent only his Son into the world, so that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9).  He sent “his Son to be the propitiation for our sins,” so that we might be forgiven through faith in Him (1 John 4:10).  The world does indeed need love, God has loved the world in Jesus.  The cross is the proof of that fact.  God has worked through Jesus not only to forgive those who believe, but to cause them to be born again.  In fact, as this passage explains, “whoever loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7).  An incredible transformation takes place when a person trusts Jesus and is “born of the Spirit with life from above into God’s family divine” (as the hymn puts it).  Those who trust in Him, not only experience His love, they are led and empowered to walk in love too–to love like Jesus.

So, the world does indeed need love, as the song said, yet God has already responded. As J. C. Ryle has said, “The love of God towards the world is not a vague, abstract idea of mercy, which we are obliged to take on trust, without any proof that it is true. It is a love which has been manifested by a mighty gift. It is a love which has been put before us in a plain, unmistakable, tangible form. God the Father was not content to sit in heaven, idly pitying and loving His fallen creatures on earth. He has given the mightiest evidence of His love towards us by a gift of unspeakable value. He has “not spared His own Son—but delivered Him up for us all.” (Romans 8:32). He has so loved us that He has given us His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ! A higher proof of the Father’s love could not have been given.

Love is from God, and Whoever Loves has been Born of God and Knows God

Heavenly Father.  We are troubled by all the turmoil that exists in this world.  And we are troubled by our own sins.  We think about all the bad, and then marvel at the good we find in You.  How incredible that You long ago purposed to send Your only begotten Son into this sin-needy place to rescue us from our sins!  And through His saving work, You’ve blessed us beyond measure in Your love, adopting us to be Your children.  By the Spirit You’ve filled our vessels with love so that we might love others with the same kind of love You’ve shown to us. Forgive us that we are too often selfish in our ways, and not walking according to Jesus’ example.  Grant us a renewed understanding according to Your truth, and a renewed capacity to be led and empowered by the Spirit, that the world might see in us that love that comes only from You.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

God’s Kind of Love

Bible Reading: 1 John 3:16-18

Our focus this month in these devotionals is “loving like Jesus,” but if we are to love like Jesus we need to make sure we have a good definition of the term “love” in the context in which we are using it.

If you were to take a survey of a dozen people, asking them to define the word “love”, you’d likely get about a dozen different answers.  The word love is one of the most commonly used words in the English language, evidenced by the fact that Webster’s Thesaurus offers 62 synonyms, plus 185 related words for the term.  It is a complex word with lots of diverse and divergent meanings, some of which are quite contrary to the definition the Bible puts forth.

The Greek language had four commonly used words translated “love,” two of which appear often in our English Bibles.  Eros was a word used to express sexual love.  The term is not used even once in the New Testament.  Storge was a word used to refer to natural, familial love (for example the love of a parent for a child).  It is also not used in the Bible. The term Philia (from which the first part of the word Philadelphia comes from) is commonly used in the New Testament and is used to describe the kind of affectionate love which typically exists between family and friends.  Agape is also commonly used in the New Testament.  It speaks of the love sourced in God Himself (1 John 4:16b), which he revealed to us by sending his Son Jesus to die for our sins (1 John 3:16).

Vine’s Expository Dictionary includes an extensive definition of the term agape.  Let me highlight some of its main points:

• “Agape (presents) the characteristic word of Christianity, and since the Spirit of revelation has used it to express ideas previously unknown…inquiry into its use, whether in Greek literature or in the Septuagint, throws but little light upon its distinctive meaning in the NT.”
• “Love can be known only from the actions it prompts. God’s love is seen in the gift of His Son, 1 John 4:9-10. But obviously this is not the love of complacency, or affection, that is, it was not drawn out by any excellency in its objects, Romans 5:8. It was an exercise of the Divine will in deliberate choice, made without assignable cause save that which lies in the nature of God Himself.”
• “Love had its perfect expression among men in the Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:14; Ephesians 2:4, 3:19, 5:2.”
• “Christian love is the fruit of His Spirit in the Christian, Galatians 5:22…Christian love has God for its primary object, and expresses itself first of all in implicit obedience to His commandments, John 14:15, 21, 23; 15:10; 1 John 2:5; 5:3; 2 John 6.  Self-will, that is, self-pleasing, is the negation of love to God.”
• “Christian love, whether exercised toward the brethren, or toward men generally, is not an impulse from the feelings, it does not always run with the natural inclinations, nor does it spend itself only upon those for whom some affinity is discovered.”
• “In respect of agapao as used of God, it expresses the deep and constant “love” and interest of a perfect Being towards entirely unworthy objects.”

So let me summarize, by offering this working definition of agape love  = That kind of unconditional (Romans 5:8), sacrificial (1 John 3:16-17) and purposeful (Ephesians 5:25-27) love, sourced in God Himself (1 John 4:7-8)–but borne in His children by the Spirit (Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22)–which selflessly acts, in first loving God, to the put the interests of others ahead of one’s own (Philippians 2:3), caring for them both in their physical and spiritual needs and concerns (3 John 2; 1 John 3:16-17).

1 John 3:16-17 offers a simpler definition: “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us.”  In other words, if we wonder what God’s kind of love looks like then we should look to Calvary, for it is there where it has been gloriously defined and declared to us.  Then the passage goes on to say, “and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”  God’s kind of love looks like that in Jesus and looks like that in us.

God’s Kind of Love Has Been Gloriously Defined for us At the Cross

Heavenly Father.  I can remember back to those days when I gave no thought to You and had no idea of what true love is.  Thank You for intervening in my life according to Your deep and abiding love.  There’s so much enmity and strife in this world.  The fact that You’ve loved us so in sending Jesus is an incredible thing.  And in His sacrifice You’ve both declared and defined Your love for us.  Such love is not native to us, it is only by the Spirit that any of us could possibly walk in love.  Grant that we might be Spirit-led and empowered to live and love like Jesus.  We are prone to look for love in all the wrong places, grant that we might be always looking to You, and that we might be used by You in directing others to look to the cross.  That they might come to know You and the greatness of Your love.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Loving Like Jesus

Bible Reading: Ephesians 4:31-5:2

As I pointed out in yesterday’s post, we were saved not just to enjoy the manifold blessings associated with being loved by Jesus, but we became His children—His channels of blessings—that the love of Jesus might flow through us, touching the lives of others. We are to “walk in love, as Christ loved us” (Ephesians 5:2). Today I’m going to share a testimony which I trust will be an encouragement to you, regarding how God can work in this manner to use any of us in an incredible fashion!

There was a time when there were no believers in my family.  And not just in my family but in all of my extended family–grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.  Not a single one of them knew the Savior!  About a half-century ago God changed all that.

Three teens from Lewis and Clark Bible Church in Astoria went out knocking on doors.  Their goal was to share the gospel and invite folks to church.  They’d traveled to the nearby town of Seaside and happened upon the house where my Uncle Bob lived.  Back then, Bob was a long haired hippy type guy–a not so uncommon lifestyle in the 1960s and 70s.  Uncle Bob was into drinking and drug use and such.  He knew nothing about God, or the Bible.  When the teens knocked on his door, he invited them in.  They probably soon wished he hadn’t!  He poked fun at them and gave them a hard time until finally they decided it was time to leave.  But they hadn’t neglected to invite him to church.  When they returned to the church they asked for folks in the prayer meeting to pray for him.

For some reason, the thought of going to church stuck with Bob. He decided to attend, but his intentions were not good.  He was a logger at the time, so he went to church wearing his dirtiest, smelly logging clothes.  He took his pickup and deliberately left his dog in the bed of the truck, parked close to the church, knowing full well his dog would bark incessantly during the service.  His plan?  To prove to those churchgoers they were nothing but a bunch of hypocrites, which would be revealed when they chased him out of the place.  But that’s not what happened.

