Alliance Church
Pastor David Welch
“Revisiting an Old, New Commandment”
Lesson Two
A Lesson on Genuine love -- the badge of genuine Christianity
God calls our attention to some seals intended to demonstrate the authenticity of true Christians. A while back we explored one of those seals or badges of genuine Christianity back in John 8. Jesus said genuine disciples are those who abide in His word. Genuine disciples have a hunger to arrange their life by the principles taught by Jesus. It only makes sense that one who claims to be a follower of Jesus, seeks to live by what Jesus taught and lived.
First Jesus lets them know that the glorious plan of redemption is about to unfold before their eyes.
When therefore he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately. "Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You shall seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, I now say to you also, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.”
God was glorified even in this moment when Jesus continually sticks to the divine plan and loves to the end.
Next, He issues a specific commandment in light of what he is about to do.
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
Just as Jesus modeled forgiveness and called on his follower to do the same, He modeled genuine love and clearly calls them to love one another. The word used for “new” here leans toward the idea of fresh, unused, not marred by age. i.e. New tomb
Much of the Old Testament focused on loving God. The Old Testament did require love for God with every part of one’s being as well as love for our neighbor as we love self. Here Jesus elevates love to its highest ideal.
Love one another like I love you. Demonstrate love for each other as God has shown you. And do this continually! It is a new principle or command in that it transcends any earthly example. It is divine love in action. It is new in the sense that this kind of love was really a rare if not an absent practice since the fall of man. Because of the radical heart change about to be accomplished through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, and because of the unmistakable model lived by Jesus this new love would now be a possibility again for the human race. The demonstration of this level of mutual love stands as significant identifying characteristic of genuine followers of Christ.
"By this(mutual love) all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:31-35
The greatest evangelism tool issued by Jesus and too often the last tool employed, is the mutual love demonstrated by Christians toward one another. A general glance today’s church and it is no wonder we have lost our impact in a culture eaten up with guilt and bitterness and selfish pursuit. The most effective power for evangelism today has never changed since the beginning of the church -- the power of genuine love.
That is why there is so much space given to the subject in the New Testament.
It is not our church facilities that will impact the world. They have beautiful buildings.
It is not our music that will impact the world. They produce enjoy quality music.
It is not our programs. They design new programs and clubs everyday.
It is not even our efforts to feed the hunger. The world sometimes does a better job.
It is not our slick advertising or marketing techniques. The world is an expert at marketing and pours billions of dollars into it.
What effectively and eternally impacts a selfish culture is the demonstration of genuine selfless love and undeniable unity with God and each other that cannot be duplicated apart from the God of love and unity. John 17:20-23
Only genuine divine love produces the fruit that lasts. Christians living in Trinitarian community invite the attention of the world. Only one definition of love captures its essence – God is love. Wherever you see God, you see love. Wherever you see love, you see God for God is love Since He created us according to His image we also had the capacity to love and be loved. It was man’s essential nature to live in love. However, since the fall, that image, that divinely dictated capacity became brutally blemished so that the original divine drive toward selfless giving and ministry deteriorated into a fleshly drive toward selfish grabbing and manipulation. James asserts that this fleshly drive is the source of all conflict among believers in the church. Only God’s supernatural regeneration can restore the hardened human heart to God’s original design specifications. Only he can reboot the system to its original settings. Other than the definition – God is love. God chose to describe love more than define it. The whole Bible really is a portrait of divine love. It is a magnificent piece of art, full of color and dimension that draws us to look more deeply.
Love is a concept so easily distorted. Even the words loose their impact. Today, we try to pass off a meager copy of the Master’s masterpiece of love as the real thing to the point where we begin to compare our own work not to the original but to the sorry copies circulating among us. I invite you to join me for the next several weeks to honestly allow the Holy Spirit to examine our mental and emotional pictures of what we label love in our life and compare them to some original portraits found in Scripture.
Do you love your spouse, children, and family?
Do you love the church?
Do you love your enemies?
What should it look like?
Does what we call love measure up to God’s description of genuine love?
If not, what should we do about it?
There are several different dimensions to our concept of love. We are most interested in the love that God commands us to have for one another that he designed to grab the world’s attention.
