Tag: John 13:34-35

Are We Really Seeking To Be More Like Our Jesus? What About Seeking After, About Loving, Our Unsaved Friends? 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Easy-to-Read Version

16 From this time on we don’t think of anyone as the world thinks of people. It is true that in the past we thought of Christ as the world thinks. But we don’t think that way now. 17 When anyone is in Christ, it is a whole new world.[a] The old things are gone; suddenly, everything is new! 18 All this is from God. Through Christ, God made peace between himself and us. And God gave us the work of bringing people into peace with him. 19 I mean that God was in Christ, making peace between the world and himself. In Christ, God did not hold people guilty for their sins. And he gave us this message of peace to tell people. 20 So we have been sent to speak for Christ. It is like God is calling to people through us. We speak for Christ when we beg you to be at peace with God. 21 Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin[b] so that in Christ we could be right with God.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

The God of Reconciliation

Because of sin, we human beings are in constant and continuous rebellion.

From the beginning of Genesis until the final verses of Revelation, we are at war with our God, with ourselves, with our neighbors, and too with God’s creation.

By ourselves, we would never return to God.

We cannot hope to change our own heart.

We cannot hope to change anyone else’s heart.

We cannot hope to change God’s heart.

Without God, we don’t even have the wherewithal to realize that we are mired in the very worst kind of muck and stuck and lost in the lethal misery of sin.

Salvation is not a human initiative.

God took the initiative to reconcile us to himself.

God loves us so much that He sent his Son to save us not condemn us.

The absolutely innocent seeks the perfectly guilty.

The agent of reconciliation is Jesus Christ.

And now through Christ we can turn to God.

And now through Christ we can offer others the opportunity to turn to God.

Jesus is the one and only way to God.

He is the door, the gateway, to salvation.

He is the mediator who reconciles us to the Father.

To reconcile us to himself, God did not keep our transgressions on our account.

Instead, he laid the full weight of them square on the shoulders of Jesus Christ.

On the cross at Calvary, with His life blood, for love alone, the Son of God set himself aside, paid in full the debt that was against us, completely set us free.

And God credited us with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ so that no condemnation can weigh on us any longer.

Can anyone contemplate the magnitude of that statement?

Of exactly what Jesus was bringing with Him when He came into the world?

Of exactly what Jesus was offering us unrepentant sinners when He came to us?

About Those Unrepentant Sinners

Matthew 10:1-4 Easy-to-Read Version

Jesus Sends His Apostles on a Mission

10 Jesus called his twelve followers together. He gave them power over evil spirits and power to heal every kind of disease and sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles:

Simon (also called Peter),

Andrew, the brother of Peter,

James, the son of Zebedee,

John, the brother of James,

3 Philip,

Bartholomew,

Thomas,

Matthew, the tax collector,

James, the son of Alphaeus,

Thaddaeus,

4 Simon, the Zealot,

Judas Iscariot (the one who handed Jesus over to his enemies).

Interestingly, Jesus chose these 12 young men who, at the time, had no real relationship with God.

They resided within the fringe of religiosity.

They were Jews, yes, but not born-again believers in Jesus Christ.

That didn’t happen until after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Until that time, they were disciples (“learners”) and friends of the man they hoped was the Messiah, the one who would redeem them from Roman rule.

Does that surprise you: that Jesus chose unsaved, Jewish-born men to be his closest followers?

That was his intention, honestly.

He was sent by God to purposely “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). 

Seek in Greek (zēteō) means “to search for, to crave.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/luk/19/10/t_conc_992010

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2212/kjv/tr/0-1/

Jesus intentionally searched out, purposely sought after and deeply craved relationships with those who were unregenerate, with those who were the complete antithesis of himself: sinless, pure, and holy.

The reason I bring this up is many believers today have unsaved friends in their circle of relationships, and they may feel guilty (or even ashamed) that they do.

After all, some believers think that Christians should keep the unsaved at a distance, citing 1 Corinthians 15:33 Amplified as justification.

33 Do not be deceived: [a]“Bad company corrupts good morals.”

Yet, we, of all people, should, like Jesus, be seeking out the unsaved, craving their friendship (though not their influence), with the intention of being ambassadors for the Almighty, out of obedience to fulfilling the Great Commission of “making disciples,” and with the hope of bringing these unsaved friends to the Light, to receive the free gift of grace through faith.

2 Corinthians 5:16-17 Amplified Bible

16 So from now on we regard no one from a human point of view [according to worldly standards and values]. Though we have known Christ from a human point of view, now we no longer know Him in this way. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].