He stayed through the service, and when it was over an older gentleman was walking to approach him.  “This is it,” he thought, “he’s going to tell me to get out.”  Instead, a man named Arvo Seppa warmly greeted Bob and told him how glad he was that he was there.  Guess what happened next?  Bob came back.  And kept coming back.  Soon he heard the gospel and was saved.  His life was completely changed.  He was going to Bible studies and serving at the church.  Before too long he was teaching a Sunday School class.  Then God used him to lead his bartender brother, my Uncle Frank, to the Lord!  Later, both Bob and Frank went to Bible School and trained to become pastors.  Bob and Frank were both praying for me and I came to know Jesus.  And guess what God did after I completed my Bible school training?  He brought me back to serve as pastor at Lewis and Clark Bible Church, the church where the first member of my family was saved.  Then God kept me there for 27 and ½ years.  

Bob and Frank have faithfully served as pastors in their respective churches for these many years, their ministries have blessed a countless number of people.  Bob is the US Director of Hope and Mercy Mission, a mission directed towards assisting believers in Uganda.  Bob’s been to Uganda many times. Frank and I have both been there too and on one occasion we all traveled there together.  We’ve taught in numerous Bible conferences and preached in many churches.  The mission now works with well over 200 pastors and churches.  God led and provided 5 years ago that a Bible School for pastors could be started.  So far that school has trained over 50 pastors, to better equip them to preach and lead in their churches. They are all so incredibly grateful!  Mission teams have also worked to provide Bibles and conduct all sorts of vital and helpful ministries.  In the past 12 years or so, dozens have gone on these teams and hundreds have supported the work–all of them loving like Jesus.  As you can see, God has worked in incredible fashion to bless an entire region in Uganda.  It’s been an amazing thing to behold and be a part of!

When I served as pastor at Lewis and Clark Bible Church I had the opportunity to speak with one of the three teens who had gone out knocking on doors.  I asked her if she could have ever imagined the extraordinary blessings which would ultimately come about as a result of that long ago visit,and of course she said couldn’t have.  Who could?  But stop and think about the matter for a moment.  We are to “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us” (Ephesians 5:2).  Three teens were“walking in love” when they set out to tell folks about Jesus.  Some folks at the church were “walking in love” when they took time to fervently pray for the hippy fellow the teens told them about.  Arvo Seppa was “walking in love” when he compassionately reached out to Bob.  The church family was “walking in love” as they showed no partiality and instead bathed Bob with the love of Jesus!  Isn’t it amazing what God can do through his children when they are imitating Him, by walking according to the example of Jesus (Ephesians 5:1-2).  He has some amazing things for you to do too.  Acts of love done in Jesus’ name will be used by God in unforeseen ways!  No doubt part of it will involve “loving like Jesus!”  By the way…over the years, there are many others in my extended family who have now trusted in Jesus!

Simple Acts of Love Done in Jesus’ Name Can Have Amazing and Far-Reaching Effects

Heavenly Father.  How incredible Your wisdom and Your grace in the way You work in making Yourself known to us!  We look back in our lives to how You’ve intervened and our hearts are filled with gratitude.  That You would purpose to use any of us in Your plan is amazing.  But here we are incredibly blessed to be Your beloved children.  You’ve not only saved us from our sins, You’ve purposed to conform us to the image of Your Son!  You’ve filled us to overflowing with Your love, so that it might spill over onto the lives of others.  How amazing that any of us could hope to be imitators of You, but You’ve commanded us to that very thing!  Grant us the wisdom and grace that we might indeed walk in love, just like Jesus did!  To Your honor and glory.  Amen.