Feeling Love based on common pleasure
Family Love based on common heritage
Friendship Love based on common interests
Foundational Love based on inner strength
It is this foundational love that God commands us to practice that grabs attention. It is the love that God demonstrated when Jesus died on our behalf.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
This is the love God calls us to continually demonstrate over and over in Scripture.
And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Col. 3:14
And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. 1 John 3:23
The Master’s mandate is not misty or unclear. It is up to us to discover the true nature of love from God’s perspective not ours.
If I were to ask you the most descriptive passage in the Bible regarding genuine love… Hopefully you would say 1 Corinthians 13 where we find both what love is and what love does.
Paul powerfully instructed the Corinthians concerning the value of spiritual gifts in the building of the church in chapter 12. Even the gifts of the spirit can become corrupted by the flesh. So in chapter 13 Paul clearly focuses on the real power behind the gifts. I show you a more excellent way to build the kingdom of God. Here, like a beautiful fragrant delicate rose, Paul portrays the power of love.
It is a shame to tear off the pedals in order to more precisely understand the flower, but hopefully once we have examined some of the pedals we can put them back together and appreciate the beauty of the whole rose in a new way. Love must be the continual driving force behind any fruitful ministry. Without it, there is no lasting fruit. It is my hope that by a reexamination of the original portrait of divine love we will face the inadequacy of our little stick figure pictures and transfer the paints and brushes back over to the Holy Spirit to manifest through us once again the true nature of love. Paul begins this magnificent chapter clarifying inadequate demonstrations of love through six illustrations.
FIRST EXAMPLE
If, and it may or may not be so… I speak eloquently and even perhaps supernaturally.
“but do not continually demonstrate, have, possess, enjoy love”
Then I have become like and still remain like (perfect these verb) an irritating noise.
1—banging piece of metal 2—wailing cymbal
Gifts with out genuine love may make noise but do not move hearts.
SECOND EXAMPLE
If, and it may or may not be so…I have prophecy
“but do not continually demonstrate, have, possess, enjoy love”
Then I am nothing, an absolute ZERO. I have no eternal significance. I leave no lasting heritage or mark on this earth.
THIRD EXAMPLE
If, and it may or may not be so…I have all knowledge
“but do not continually demonstrate, have, possess, enjoy love”
Then I am nothing, and absolute ZERO.
FOURTH EXAMPLE
If, and it may or may not be so…I have all faith so as to remove mountains
“but do not continually demonstrate, have, possess, enjoy love”
Then I am nothing, and absolute ZERO.
FIFTH EXAMPLE
I give at a point in my life all my possessions to feed the poor
“but do not continually demonstrate, have, possess, or enjoy love”
Then it profits me absolutely nothing. I have gained nothing in terms of eternal value or reward.
SIXTH EXAMPLE
I give up my body to be burned
“but do not continually demonstrate, have, possess, or enjoy love”
Then it profits me absolutely nothing.
I have gained nothing in terms of eternal value or reward.
I thought that these things were the demonstration of genuine love. Speaking gifts, serving gifts-- teaching, praying, giving, and sacrificing. Yet they can all be done without genuine love.
Biblical love is a divinely driven decision to pursue relationship and demonstrate that desire with selfless care that significantly touches the one being loved.
Genuine love is three-dimensional
Love begins with a DESIRE to meaningfully connect with people that generates a DECSION to pursue connection and culminates in DEEDS that demonstrate care and promote community.
Genuine love has to do with the passion, pursuit and practice of community. You can be and do all the things listed here and not develop or maintain meaningful community. Love is strictly about developing relationship. The early church lived love. It was a natural outgrowth of their dedication to the apostles teaching. They were devoted to one another.
It didn’t take long however to lose connection with God and the desire to connect with each other. Without genuine love, there is no fruit, it profits nothing, we are nothing.
1 Peter 1:22 1 John 4:11-12
The realization and reflection of love is the final stage toward divine fullness because God IS love. To realize God’s love for us and through puts us in touch with our true nature as well. Ephes. 3:14-19
Biblical love is a divinely driven decision to pursue relationship and demonstrate that desire with selfless care that significantly touches the one being loved. God pursued us. We love because he first loved us.
Today, won’t you make a commitment to learn to love?
