Love

John 15:12, (NIV) “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” How many times are we guilty of “getting even” with those in our fellowship? When they are the ones that we should “honor above ourselves”? (Romans 12:9-21) We should all pursue and promote love within the church, because as Jesus says: If we love Him, we’ll obey His commands (John 14:15) and His command is to love each other (John 8:31; 14:23-24; 15:12, 17)
The point of this post is this: If you can’t love someone you worship with, how can you love someone who is not worshiping with you? Or even more importantly, how can you love God? You can’t! 1 John 4:7-21 emphasizes this very thing! In churches all over the country, people tend to get upset because someone has sat down in the pew or seat they sit in every worship service. We look at someone coming in services wearing worn out blue jeans, or a flannel shirt, or a guy wearing earrings with piercings and automatically think we are better than them because we have a suit coat and tie, or a nice dress that was just bought and never worn. We hear of someone doing a great deed for the Kingdom of God and get jealous that it wasn’t us, so we start to examine that person to find a reason to gossip about them and make ourselves feel better that if God can use such a horrible person, He can surely use me. Friends, this should not be! People in foreign countries, such as Iran, China, etc. don’t even have buildings to worship in and are grateful for the chance to worship God wherever they can meet and in whatever conditions they can meet in.
That passage referenced above (1 John 4:7-21) states that we are like Jesus in this world. Did you catch that? You are like Jesus in this world, if you are a child of God! When unbelievers come into our congregations genuinely looking for a chance to experience a touch from God and they see children of God fighting between each other, talking behind each others backs, how will that lead to those who are lost finding God? We represent Jesus because of who we are, even if you didn’t sign up for that there is no getting around the words of scripture in 1 John 4:17. If as representatives, ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20) we are fighting between ourselves, what type of picture is that painting of our Lord? How are we showing the power and love of God by arguing and bickering when the world around us is watching? Your Christian witness goes way beyond what you say to others and in many cases how you live your life and conduct yourself will do so much more to show the love of Christ than anything else you can do.
The reason it’s so hard to forgive someone for a wrong committed is because of our pride. Pride will destroy a church and a believer! Peter tells us that God resists the proud but shows favor to the humble, (1 Peter 5:5) why? I’m sure you have heard of the cliché, “There’s no ‘I’ in team.” Well let me shows you something about pride and humility. Pride happens to contain that ever famous letter ‘I’. When a person is proud, the only person they are concerned with is themselves! Things have to be done my way, people have to agree with what I say, people have to go along with what I want, etc. Pride will drive a person to believe they have all the answers, they have the ability to solve their problems, they don’t need anyone else to help them out and so ‘I’ becomes the first and most important letter in their vocabulary and alphabet. Now humility is different. We all know that and the Bible teaches that clearly. Look and what the word contains, the letter ‘U’. Humility pushes that dreaded ‘I’ back behind ‘U’ or you. A humble person is characterized and marked by a life lived for others. They know they don’t have all the answers, they know they need others to make it through life, they know that what pew they sit in at worship services makes little difference, they look for opportunities to help others. A humble person will put others before themselves and not themselves on a pedestal.
Now don’t get me wrong, acting out of love for a brother or sister in Christ does not mean if you know they are living erroneously and in sin that we keep our mouths shut so as to avoid a disagreement. If you saw a family member about to walk off the edge of a cliff, wouldn’t you say something to them to warn them? Of course you would! You wouldn’t worry that you may offend them because they were being distracted and knew what they were doing or where they were going, you would want them to be safe. Well when you warn someone about the dangers of something they are doing, there may be those times of friction, but if the person you warn really cares about their well-being they will eventually thank you for your insight into their situation. Love means acting for the best interest of others, not complying with their lifestyle for the sake of their joy. Silence is compliance.
I want to take a look at what the biblical standard of love is now. Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 13.
1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
So many truths to glean from this passage of scripture but one thing I really want to point out is the list of definitions in v.4-8a. Love is in one statement: humility in action! Humility is the opposite of pride just as good is opposite of evil. Go through those verses and write down the words Paul uses to describe love and meditate on them. Memorize them! One thing you will notice about memorizing scripture is that as you commit scripture to memory, it will begin to change you! It becomes part of you! Psalm 119:9 (NIV), “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
So in conclusion, what are we going to decide to do about our relationships with others? God gives us all the ability to make our own decisions, do our own things in life and He holds us accountable for the decisions that we make. Search the scriptures for the answers to questions you may have concerning what you have been presented with in this post. Do not take my word for it, find out for yourself what the Lord has to say about this subject, but as always open your heart to the Lord and allow Him to speak His truth into you. Will you continue to allow pride ruin your witness for Christ? Or will you let love rule in your heart so that others around you can be blessed? You decide and God bless you!