What About Our Loving Our Unsaved Friends?

John 13:34-35 Amplified Bible

34 I am giving you a new commandment, that you [a]love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.”

I have unsaved friends and acquaintances.

And I believe, based on Jesus’ example with his disciples, that that’s a good thing.

From my own experience, here are a few ways (which are not exhaustive) to express our love to our unsaved friends.

These can also apply to unsaved family members, co-workers, neighbors—anyone in your relationship sphere who doesn’t know Jesus as Savior and Lord.

1. Value Them

This should go without saying, but in fact, in our culture today, which is so fraught with immediate polarization, immediate negative reactions around issues, sometimes we believers can tend to—perhaps unknowingly and unintentionally—“devalue” those who hold opposite principles than us.

We wont talk to them to avoid giving “offense.”

We will dance a waltz around them as we avoid stepping on fragile eggs that are invisibly spread impossibly far, wide, across every walking surface imaginable.

As if they are some kind of mythical vampire or werewolf, in our minds we will carry our crosses high and far out in front of us, waving them to ward them off.

We can tend to think less of them, we can tend to unintentionally dismiss them, and even pass our judgment on them out of self-righteousness and false piety.

But every person, whether we agree with them politically, morally, religiously, ethically, has value for the simple fact they are created by God, bear his image.

Even in their sinful state, they still carry God’s imprint.

Like us they bear the common-grace markings of God through the expression of their thoughts, morals, their ethics, their emotions, intellect, and creativity.

So, first off, as Christ himself did when he sought out His first twelve disciples, seek to value each unsaved friend as a God-created, God-imprinted person.

Look past their opinions, beliefs, and leanings.

Look at them through the lens of Creation,

based on Genesis 1:27: “So God created mankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (my emphasis added).

2. Accept Them

Accept them exactly where they are at.

The unsaved are going to act as, well, unsaved.

Their souls, minds, and hearts are un-regenerated.

They will think, believe, and act out of their sin-nature.

They will speak profanely, they will offend by speech or hygiene, they will drink (often to excess), they will be promiscuous, and they will slander and hate too.

They will act foolishly, irrationally, and sinfully.

Given this, we’re not to condemn them.

Frankly, we should expect them act unbecomingly in their depravity.

It should not shock us nor surprise us.

After all, we once did, too, before we surrendered our lives to Jesus as Savior and to the Holy Spirit as Sanctifier (Titus 3:3).

Therefore, God says we have no business passing judgment on our worldly-minded, worldly-living, unsaved friends, based on 1 Corinthians 5:12:

“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?”

However, we aren’t to condone their behavior, either.

We graciously accept them as a person without condoning their sinful choices.

But when asked,

we gently and respectfully tell them we don’t agree or approve of their behavior (1 Peter 3:15-16), we use this “GOD” opportunity to share how we are compelled, because of what Jesus did for us, to now live under the guidance of God’s ways.

15 But in your hearts set Christ apart [as holy—acknowledging Him, giving Him first place in your lives] as Lord. Always be ready to give a [logical] defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope and confident assurance [elicited by faith] that is within you, yet [do it] with gentleness and respect. 16 And see to it that your conscience is entirely clear, so that every time you are slandered or falsely accused, those who attack or disparage your good behavior in Christ will be shamed [by their own words].

3. Listen to Them

Oftentimes we think the best way to show love is to talk—even if it’s about God—when in actuality, it’s to listen.

That old idiom,

“God gave us one mouth and two ears,” rings loud and true in this case.

When people feel listened to—really listened to—they feel respected, valued, and cared about.

Not to mention that God values a genuinely attentive listener.

“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: you must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry” (James 1:19).

As people, they also have hopes and dreams, desires and aspirations, and pain and long-buried hurts, some of which may have been caused by the Church or other Christians.

Listening to them helps us to build commonality with them, and compassion for them, especially in their suffering.

Listening also breeds understanding.

We may not agree with our friend’s views, but listening allows us to come to an understanding of how and why they think and believe the way they do.

Furthermore,

people like nothing more than to be understood and appreciated for their opinions, values, and beliefs, even if they’re on the wrong side of the Bible.

Another benefit of listening—which was a new thought for me—is that it breeds patience in us, the listener.

Sitting and listening to someone you disagree with is difficult.

You will have to have patience.

And if you haven’t already developed the necessary tolerance for this task, just the practice of hearing others more often will gradually help you to create it.

If you find that you are struggling with the activity, try to remember you are listening to learn something new.

You can also listen with the intent to ask questions, and this will help you focus on the words the other person is saying more carefully.

So, listen to learn and understand.

Listen to show respect and value.

Listen to cultivate patience and compassion.

Conversely, listening will also earn you the right to be listened to.

Tit for tat, so to speak.

And then you have the wonderful opportunity to speak the truths of God, and your unsaved friend will likely be more apt to listen, to be a bit more receptive.

4. Pray for Them

“Prayer is the work,” someone once told me.

How true that is.

Prayer is the behind-the-scenes work in which all believers should be engaged.

Prayer is the work of seeking open doors for Gospel witnessing, of building God’s Kingdom.

James even tells us that “the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).

Prayer Builds Relationship With God.

Joyful hope and patience in afflic­tion go against the grain of our own natures.

Despair and self-pity come much more easily.

In times like that, it’s important to turn to God in prayer.

We pray for many reasons: to thank God for blessings, to praise God, to confess sins, to seek God’s guidance.

In addition, we pray to ask God for help.

Asking God for help may be the most natural prayer of all. 

Sometimes God answers our requests for help exactly as we ask, sometimes not.

Either way, the Bible calls us to be unceasingly faithful in prayer.

Prayer—thanking, praising, confessing, asking for help—connects us with God.

Prayer builds relationship.

Prayer strengthens the bond between God, our unsaved friends and us.

When you have a good relationship with someone, hopefulness and patience become a little easier, especially when that Someone is the Creator, Sustainer of the entire universe.

With regards to your unsaved friends (or whomever the Lord has burdened your heart with):

  • Pray for their hardened hearts to be softened (Romans 2:5)
  • Pray that God implants a new, humble, clean, pure, and believing heart within them (Ezekiel 36:26, Matthew 18:4, Psalm 51:10, Matthew 5:8, Romans 10:10).
  • Pray that their darkened minds may be enlightened to understand God’s truths, to be renewed, transformed, and focused on things above rather than on things below (Ephesians 4:18, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:23, Colossians 3:12).
  • Pray for blind eyes to suddenly “see” the Light of this world, which saves, and the glory of God and his goodness (2 Corinthians 4:4, Luke 4:18, John 3:3, Psalm 34:8, John 8:12).
  • Pray for plugged ears become unplugged, to suddenly “hear” the Good News (Romans 1:16, 10:14, 17).

5. Be More Like Jesus: Show Them Grace

John 1:14 Amplified Bible

The Word Made Flesh

14 And the Word (Christ) became flesh, and lived among us; and we [actually] saw His glory, glory as belongs to the [One and] only begotten Son of the Father, [the Son who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, who is] full of grace and truth (absolutely free of deception).

Jesus was God’s grace personified.

He came not to condemn but to show grace to those who least deserved it: the sinners.

He extended a helping hand to those who were suffering, he likewise extended a kind word to those who were desperate, and, when necessary, he too unerringly spoke the hardcore truth in confronting the nature of our sin, and yet with love.

Grace upon grace.

We should be God’s grace personified, as well, to our unsaved friends.

We may be the only people who show them grace when they fail or sin grievously.

Our extending grace to them when all others are judging and dismissing may just be exactly what they need to experience for them to finally see their need for a Savior, to repent, to pray their sinners prayer and so to receive salvation.

What About Our “Efforts” to Love as Jesus Loved?

As believers in Christ, yes, we’re called to remain holy (“separate”) in our conduct and are not to conform to this world.

But that isn’t justification to withdraw from the world or from its people.

Quite the opposite.

Distancing ourselves from the unsaved is not an option, nor is it even biblical.

Rather, Jesus told his disciples and us to “Go” into the world (“to all nations”) and to make disciples for the transformation of the world. (Matthew 28:19-20)

And many times, only but by the grace of God, does that happen, when we all intentionally and prayerfully build up genuine friendships with the unsaved.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Reconciling Christ, by Your grace, forgiveness and mercy, bless our efforts to bring about reconciliation. Give us the strength to persevere without counting the hurts, and to find within ourselves the capacity to keep on loving.

Give us the grace to be able to stand in the middle of situations, and to be a conduit for the deep listening which can lead to healing and forgiveness.

Help us to conduct ourselves with dignity, giving and expecting respect, moving from prayer to action, and from action back again into prayer.

Grant that we may be so thoroughly grounded and rooted in your love, that our security is not threatened if we change our minds, or begin to see a better way to act.

Bless those who are called to reconcile on a large-scale –politicians, world leaders, leaders of business, and those who stand in the midst of bitter conflict.

Reconciling Christ, bless us and bless all who engage in the sacred work of envisioning new wholeness, and bringing people and nations together. AMEN.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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God’s Plan For Us All: We Should Each Come to Know God, As God Knows, Us. 2 Peter 3:8-9

2 Peter 3:8-9 Amplified Bible

8 Nevertheless, do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day. 9 The Lord does not delay [as though He were unable to act] and is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is [extraordinarily] patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! Amen.

Many of God’s plans are detailed throughout the Bible.

He has plans for nations, for people groups, and for individuals. 

Isaiah 46:10–11 summarizes what God wants us to know about His plans:

“My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.”

It’s one thing to recognize that God has an overarching plan for the world; it is quite another to acknowledge that God has a specific life plan for each person.

Many places in Scripture indicate that God does have a specific plan for each human being.

It starts before we are conceived.

Lord told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).

God’s plan was not reactive, a response to Jeremiah’s conception.

It was preemptive, implying that God specially formed this male child to accomplish His plan.

David underscores this truth: “You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13).

Unborn children are not and never will be accidents.

They are being formed by their Creator for His purposes.

That is one reason abortion is wrong.

We have no right to disrespect God’s plan and violate God’s workmanship by killing a child He is in the process of forming and shaping into His Image.

God’s plan for every human being is that each one comes to know Him and accept His offer of salvation (2 Peter 3:9).

He created us for fellowship with Him, and, when we reject the reconciliation He offers, we live at cross purposes with His plan for us.

Beyond salvation, God also designed good works for each of us according to our gifts, strengths, and opportunities (Ephesians 2:10).

He orchestrated the location, time into which each of us is born (Psalm 139:16).

If He knows the number of hairs on our heads, then He knows us better than we know ourselves (Luke 12:7).

He knows the gifts, talents, strengths, and weaknesses He gave us, and He knows how we could best use them to make an eternal impact.

He gives us opportunities to store up treasure in heaven so that, for all eternity, we can enjoy His reward (Mark 9:41; Matthew 10:41–42).

God’s plan for each person is generally stated in Micah 6:8: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

His plan is for relationship over duties.

When we walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 25), enjoying a loving relationship with the Lord, our actions indicate that closeness.

Pleasing Him is our delight.

His plan unfolds naturally as we grow in faith, mature in knowledge, and practice obedience with all we understand.

As we obey His general plan for His children, we discover His uniquely designed plan for us individually.

We know God’s plan for those who know Him includes reaching others with the good news of reconciliation and salvation (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 5:20).

His plan is for His children to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29).

He wants us to grow in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18).

He wants us to love other Christians the way He loves us (John 13:34).

As we diligently read, and study and follow His Word, we will discover our own spiritual gifts and abilities that specially suit us to serve Him in unique ways (2 Corinthians 12:4–11).

God’s plan unfolds in our lives as we use all we have exclusively for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31).

We often become impatient in wondering what God’s plan is for our lives.

But it is not as complicated as we make it out to be.

God’s plan for us is revealed a little at a time as we follow Him, and His plan may look different in different seasons of life.

Hypothetically …

A middle aged person working hard to support the responsibilities of career and family, an older person working hard to successfully get into their retirements.

An already retired person looking to quietly move and gradually settle into their “time away” years, a young person may ask God to direct their steps to His plan for their lives and believes college or vocational training is part of that plan.

But halfway to their happiness and joy through their plans for themselves, they fall ill and must spend an extended and unknown period of time to rest, recover.

Are they now out of God’s plan?

Not if their hearts and souls are set to focus exclusively upon Him.

In that time of rest and recovery and rehabilitation, the young women meets a young man who becomes her husband.

They both love the Lord and desire to serve Him and believe that His plan for them is some ministry or mission field which they have had their hearts upon.

They begin planning and preparation, but halfway through the training, she becomes pregnant with what becomes an unplanned high-risk pregnancy.

Did they miss God’s plan?

Does the Lord have a plan to forsake them?

Has the Lord got a “plan B” to abandon them when things go awry?

Will the Lord abandon or forsake the middle aged person when plans change?

Will the Lord subtly or suddenly turn His face or His back unto the aged when their lives subtly, or suddenly become diverted by health or financial concerns?

Will the Lord change His plan for everyone to come to know Him in these times or from these times and seasons?

Not at all.

Proverbs 16:1-4 English Standard Version

16 The plans of the heart belong to man,
    but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
    but the Lord weighs the spirit.[a]
3 Commit your work to the Lord,
    and your plans will be established.
4 The Lord has made everything for its purpose,
    even the wicked for the day of trouble.

We must recall, God guides and Shepherds us in and unto HIS plan not our own.

The answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

The Lord alone is the one who weighs the spirit.

Commit your work unto the Lord and your plans will be established.

The Lord has made everything for its purpose.

The Lord alone has made everything beautiful in its time.

Ecclesiastes 3:10-13 English Standard Version

10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.

All this is of God, from God alone, to fulfill God’s own purpose, plan for them.

Hypothetically,

Perhaps because of their experience caring for a child with special needs, they are able to get closer to God and minister to other families with similar needs.

A person coming through the harsh reality of a Cancer diagnosis may find the need to share their experiences with treatment and surgery – to give comfort.

Whatever was “their planned mission field” will subtly, suddenly look much different from the one they had envisioned, but it is now God’s plan for them.

Hopefully, Prayerfully, Faithfully, Lovingly so …

They are able to look back and see God’s hand in every turn along their way.

Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 English Standard Version

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

9 Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. 10 The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

11 The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. 12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.[a] 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with[b] every secret thing, whether good or evil.

“Will God please make up His and my mind so I will know what I am to do!”

We will struggle mightily acknowledging and accepting God’s plan as rarely being a straight shot to, as much as we can tell anyway, a clearly visible goal.

Psalm 57:2 English Standard Version

2 I cry out to God Most High,
    to God who fulfills his purpose for me.

His plan requires of us a journey, illustrated so well in Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, and that journey may be filled with detours and diversions, sudden and slow crawls, stops, and hosts and myriad and myriads of confusing turns.

Psalm 138:8 English Standard Version

8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
    your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
    Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Romans 8:28 English Standard Version

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,[a] for those who are called according to his purpose.

But if their hearts and their souls are genuinely set to obey Him in all that they know to do, then they will be at, in the center of His will every step of the way.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 8 The Message

8 God, brilliant Lord,
    yours is a household name.

2 Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
    toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
    and silence atheist babble.

3-4 I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
    your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
    Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
    Why take a second look our way?

5-8 Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods,
    bright with Eden’s dawn light.
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
    repeated to us your Genesis-charge,
Made us stewards of sheep and cattle,
    even animals out in the wild,
Birds flying and fish swimming,
    whales singing in the ocean deeps.

9 God, brilliant Lord,
    your name echoes around the world.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Is there Christianity without our Living, Loving, the Life of Christ? John 13:34-35

John 13:34-35 Amplified Bible

34 I am giving you a new commandment, that you [a]love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

There is something Jesus said that I want you to seriously think about.

Jesus said to those who followed Him: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

As we see a war-torn nations–a nations which are economically, socially, and politically sick and pained with out of control poverty, oppressed, confused and bewildered–we have to believe that this is the hour for the church to speak out.

This is the hour for the the Body of Christ, the church, to show forth the love and grace of God in Christ!

This is the hour for the nations to hear Christ saying throughout the church, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

There is something Jesus said I want you to seriously, severely think a lot about.

Jesus said to those who followed Him: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

That verse of Scripture is tremendously important at this hour in history.

In another part of the Bible we find the same thing stated by John:

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:7-10).

The Bible repeatedly declares in no uncertain terms we who follow Jesus Christ should be just as much in love with each other, without exception, as God was in love with us when He sent His Son to die on the cross.

I want you to see what it means to love as God loves, because the Bible says, “God is love” (1 John 4:16).

The basic attribute of God is holiness, but love is another basic attribute of God.

It is a part of God’s nature to love, and all who know Jesus Christ as Savior also have this supernatural love instilled within their hearts by the Holy Spirit.

The greatest demonstration of the fact we are Christians is we love one another.

1 Corinthians 13, we have first a description of a man who does not possess love.

The Apostle Paul emphatically says,

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1).

The Late Reverend Dr. Billy Graham puts it succinctly ….

“In other words, suppose I could speak with the oratorical strength of a William Jennings Bryan. Suppose I could speak with cryptic language like Winston Churchill. Suppose I could speak with the power of Franklin Roosevelt, in which he used to sway an entire nation in war and in peace. Suppose I could sing opera like the great Enrico Caruso. Suppose I had a thousand tongues that could speak a thousand languages all at the same time. The Bible says all that is nothing, and I am nothing, unless I have this divine, supernatural love that God gives.“

The apostle Paul goes on to write,

Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge … but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2).

“I could be a man of tremendous knowledge; I could understand all the mysteries and all of history, and be able to put all the patterns together. I could know the Bible from one end to the other; memorize thousands of verses of Scripture. I could be a great Bible teacher; I could even be a preacher from the pulpit–and have not love. I know people in this country who are conservative in their theology–people who would die contending for the inspiration of the Bible–and yet there is so little love. I might know the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, but if I had not love, it would mean absolutely nothing in the sight of God.“

“I might be a man of great faith. The Bible says that I might have faith so that I could move mountains, but if I have not love, it is nothing. Suppose I could stand here today and say to that mountain, “Move into the sea,” and it would move! You would say, “Well, Billy Graham is certainly a man of tremendous faith to pray a mountain into the sea.” The Bible says that is absolutely nothing unless my faith is tempered with love.”

“I could be a man of great charity. The Bible says, “though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor … it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3) unless I have this divine love that God gives. I could give everything I have to charity, but if the motive were not divine love, it means nothing in the sight of almighty God.”

“Here in this country we give billions of dollars away, but sometimes I wonder if our motive is not selfish. We are always asking the other nations and the other people, “What return is America going to get?” The motive of all giving and all charity should be love. I could also be a man of consuming zeal. Paul continues, “though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3). Suppose I were like many Korean pastors during the Korean War. Seventeen hundred Korean pastors paid with their blood for their faith in Jesus Christ. Suppose I died at a stake or was shot for my faith in Jesus Christ. You would say, “Billy Graham is a man of consuming zeal. He died as a martyr.” God says it is nothing, unless I am filled with the love of God.”

“What a brilliant life this man lived–this mythical man the Bible describes. He was a man of eloquence, knowledge, power, charity, zeal, but the Bible says he was absolutely nothing without love.”

“What a powerful thing love must be! How much stock God puts in love.”

“You say, “Well, Billy, what do you mean by love? What is a demonstration of love?” We have it demonstrated in 1 Corinthians 13. This might cut some of us to the heart. It is going to probe down deep, because one thing that the church of Christ in America lacks is the demonstration of love, and Jesus said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).“

“This love that the Bible is talking about in 1 Corinthians 13 “suffers long” (verse 5). In other words, it is patient. It is kind. It “does not envy.” There is no jealousy in this divine love that God gives. It “does not parade itself.” It is “not puffed up,” gives itself no airs. It is a love that demands humility. It never pushes itself to the top, never tries to promote itself, never tries to advertise itself. It is always in the background, truly humble. The thing that we need in the church today is genuine, old-fashioned humility.“

“Then, again in 1 Corinthians 13:5, the Bible says love “does not behave rudely.” It is always courteous and gracious at every turn. It “seeks not its own,” is never selfish. God looks after you, and you are to look after others, the Bible says. It is not easily provoked–not touchy or irritable. If people have to handle you with kid gloves, have to watch out what they say to you, you don’t know anything about this love that God is talking about.”

“Love “thinks no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:5). It never holds a grudge–never has malice. It rejoices not in iniquity, but in the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6). It is never glad when another falls. I know so many Christians today who, when they hear that another Christian has fallen, say, “Isn’t that too bad?” but they don’t mean it! They are happy that the other Christian has fallen because that places them just a little higher on the ladder of estimation in other people’s eyes.”

“Then the Bible says that this love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). It is slow to expose the evils and faults in others. It is eager to believe the best, and it is always hopeful and optimistic concerning the future. The Bible teaches that love is greater than faith and hope (1 Corinthians 13:13). Love is the greatest thing in all the world.“

“I will never forget when singer and composer Redd Harper came to Christ in Hollywood. He said that to him the most amazing and thrilling thing after he came to Christ was this fact: “I found that I loved everybody, no matter what race or color or creed they might be. I just wanted to go hug the whole world.”

“When radio broadcaster Stuart Hamblen came to Christ, he said the same thing: “I fell in love with the whole world. There were certain people who had different racial characteristics from myself that I did not like before I was converted, but after I gave my heart to Christ, I fell in love with every one of them.”“

“Only this divine love that God gives will make us love others, and before we have revival in America we must have that kind of love among God’s people.”

“However, the greatest demonstration of love was God sending His own Son to die for you. You did not deserve to have Him die for you. You are a sinner!”

“The Bible says that you know nothing about this love if you are outside of Christ. It is impossible for you to have this divine love, because it is a gift of God only to those who love Christ.”

“But–God loves you! It makes no difference how deep in the mire of sin and transgression you have gone. God loves you today! He proved it by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for you on the cross.”

“At this exact moment you can receive Christ into your heart. God will give you this supernatural love until you too love the whole world. That is the solution to the international problems that we face at this hour. It is the solution to your personal problems–to let Jesus Christ come in. When Jesus Christ comes in, His love comes in, His Life enters in, the love of God shines out everywhere you are.“

Romans 5:8-10Amplified Bible

8 But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Therefore, since we have now been justified [declared free of the guilt of sin] by His blood, [how much more certain is it that] we will be saved from the [a]wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more certain, having been reconciled, that we will be saved [from the consequences of sin] by His life [that is, we will be saved because Christ lives today].

I am reminded of the comprehensiveness of these words by so renowned a preacher, teacher, the stature, influence of Late Reverend Dr. Billy Graham.

Indeed, when I remind myself of them from time to time by reading, listening to his evangelistic crusades on the internet and You Tube, I am reminded of one more truth – as much as these words continually reach me, and I pray would too reach you the reader of this blog, “If I had not the love of Jesus in my heart ….?”

The same love of Jesus which He had in His Heart to do what He did for us …..

Even though we were at constant enmity with each other and with Him too …..

What then is “My Christianity?”

What then is my “Sermon in Shoes?”

— Turn the Volume of Your Computer or Your Phone to MAXIMUM! —

MY CHRISTIANITY ABSENT MY LIVING THE LOVE OF CHRIST.
MY CHRISTIANITY ABSENT MY LOVING THE LIVING CHRIST?

Christianity absent Living and Loving the Living Love of Christ is pointless! 

It is infinitely worse than nothing, it negatively affects the world around us. 

Have you ever had someone talk at you? 

Not talk to you or with you, but at you. 

Where it becomes evident that the person that is supposed to be conversing with you is not actually involving you in the exchange. 

They are just expressing their love of and preoccupation with themselves all over you. 

It is like a verbal vomiting attack. 

They have no interest in any response from you or your feeling about what they are saying.

They are just in getting their “two cents worth” out of what they want to say.

How does that make you feel?

It is really hard to have any interest in the subject that person is talking at you about, right? 

You want to pull the ripcord and get out of there as quickly as you can. 

Loved is just about the last emotion that comes to mind, isn’t it? 

This is Christianity without love. 

It is lots of words and thoughts coming at people, but it is missing the part that makes it alive and vibrant.

Have you ever heard a really unpleasant noise? 

Like hearing someone scratch their nails on a chalkboard or the sound of a dentist’s drill in your ear as they stand over you and drill out your tooth. 

It is terrible, terrifying, annoying and effects you down to your very bones. 

The louder it gets the worse it is.

This is the picture of religion without love from the Bible. 

Christianity is no exception. 

It is an expression of selfishness that comes off as really monstrously bothersome, unpleasant, unsettling and unnerving to those around. 

Yikes, it sounds kind of harsh, doesn’t it?

1 Corinthians 13:1-3Amplified Bible

The Excellence of Love

13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not [a]love [for others growing out of God’s love for me], then I have become only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal [just an annoying distraction]. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy [and speak a new message from God to the people], and understand all mysteries, and [possess] all knowledge; and if I have all [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love [reaching out to others], I am nothing. 3 If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body [b]to be burned, but do not have love, it does me no good at all.

This is the idea that Paul is getting at in his first letter to the church at Corinth.

Paul is often called the Apostle to the Gentiles but it is even more obvious from his writings in this thirteenth chapter, that love is equally as important to him.

SAVIOR JESUS WITHOUT LOVE … IS NOT SAVIOR JESUS

Religiosity without love is nothing! 

It is also really annoying! 

This is what Paul says in these verses.

C’mon, say what you really mean Paul!

He compares loveless Christianity to two really annoying discordant sounds of his day.  

We don’t hear noisy gongs or clanging cymbals much today but the idea is something making a ton of noise and is deafening, jarring and irritating. 

Think of perhaps a fire engine’s siren, though less rhythmic. 

If the Apostle was writing today, he might have written if you don’t have love it is like a thousand nails moving up and down and all over upon the chalkboard. 

It is a sound that is clear and not easily misunderstood. 

One that is so wrong that no matter how loud you make it doesn’t come close to getting any better or less bothersome and irritating – it is just louder bad noise.

Paul was writing to Christians who were noisy gongs. 

Their lives had become so caught up in themselves they had lost sight of love in the following of Jesus. 

Their church was acting like 1000 ancient religious nails on the chalkboard.

Much like a person talking at you, they had made everything about them and their expressions of self. 

They were supposed to be following Jesus but in fact, their church was about their pride. 

Their faith was self-centered and self-serving.

Church became a contest to see who could speak the loudest or in the best tongue.

Without His Love, No One Sees Jesus…Even in Church

Since they made life all about them rather than Jesus, it was impossible for them to demonstrate true love for others. 

Loving yourself that much precludes loving others with any authenticity. 

You just care too much about taking care of yourself to care much for others.

The flesh is a greedy beast to feed.

The Corinthians were so prideful and self-focused in their walks with Jesus, even their use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit was worthless. 

Paul says it is nothing to prophesy or speak in tongues if we don’t have love.

Even worse, their actions were like the noisy gong or clanging cymbal. 

They were creating an unmistakable, discordant, and annoying impression for everyone around them. 

Paul goes so far as to say that it would have been better if they did not meet as a church for all the damage they were doing.

For their lack of love, they were changing the beauty of God’s own gifts given through His will through His Spirit into something worthless and off-putting.

What was meant to be the Body of Christ moving perfectly together throughout the known world to testify to God’s glory became one uncoordinated hot mess.  

Simultaneous Love for the Lord and love for each other is what is supposed to keep the Body of Christ in harmony. 

Since it was nowhere to be found, the Corinthian church was stumbling around like a newborn colt. 

They were doing a lot but not everyone would call it beautiful at the same time.

The Love of Christ, Love of His Life is Supposed to be our Calling Card

John 13:34-35Amplified Bible

34 I am giving you a new commandment, that you [a]love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.”

We may be shocked by this idea, or not shocked enough by this idea, but look around at some portions of the church today. 

You don’t have to go far on the internet to see pastors preaching with such anger and hatred, that what comes across is quite ugly and lacking in power.

There are others who are doctrinally sound but so intellectually focused that the Gospel that they preach comes across as being cold, aloof and forbidding. 

They have the truth of the Bible but without the love of God, it is creating and introducing and delivering a really confusing picture into where chaos reigns. 

They have lost sight of God’s love so they have completely lost the message brought to us by Jesus Himself.  For God so loved the world He sent His Son.

God is love. 

Jesus is God and is also therefore love. 

Jesus was sent into this world as a man because God so loved the world. 

Jesus said that the greatest commandments were to love God and love our neighbors while we are loving ourselves as God sacrificially first loved us. 

Jesus said that the world would know us as disciples by our love. 

Love is so essential to who God is and to what we are as Christians that Paul makes his really strong statement. 

Without love, even Christianity is nothing. 

We can never lose sight of love and still live the life that Jesus has for us in Him.

God is love. 

A life lived absent the first love of Christ, is a life without God prominently in it. 

So if we have gotten far down a path that looks like Christianity but is not filled with love, do a 180 degree turn – dare to turn around – to face God – facing you. 

If we are working really hard for the church but are doing it in anger and spite and resentment, or out of our “duty and obligation – that is, works” stop it. 

If we are so busy with “serving others” we have no time to love the people we are supposed to be serving…just stop. 

It profits us nothing and creates a jarring discordant sound. 

Only start again when we are able to say for certain that it is the love of Jesus compelling us and the love of the Holy Spirit coming through us.

No matter what it looks like to our eyes, if we don’t have love we are nothing.

Why? 

Great Question … I am very glad you asked it in such a Kairos timely manner!

1 John 4:7-8Amplified Bible

God Is Love

7 Beloved, let us [unselfishly] [a]love and seek the best for one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves [others] is born of God and knows God [through personal experience]. 8 The one who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. [He is the originator of love, and it is an enduring attribute of His nature.]

Because Scripture is clear – if there is no love then Savior Jesus is not with us. 

He is love and brings love wherever He walks.

He is love and brings love wherever He Talks.

He is love and brings love wherever He Ministers to God’s Children.

We all want to be something, someone like Christ in the Body of Christ, right?

RIGHT?

How do you recognize Jesus’ followers?

How do you find Christians?

Jesus said they love each other just as he loved the disciples.

In the immediate context this means he is willing to give sacrificially and extravagantly by dying for them at the cross, and he is also willing to love selflessly and practically by washing every single one their “filthy” feet.

His ministry reveals he will do almost anything in between extravagant and practical.

Imagine if we all gathered in fellowship to read and study and pray the Gospels and committed to love each other in the same way Jesus first showed his love!

Envision that first Love displayed through yourselves and the Body of Christ.

What do you anticipate seeing?

What do you expectantly hope and pray to see?

What do you actually see?

BETTER YET … WHO DO YOU SEE?

So, for the sake of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Go Live and Live greatly! 

Go Love and Love greatly!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father of all Charity and Compassion and God of all grace, I thank you for teaching me to love through the words and teachings and example of my SAVIOR Jesus. May my words and actions reflect his love toward your people today, tomorrow, and until you bring us all home to you. In the name of Christ, my Great Example, I pray. Amen.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VK284_kqlA

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