Murderers We?

On February 5, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 John 3: 15 – 17

Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

Tighten your seatbelt. The apostle John is going to take us on quite a ride today. He is teaching on love. He starts by convicting a good number of us as murderers. And no murderer, he tells us, will inherit eternal life. The life of the eternal one does not abide in us if we hate anyone because the eternal one is love. It is logical but what a revelation. Then he contrasts Jesus with those who hate in a demonstration of how love behaves. Hate kills but love lays down its life for the other. And, as if that isn’t strong enough, John goes on to say that we ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren too.

If eternal life is living in me then love is abiding in me and love lays down its life for another. The eternal life in me necessarily means that even though I lay down my life, I will yet live. So, there is more here than mere mortality. There is more to this than laying down my mortal life. Let me put it in Paul’s kind of phraseology. If I go to war for my countrymen and lay down my life but have not love, then I am nothing and useless. So what is going on here? It is the love in my heart that is important not my acts of martyrdom. I could martyr myself in my family situation continually from some need to feel victimized rather than out of love. Then my actions, rather than being lovely, are repugnant. Still, there is more here because we still do not reach the difference between laying down our mortal life like Jesus did and laying down our everyday life, which he also did. You see, the laying down of one’s life is not measured in heartbeats and breath alone. There are people, you can think of some, who lay down their lives daily for the brethren, for you and me. You may have some in your own family who consistently put aside their wants, desires and plans in order to meet the needs of others. And I do not refer to people who do this in a dysfunctional, unhealthy way. We are talking here about people who have a revelation of God within them and seek to live out of his will, his love and his power. These are the true children of God. You might be one of these.

Then there are the rest of us and John addresses us in the next verse. Verse 17 says that even though we have the worlds goods we don’t part with a thing even when we have the opportunity to bless others. I heard a minister say one time that she has set a minimum tip amount. No matter how lousy the service nor how inexpensive the meal, she tips well. Now, why would she do that? She has a revelation of the love of God. She is seeking to bless people, not punish them. Your message will preach much louder from a position of love and grace than it will out of selfishness or recrimination. I had a problem right here and I will admit it. I thought a tip was a reward for having given exemplary service. This minister, though, sees it as an opportunity to bless someone. Which of us is closer to God’s heart?

But here is the thing that really amazes me about today’s passage.   John begins by declaring that people with hate in their hearts are murderers and then ends talking about giving. What is going on here? Has John just linked the love of God and His living in us with us being generous givers? I will let you answer that for yourself but I certainly am having a moment of pause (selah). I kind of want to run out and give something away. The church has gone from every one selling their possessions and meeting each other’s needs (see Acts 4) to a group of tight fisted, fear controlled counterfeits. I don’t want to be that way. I want Acts 4 kinds of moves of God so I think that must mean that I need to be an Acts 4 kind of Christian. Where has our charity gone? Why are we no longer generous? To where has our love flown?

The only thing I know to do is to get on our faces before God and ask him. He must reveal to each of us the condition of our hearts and how we can fill our proper place in Him. The one thing I am absolutely sure of is that His answer will involve love and generosity. Will we hang onto our worldly possessions and add annually to our trove at the cost of our souls? I don’t think so. I think we only need see the truth and we will all respond appropriately. And I believe that John has shown us truth.

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Christ’s Disciple

On February 3, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 13: 34 – 35

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

This is a familiar bit of scripture. It is called the new commandment, the one commandment, or the love commandment. It is another thing too. It is the entire discipleship class. Or let us say it is the answer to the final exam. If you love one another, if you demonstrate the Jesus kind of love for one another, then you have passed the discipleship class. 

Much is written about discipleship and many churches even offer discipleship classes. It seems to me that Jesus offered a discipleship class too; it was the observance of his life, of course, but he sums up the whole thing with one little sentence. It all boils down to love. I sure wish he had said the evidence of a true disciple is faithfulness, diligence or perseverance in the faith, but he didn’t. The only way anyone will identify me as a disciple of Christ is if they see the love of God issuing from me. The apostle Paul said that without love, anything else, everything else is meaningless (1 Corinthians 13: 1-3). He got it. He understood Jesus’ message.

