Love

You love Jesus Christ only as much as the person you love the least.

What Is Love?

The word "love" is used a lot in the Bible. The word "love" is also used a lot in our culture. But they are not the same word.

In our culture the word "love" means to feel affection for another person. To really like another person. Does the Bible command us to feel affection for others? Does it say we must like all other people? No. That's not in the Bible. What the Bible says is that we must love other people, even our enemies.

Confused?

The problem is that the English language does not have a word that accurately expresses what the Bible is saying. The closest word available is "love" but it's not very close. The ancient Greeks (the language of the New Testament) recognized the differences and they had three words that are translated into our one word... "love". One of those, agape, is talking abouit how we treat other people, not how we feel about them. When you agape (love) someone else that means you treat them in a loving manner. You may not like them, but you still treat them with loving actions.

What is a loving action? Does loving someone mean you always give them what they want? No, it does not. It means doing what is best for them.

If your children want to play in a busy street, is it loving to let them do so? No!! The loving thing is to get them out of the street no matter how much they object. That is love... caring about the welfare of the other person.

What if the other person wants to do something morally wrong? What if they are a habitual liar or shoplifter? Do you tell them it's okay, and if that's what they want to do they can continue to do those things? No! That's not loving. That's enabling them.

Loving someone does not mean we always make them feel good. By loving someone we might make then very unhappy. Our children might really enjoy playing in the street and our loving action of getting them out of the street makes them very unhappy... but it also saves their lives. Agape loving someone has nothing to do with happiness or feeling good. It has to do with truly caring about the welfare of that person.

What if we did something to protect our children when we found them playing in a busy street... We could run into the street and put orange cones around our children, and erect a sign that says "Children At Play." Instead of asking them to change their behavior, and possibly making them feel sad, we try to protect them and keep them happy. Is that the right response? No!

The correct, loving response is to get them out of the street and teach them that they need to change their behavior.

That's also the correct, loving response to someone breaking the law... whether it is civil law or God's law. Enabling them to feel good about themselves while they break the law, or enabling them to continuing breaking the law is not loving them.

Peace On Earth

The Christmas season has just ended, but I'm still thinking about a common theme for Christmas... peace on earth. What does that mean? What type of peace does Jesus bring? What conflicts, what wars does he end?

What war did Jesus talk about? Did he tell the Romans they must stop their conquest of the world? No. Think about it. What things did he specifically condemn the Roman's for doing? (Nothing.)

Roman's 5:10 tells us who was fighting: "For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son."

Philippians 3:18 talks about those who are not saved... "For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ."

The world war that is going on is the war between mankind and God. The peace on earth Jesus Christ brings is peace between us and God. Through Jesus Christ we are no longer enemies of God... we are no longer at war with God. That is the peace on earth the Bible talks about.

"For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him [Jesus], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." - Colossians 1:19,20

Research Examines the Faith of Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses

The Barna Group has done a survey of Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons that has some interesting results.

The Barna Group is a Christian research organization that regularly conducts polls. In their most recent poll they asked Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons about their faith and what they believe. They then compare the results with answers from born again Christians. Most of the questions had to do with actions... how people live out their faith. They were not doctrinal questions.

So, if you observe these three groups, based on their actions which group appears to be the stronger Christian?

The Jehovah's Witnesses by far. Then the Mormons and they were followed somewhat closely by born again Christians. That is sad! That is distressing!

By the way, I am not saying that either Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons are Christians. However, this survey shows their behavior is more Christian-like than born again Christians.

You can read the the survey results at: Barna Research Group

So what's the problem? The Bible says that one way we can know a Christian is by their fruit. This is telling me that most born again Christians may not truly be born again. They may have invited Jesus into their heart, but they have never recognized they are sinners in need of a savior, and that Jesus Christ is the only way they can be saved. Jesus said that if we are saved we will love him. And if we love him we will desire to obey his commands. The word used for love is "agape," meaning a love that results in action. Agape love is not a love of feeling good about a person. If you call yourself a Christian, are you showing your love for Jesus, through your actions, at least as well as those who are in cults? Are you making sacrifices for Jesus? If not, you need to visit 911 Christ.

P.S. By the way, most of the Christian-like actions of Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormon are not coming from a love for Jesus. They are coming from a love of self. They are doing the things they have been told they need to do in order to have the highest possible level of salvation/glorification. #1 on the list of things they need to do is to obey the church.

God Is Love, But What Is Love?

Here is an interesting verse. "But now the Lord declares, 'Those who honor me I will honor, those who despise Me will be disdainded.'" (1 Samuel 2:30) This verse palinly says there are some people whom God disdains.

Talking about God Psalm 5:5 says that God does "hate all who do wrong." This verse plainly says that God hates some people.