The Mark of the Christian

Bible Reading: John 13:1-35

If you are a believer, then you are a recipient of the amazing love of Jesus and you are therefore incredibly blessed! However, it was never God’s intent that His love should stop with you. You are not just a container to be filled, but a channel through which His love can flow!

In his book, “The Mark of the Christian,” Pastor and Theologian Francis Schaeffer wrote: “Christians have not always presented a pretty picture to the world. Too often they have failed to show the beauty of love, the beauty of Christ, the holiness of God, and the world has turned away.  Is there then no way to make the world look again—this time at true Christianity? Must Christians continue to stand with arms folded, presenting to men and women a tarnished image of God—a shattered body of Christ? How should we show the world that we are Christians?”

“Through the centuries, people have displayed many different symbols intended to show that they are Christians. They have worn marks in the lapels of their coats, hung chains about their necks, and even had special haircuts.”  Or, fish symbols on the bumpers of their cars or WWJD bracelets around their wrists.  “But there is a much better sign — a universal mark that is to last through all the ages of the church till Jesus comes back.  What is This Mark?  At the close of his ministry, Jesus made clear what was to be the distinguishing mark of the Christian until His return: A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:33-35).”

I’m struck by two wonderful truths found in these two verses. The first is Jesus has loved me (and loves me still)!  It’s good to remind ourselves of this exceptional truth!  Jesus purposed in love to die for my sins (Galatians 2:20b)!  I was “alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds” (Colossians 1:21), yet He willingly and lovingly bore my sins that I might be forgiven!  

Since I trusted him, some 40 years ago, the Lord has never failed me.  He has never stopped loving me (and he never will, Hebrews 13:5)!  No matter how much we grow in our comprehension and appreciation of Jesus’ love for us, its full measure still “surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19).  Take some time today to praise and thank him for loving you!  As the hymn puts it: 

I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene
And wonder how He could love me
A sinner condemned, unclean

How marvelous, how wonderful
And my song will ever be
How marvelous, how wonderful
Is my Savior’s love for me

The other astounding truth we find in John 13:34-35 is that we are called to love one another–not just to love them, but to love them just as He loved us–a supernatural over the top, kind of love!  Stop and consider what this means.  God has worked not just to save us from our sins, but He’s working to radically change us from the inside-out, into Christlikeness.  We are all born sinners, and along with that sin-nature we were born to a me-first, selfish way of thinking and living.  The life of Jesus’ was radically different because He was sinless, utterly and completely selfless.  He always put the needs of others ahead of his own, no matter the cost.  In his sacrifice Jesus not only worked to save us from our sins, He set before us an example, demonstrating what God’s kind of love looks like.  That purposeful, sacrificial, others-first love is the mark of the Christian.  It’s what distinguishes us as those who belong to Christ.  That kind of love comes only from God (1 John 4:7-8), so wherever and whenever it’s found in men, it points people back to its source!  We are privileged indeed to wear such a mark!  People need to see God’s supernatural love in our marriages, in our families and in our churches.  They will know we are Christians by our Love.  They will be drawn to our Lord, longing to experience his love in salvation too!  For the next month these daily devotionals will focus on this important theme.

Christlike Love is the Mark of the Christian

Heavenly Father.  Praise You that You are a God of love!  Thank You for loving us in sending Jesus to rescue us from our sins in dying on the cross!  How incredibly blessed we are in the gift of salvation You’ve provided!  Forgive us that we are not always as grateful as we should be.  Too often we grumble about what we don’t have, forgetting that we’ve been so incredibly blessed, and especially so when we remember that all we deserved is judgment.  You’ve lavished Your grace on us, but not so we would only soak up Your blessings.  We are reminded again that Your design is for Your love to flow through us.  May we ever marvel at Your saving work, and may we be Spirit-led and empowered to love You by loving others in the same manner as You’ve loved us.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Follow the link below to view the schedule:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GH_ngZeYVGYXCyuJmxXD5T3KKc3DXtt3tCZnmxqK7Ak/edit