Stating it a different way would simply be to say that Christianity is: “loving one another as Jesus loves us.” That’s it. You can take every book on theology ever written and boil it down to that one sentence. There is your entire thesis in one sentence. I wish it was as easy to live it as to say it. 

The Apostle John said it this way, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen” (1 John 4: 20 NIV). In other words, if I do not love my brother, then I am not a disciple of Christ. To be more accurate though, Jesus said that we must love one another as he loves us. That is to say, if I do not love others as Jesus loves us then I am no disciple of his; not a follower of the way (Jesus); not even really a Christian which means one who follows Christ.

What kind of love is this then? “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3: 16).  It is a sacrificial love. It is others centered, putting the needs of others above my wishes. That is a tall bill to fill and I cannot do it in my own strength. In fact, it is in the surrender of my strength that I can do all things. But guess what, Jesus couldn’t do it in his own strength either. That is why he sweated blood in the Garden of Gethsemane. None of us can do what God has called us to do in our own strength that is why God empowered us through His abiding presence living inside of us. We must live through the presence of God in our hearts. Jesus allowed the father’s compassion to flow through him. We don’t have to be super heroes. We just have to allow our abiding in Christ and his dwelling in us to be expressed. We learn to let go of our desperate grasp and to let God flow out of our inner being. It is a hard thing to do when we are still wedded to our flesh but as we learn to live out of our spirits we will find it increasingly easy and joyful. When Jesus told us to live this way it was because he had a revelation from God that we could. His early disciples did and we can too. As we are transformed through the renewing of our minds we discover a radical trust of God inside of us and that trust empowers us to let go and live beyond the means of mortal man. We will soar on wings as eagles and nothing, by any means, shall be impossible to us. It is the power of love.

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Giving God Away

On June 26, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 13: 34

“A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

John 15: 13

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

Jesus gave us one commandment knowing if we would live by this one commandment we would fulfill all the law and the prophets. Everything that God would prescribe for us is included in this one commandment, that we love one another as Jesus first loved us. 

How did Jesus love us? He loved us sacrificially. He put our needs before his even to the point of death. That is a remarkable act. Can you imagine putting other people’s needs before your desires even if it means your death? That is a tall order. Face it; most of us continuously serve ourselves even at the cost of others. How often do we cease our pursuit of what we want long enough to even consider what others need or want? It is just not our way, is it? We were not trained to serve others but rather to grab all we can get even if it means hurting others. So, what does it take for us to, even for a moment, retire our self-interest long enough to consider the needs and wants of someone else?

Whatever Jesus told us to do he has also empowered us to do. That is good news, yes? But realize too that there is no excuse for disobedience. We do not have the excuse that we cannot do what he has commanded because he always provides the ability with the command. So, if this is Jesus’ command to us, and we know it is, and he has empowered us with the ability to fulfill the love command, then why aren’t more of us living by this commandment? 

God is love. He is the power and authority required to fulfill this commandment. Jesus is showing us that our grand command is to convey the essence of God to others. Did you catch that? Since our command is to love one another and God is love then the command is to “God” one another as Jesus did or to express the nature and heart of God among one another just like Jesus did. It sounds like a difficult task but Jesus provided the way. He told his disciples to stay in Jerusalem until they received the promise of the Father which would give them the requisite power (Acts 1: 4 – 8). Then he sent the Holy Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit has come to make his abode in us, to actually live in our hearts. He is the power to love and to live. The only way we can do what Jesus has commanded us to do is for us to fill up with God. We can never in our own strength or by an effort of our will love people the way Jesus has directed us. We must first let love fill us to overflowing, then we will be able to let the expression of who God is flow out of us.

So we have an absolute command from our Lord regarding how we are to treat others and he has provided the means by which we can adhere to his command. We must make a decision to obey this commandment of love. We need to understand with our minds that it means putting others needs ahead of ours. We should actually spend some time thinking about what that means and meditating on how that might appear in practice. Then we need to seek the help of the Father through prayer. We must first let Him love us. We will never be able to love others if we do not first receive the love of God deep into our hearts. His love can only flow through us once we have allowed Him to abide fully within us. So there is our starting point and perhaps where many of us fail. Make a decision to obey Jesus’ command to love others as he loved us and then earnestly seek the help of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Open your heart and let God flow into it. Open your heart and let His love flow out.

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