But the Bible also says that God is love (1 John 4:8) and "his love endures forever." (1 Chronicles 16:34)

Is the Bible contradictory? Is God schizophrenic? No. We need to understand what love is. Love is not a feeling. Love is an action. 1 John 4:19 says: "We love because He [God] first loved us."

Romans 5:8 tells us what love is: "God demonstrated His own love for us in this; While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

God sacrificed His only Son so that we could live. Love is an action, not a feeling. God tells to do the same thing: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." (Luke 6:27)

He is telling us to do the same thing He did for us. We were enemies of God. We did wrong. We despised God. That means God disdained and hated us. But, He also loved us. He loved His enemies and that love is His giving His only Son to die, paying on our behalf the penalty we owe for disobeying God and being an enemy of God.

In our culture we tend to think of love as a feeling. But in the Bible love is an action, not a feeling. We are not called by God to like everyone, but we are called by God to put aside our feelings and act in a loving manner toward everyone.

#10 - Love - 1 John

John concludes the list of characteristics with love:

#10 - "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murder, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him." 1 John 3:14

Understanding what love is... what love looks like... is a problem in American culture today. What our culture defines as love in many cases is not truly Biblical love.

In my previous post I used homosexuality as an example, and it works well as an example here. Many in American culture today, in particular young people, think that to exclude a practicing homosexual from the church (for example) church leadership is not loving. The truth is, to include a practicing homosexual as a part of the church is a very hateful thing to do. It shows no love at all.

Our culture is very much oriented toward not hurting any one's feelings or their self-esteem. Notice the word used here: self-esteem. Almost anytime you see the word "self" you can be sure it's not Biblical. The Bible is not about "self" it is ALL about God.

What is the most loving thing someone can do for another person? Think about something that lasts forever.

To include someone in the church is to tell them, and the world, that they are okay. God accepts you. That's not true. Look at Matthew 25:31-40. In these passages Jesus separates the sheep from the goats. The sheep and the goats are those people who lived in obedience to God (sheep) and those who rejected God (goats).

1 Corinthians chapter fives describes a situation in which a man who is involved in sexual sin is accepted by the Corinthian church, and the church is proud and boasting about its acceptance of this man. This sounds like the "Christian" churches that call themselves reconciling churches. They accept sexual sin in their membership and not only that, they are proud about it and they boast about it!

What did Paul say to do about this situation? He says to hand the man over to Satan and tells the church their boasting is not good. Paul writes: "But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother, but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler." - 1 Corinthians 5:11

This sounds very mean spirited, to kick someone out of the church. But in reality it is the very best thing you can do for them. While they are in the church they are thinking they have no problems. After all, they go to church regularly, so they must be saved. But the truth is they are heading for hell and the lake of fire. Instead of leading them to Christ the church is blinding them.

By "turning them over to Satan", they will then be able to see their sin and their need for a saviour. Yes, their feelings get hurt, but they get eternal life. That truly is love.

I need to be clear that I am not claiming that Christians in church are pure, free of sin and they sit in judgement over others, deciding who to let in and who to keep out of heaven. There is not one person in the church who does not deserve to go to hell. Everyone is a sinner. The difference is that Christians struggle with sin, knowing they are doing wrong and struggling to do what is right. The difference is that Christians are trusting that Christ died to pay their penalty for sin, so that when God looks at them He sees the righteousness of Jesus not the sinfulness of man.

Have you turned away from sin (repented) and trusted that Jesus has truly and fully paid the penalty for your sin?

Loving God, Loving Others

I ran into this video on a "progressive" Christianity" web site where it was being denounced. It is a great, energetic video, with a message of love for God and other people.

John Chapter 14

John 14:15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command." (NIV)

John 14:21 "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me." (NIV)

John 14:23 "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching." (NIV)

Yesterday I wrote about how obeying God (works) is a result of belief in Jesus Christ. This is sometimes referred to as "faith that works." The problem is that many Christians stop thinking at this point. But, John chapter 14 tells us there is more. Love.

Why is it that faith results in obedience? Because of love.

We do not obey God because we are compelled by the force of God's command. We obey God because we love Him. We obey God because we want to.

Love is a difficult word for Americans to deal with. We tend to only assign one meaning to the word love--a soft, warm fuzzy feeling--full of good thoughts about another person. We think of love as an emotion. This is not what Jesus means when he says, "If you love me, you will obey what I command." In this case love is an action word. It means to do caring and sacrificial things for another person. For example, if a person is in need of warm clothing and food, the Biblical way to love that person is to give them food and clothing--not a hug and words about how you feel their pain.

So how do you love God? By obeying God. By doing what God says to do. Feed the hungry. Clothe those who are cold. Take care of widows and orphans. And spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth.