Marks Of The True Church: Love Series

“O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” [1]

Karl Barth, the Swiss theologian, following a lecture delivered in 1962 in Rockefeller Chapel on the campus of the University of Chicago was asked to summarise the gist or his multiplied books on theology. This learned man charmed his admiring audience by quoting from a song that every child learned during Sunday School: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

Indeed, each Christian can testify to the truth that Jesus loves him or her, and this on the authority of the Bible. Christian love is ridiculed when the world wants to mock the Faith. I suppose the primary reason that this is the case is that those who belong to the world long for love, but they cannot define what is meant when they speak of love. Therefore, as the song writer has stated, those of the world are always looking for love in all the wrong places. [2] Christians know what love is, even if we are too often negligent when speaking about the love we have received from the Lord. Though we Christians may sometimes sound as though we are speaking with the voice of the world, each follower of Christ has experienced the love of the Father, and thus we can speak with authority about love. Because we walk in love, we are experts on the real thing.

With this message I want to encourage you not only to communicate your knowledge of love to those about you, but to live a life revealing the love of the Father. We who follow the Master are responsible to reflect the love of God as we conduct our lives day-by-day. Fortunately for us, the Lord Jesus Himself asked the Father to endue us with His love—the same love that the Son and the Father have shared for all eternity. Since the Father always gives the Son what He asks, we know that the love of God resides in us. Just as the Risen Lord of Glory lives in His redeemed people, we know the love of God is integral to the life of the one who follows the Risen Saviour.

THE CHRISTIAN’S KNOWLEDGE OF LOVE — “O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them” [JOHN 17:25-26]. I suppose it was inevitable that we would come to the point of speaking about love. It is a common caricature of we who preach to laugh about our emphases on love. With exaggerated emoting, comedians and anyone who wishes to ridicule preachers will caricature how we speak about love. We Christians are guilty of speaking about the love of God precisely because we have received that love, even when we didn’t deserve it—and we are changed by His love.

Though a Christian may be reluctant to speak about love because of fear she will be ridiculed by those associated with the world or because she has adopted—consciously or unconsciously—the attitude of the world concerning this business of love, the Christian nevertheless does know what love is because God does love her or him with unfailing love. That Christian has now received the love of Christ, and she or he is confident that they are the object of eternal love.

In the truest sense, we Christians are world class experts when it comes to love. In the realm of physical love, multiplied studies have shown that followers of the Risen Son of God are the most satisfied—and the most satisfying—lovers that are to be found anywhere in the world. And why not? The individual who is redeemed knows—and is known by—the God of Love!

Ladies, you need to know that the godly man who believes the Word of God and incorporates the teachings of that Word into his life is the best lover possible. He sees you as more than a sexual being—he sees you as an heir together with him of the grace of life. Because he wants to honour the Master, he esteems you as a precious gift given by the hand of God Who always gives what is best. This is precisely what we read when Peter instructs Christian men, “Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered” [1 PETER 3:7].