The Importance of Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 - "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

As we approach the Valentine's Day season, we cannot help but be bombarded with one message: LOVE.  For some, this day is dreaded (at one point I was one of those rebels, wearing black to show my denouncement of the holiday).  For others, it is the most anticipated day of the year because it is the one day their significant other must show their love in a tangible way. No matter how you celebrate February 14th, it is hard to ignore.

While I was thinking about this upcoming holiday, I began to think about 1 Corinthians 13.  Here, Paul tells the Corinthians about the importance of love.  He tells them that they could have and use the greatest spiritual gifts, but it would fall on deaf ears if they did so without love.  They could possess great faith in God, but it means nothing if they cannot love another person.  They could be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for Christ, yet if they do not love, the sacrifice is worthless.

How many of you have ever tried to listen to someone give a spiritual talk when they had scorned you in some way?  Was their message engaging or did it sound like a broken record?

If someone knows the Word and is passionate about it, and has great faith, but does not care about others, how receptive will others be to the message?  Jesus was the ultimate lover.  He saw the "unlovable" and welcomed them.  He saw the "untouchable" and healed them.  It was His love that compelled people to listen. 

We as the Church need to examine how we are doing at loving others.  How are we loving those closest to us?  How are we loving those with whom we worship?  How are we loving strangers?  How are we loving our enemies?  So often we focus on our own spiritual lives and disciplines, that we forget that there is a hurting world around us who need Jesus.  We are his disciples and his ambassadors representing him on earth.  If we do not love, we give the wrong impression of him and every effort we make is in vain at best.

This Valentine's season, I want to challenge you to begin to pray that God will give you a heart for his people and will grow your love. 

They Shall Know We Are Christians by Our Love.

Getting Rid of Excuses Part Two

I would love to serve you Jesus, but not in THAT way....

My mantra for this year has been Matthew 6:33.  I must admit that it is not the easiest verse to follow.  As I try to seek first the kingdom and God's righteousness, I find that my own pride sometimes gets in the way.  Often times, we think of God's kingdom as the church, meaning, the church we attend or are affiliated with.  Therefore, our righteousness is sometimes measured by what position we have or how active we are.  If we are truly seeking the kingdom, our church attendance would be at a high percentage.  If we were truly righteous, we would serve in a position of leadership.  However, this way of thinking is far from the truth.

Paul writes about the unity of the Church and the spiritual gifts given among the members in 1 Corinthians 12.  He begins the chapter by discussing that it the Spirit who gives, apportions, and empowers all service to God (1 Cor. 12:11).  However, the Corinthian church had a status problem.  There was a lack of unity between the higher class and lower class and position meant everything to them. Therefore, there was a problem in Corinth with people seeking out the gifts that they were not given.  They were unhappy with the service to which they were empowered.  Some of the roles within the church were being viewed as noble, while others were being viewed as less honorable.  In today's church, it would be comparing a national pastor to the local toilet scrubber of the church.  Therefore, there was potential tension within the community.  The "lesser" members perhaps would feel less important while the "more important" members might look down on the others.  Yet, Paul emphasizes that  God composes the body, gives great honor to those who lack it, and appoints the roles (1 Corinthians 12:28).  Therefore, in God's eyes, each role is the same and is all useful for His glory.  However, the Corinthians continue to "earnestly desire" the greatest gifts. 
Paul then tells the Corinthians that there is a way to unity that far surpasses the direction they are going.  His next section is his famous lesson on love: 1 Corinthians 13.  For Christians, pursuing the kingdom is not about what gifts you have or what position you hold because God gave you that gift and placed you in that role.  The way to building the kingdom is love.  The Corinthians had it wrong: seeking higher gifts and status were not the answer because the sovereign God gave them out in His plan for the Church.  Love is what will build the kingdom and unify the Church.

Sometimes we get so caught up in "refining our gifts" so God can "use us for His kingdom" that we forget who gave us the gift and who placed us in His service. Oftentimes, the far superior way of the kingdom is staring us in the face.  It is the child asking us to read him a story.  It is the friend who looks like she needs to talk.  It is the stranger we feel convicted to share the message of Christ.  Yet, we get so distracted by what "tier" we are on in this false hierarchy of the Church. We get mad when someone does not complement our “service”, be it a solo at worship or a lesson in Sunday school.  We get hurt when we are not asked to join a committee.  Yet, all the while, when it comes to our work, what God asks of us is fairly simple: serve where He places you, utilize the gift He gives you, and do both in love.

 ^ESV  Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col 3:17 ESV)

Daily Challenge - June 9, 2011 - Love One Another

John 13:34-35 - "A new command I give to you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

In some of Jesus' final teachings to his disciples, he gives them the command of John 13:34-35. The command to love one another was not in and of itself new, for the Old Testament had dictated to love one's neighbor's as themselves. However, the standard had changed. First, the manner by which the disciples are to love one another is with Christ's love. If you look at the way in which Christ loved on earth, you notice a couple of things. First, he loved with humility. His relationships with others did not consist of what he could gain from them or the recognition he could earn, but he rather what he could give. A great example of this is seen when Jesus washes his disciples' feet (John 13:1-20). The second way in which Christ loved is that He loved sacrificially. He placed the needs of others above the needs of himself. Ultimately, he made the greatest sacrifice for mankind by giving his life on the cross.

The second difference between the new command to love and the old is that in the new command, Jesus calls his disciples to a love within the community of believers. Earlier, the command was given to love your neighbors and your enemies. Now, this is a command within the community of believers. It is a call to a lifestyle of love that is unmatched by anything that had been seen before that time. The result of their love for one another is that the world will know that they are Christ's disciples.

The charge is given with a condition. The world will know Christ's disciples if they love one another. While there might be exceptions to the case, this is to be the standard that is likely to happen in the future. This principle seems easy enough to attain. Yet, how often is it that arguments arise within the body of believers? Most often the battles the Church wages are within itself. If we truly loved one another the way Christ loved, the impact on the world could be remarkable.

The challenge for today is that: think about the areas in which you are not loving your fellow disciples the way in which Christ loved. Is there another believer that you have a grudge against and you have let your pride get in the way of the relationship? Is there someone who you are taking advantage of that you could be serving instead? Our testimony comes from our love for each other as the body of believers? How can you better love your fellow disciples and therefore show the world that you are a follower of Christ? What is one step you can take to better love your fellow believer? You may never know the impact of your love.