“Concerning food offered to idols: we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’ This ‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it. But if anyone loves God, he is known by him.” [1]
“I’m as good a Christian as you are!” You may have heard this protest voiced at sometime in the past. Perhaps you even flung this very argument against someone at some point in your past, possibly before you became a follower of the Risen Christ. However, if you’ve been a follower of the Master more than a few weeks, it is almost a certainty that you have heard this protest vigorously voiced by some aggrieved soul who had taken offence at something you may have said or at some action you may have taken.
The offending action that elicited the strong response may have been as innocuous as declining an invitation to share in a salacious exchange of opinion, and the individual was offended at what they saw as your reluctance to tacitly approve of their character. In the final analysis, all such angry accusations thrown at the follower of the Saviour arises from what the angered party deems as a personal slight. Their character was exposed through their action or through their words, and your refusal to affirm them in the display of dissipation leaves them enraged, stung because they are seen for what they actually are.
Your offence could have been as simple as refusing to receive gossip concerning a fellow saint, and the aggrieved person charged you with acting as though you were somehow superior to them. Perhaps you were unwilling to participate in some lascivious activity, or you refused to laugh at some ribald humour the offended party thought needed sharing. Consequently, the individual was miffed because you didn’t share in their foul-mouthed or off-colour humour. Or perhaps you politely declined an invitation to join in one of the common orgies of excess that characterises modern life, and the individual who was angered took exception to your refusal to join in their revelry. Or, more disturbing still, the presumed slight could be as innocent as a polite dissent from some novel doctrinal position espoused by a fellow believer in the Christ.
Regardless of what the precipitating situation may have been, your refusal to participate in a dive into moral dissipation or doctrinal deviation resulted in an angry outburst as the antagonist expressed outrage, castigating you for thinking that you were better than they were! You didn’t need to say you were better than them; in fact, you likely didn’t even intimate such a thing. They felt the sting of rejection of what they knew was morally corrupt or doctrinally suspect and they were angry.
The appropriate rejoinder to such a scenario is an acknowledgement that the aggrieved soul perhaps is a better person than you are! We Christians know that we are sinners, though we know we have been saved by God’s grace through faith in the Son of God. It is even possible that the aggrieved party is more religious than you are. However, what is often overlooked is the fact that religious exercise, pious activities are not in view when we speak of our relationship with the Living God. We either have a relationship with God, or we don’t—there is no partial relationship. We who are redeemed know that God is at work in our lives transforming us into the image of His Beloved Son. Either we are known by God, or we are not.
I recall an incident which occurred after I had recommended that a couple seek professional counselling for tensions that were creating incredible stress on their marriage. The couple did attend several sessions with a licensed counsellor, and appeared to be resolving some of the tensions between them. After a few weeks of counselling, the counsellor suggested that the couple should invite me to attend a session with the couple. He determined that it was time for pastoral input into the problems he had uncovered in the relationship. Of course, I was happy to assist in whatever way he thought would benefit the couple.
I did travel to a distant town to meet with the couple and the counsellor one evening. We opened the evening with prayer, and that was the high point of the session. The husband objected to my presence, though he had agreed with the therapist to request my presence before I was ever invited to provide input into the counselling. When asked why he objected, the man responded, “Because I know more about the Bible than him!”
The counsellor was nonplussed. “You mean, you know more than your pastor? Though you haven’t studied as he has nor do you have the experience he has gained through his years of ministry, you know more than he does?”
“That’s right,” the man asserted! “He doesn’t know what I know about the Bible!”
Let me say that I have great respect for those saints who have been trained in Christ’s School—they’ve walked with the Master, immersed themselves in His Word, spent hours in His presence listening to Him as He speaks through the Spirit and cultivated the fruits of the Spirit. We can learn some wonderful lessons from saints who have been with the Saviour. However, such saints don’t have to tell you that they have been trained by Christ—their life is evidence of all that the Master has accomplished in their lives; they are humble, and they exude an air of confidence that comes from time spent in the Master’s presence. Those who think themselves to be someone, seldom have the spiritual credentials to demonstrate acquaintance with the Risen Saviour. The man in the story that I just related was arrogant, but he was ignorant. It is fair to say that his confidence was exceeded only by his ignorance.
The message planned for this day is intended to challenge the lifestyle of professing Christians. I trust it will challenge Christianity as practised in this day. To a dismaying degree, the Christian lifestyle has been reduced to a charade in this day. Contemporary Christianity too often consists of a focus on outward conduct without emphasis on transformed lives. Relationship with the Living God is considered to be less important than our efforts to meet artificial standards or religion, most of which have been created by us rather than drawn from the Word of God. When we are known by God, we will be transformed from the inside out. Yet, most adherents to contemporary Christianity are trained to focus on their actions for a brief period each week, holding them to an artificial standard constructed only recently. Reciting prayers, singing hymns, participating in a religious ceremony, tolerating a sermon for twenty minutes—this is what defines a Christian in the contemporary mind. Yet, we appear deliberately to ignore what we are assured is true, that the presence of Christ transforms an individual.
I have prepared this in prayerful anticipation that it will encourage any Christ followers to cultivate humility before the Lord. Each of us is known by God, whether we are saved or lost. Nevertheless, it is impossible for us to fully know God. He is infinite, and our mind, even our collective mind, is finite. It is impossible for the finite to fully comprehend the infinite God. We who are created cannot fully understand the Creator. We hold this hope, “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” [1 CORINTHIANS 13:12]. We anticipate knowing fully at His return. However, God has graciously revealed some truths that should be known now!
CONFUSION AMONG THE FAITHFUL — “If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know” [1 CORINTHIANS 8:2]. I can’t say that I enjoy being negative. Candidly, I can’t imagine that any Christian enjoys being negative, though it does appear that many professing Christians suffer from chronic negativity. I am quite certain that no follower of the Saviour enjoys negativity in those who lead. And only someone who is terribly confused or warped to the point of being spiritually incapacitated can actually enjoy negativity among those who are led. We may briefly tolerate a measure of negativity, but we will never enjoy it. Nevertheless, there are times when the follower of Christ must be negative in order to accomplish anything of permanent value. Maybe we need a book that explores “The Power of Negative Thinking.”
Circumstances compel the physician to point out the obvious, even when it appears to make matters more unpleasant still for the patient. The physician makes the diagnosis knowing that addressing the problem forthrightly is necessary if the illness is to be managed and eventually cured. Diagnosis of a dreadful illness is never a pleasant task—for the physician or for the patient. Nevertheless, if there is to be hope of effecting a cure, an accurate diagnosis must be delivered, and that will require identifying the causative agent or determining the malady that is causing the pain or inhibiting normal bodily function. Examinations are never particularly pleasant. In fact, they can cause the patient discomfort. However, the examination is necessary.
Officers commanding our war fighters are compelled at times to be brutally honest when the tide of battle turns against the troops, Though they know that the orders they must issue will be potentially dangerous, possibly bringing death to his subordinates, those who lead in combat must issue orders for the safety of all.
Likewise, the prophet of God must expose what people might wish to remain unspoken, covered over so that they are not compelled to face reality. The spokesman of God is charged to speak the truth. To be certain, he must speak in love, but he must not shrink from declaring the truth if there is to be hope of seeing those who hear him speak turn again to the Lord.
That leads me to raise some questions in order to stimulate a discussion among the Lord’s people. In asking such questions, I pray it will lead to a profitable outcome. What do you know? I don’t mean what do you think you know. I mean, What do you know? What do you know to be true concerning the Living God? What do you know about the character of God? What do you know about His grace?
If nothing else, Paul is pleading for certainty in what is proclaimed. When we speak of God, or when we endeavour to deliver His message of grace, we must speak with certainty. Surely the Apostle’s warning presented in these verses is to avoid falling into the trap of speaking authoritatively about that over which you do not possess knowledge. We do not send people to hell on the authority of our preferences. Neither do people go to heaven on the basis of our suppositions. Preachers are notorious for preaching people into heaven during funeral orations. And they can be positively caustic as they declare some people such horrid sinners that there is no mercy for them. However, each Christian, and especially preachers, needs to know that, ”The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father” [JOHN 5:22-23a].
Each of us needs to recognise the reality that, “As the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man” [JOHN 5:26-27].
We who follow the Risen Son of God are well advised to heed the Apostle’s warning, “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand” [ROMANS 14:4]. The challenge Paul presents here echoes what James has written. “There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbour” [JAMES 4:12]? Indeed, who are you to judge another? Who am I to judge another? None of us have sufficient background to judge the motive or the desire of anyone.
We are charged to declare the message of life for all who have faith in the Risen Saviour. We make no judgement concerning the fate of any individual. We announce that those who believe are saved, and those who do not believe are condemned, just as is written in Scripture. We read the words recorded in Scripture, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” [JOHN 3:16-21].
For far too many of the professed saints of the Risen Saviour, we know the words, but we never heard the melody. We are assured that our theology is correct, but somehow something essential is missing from our lives. It has been correctly observed that doctrine without love leads to becoming pharisaical, while love without doctrine leads to liberalism. Either extreme is detrimental to godliness. The child of God must know what she or he believes and why they believe as they do, but they must act with love as they apply the doctrine that guides their life.
The context of Paul’s statement is an issue of practical theology. Can an individual eat food that was offered to an idol? Or should a Christian refrain from eating such food? This was a major question among the early saints. The Apostle challenged those reading his letter to stop focusing on eating or on avoiding eating and begin to focus on the impact of our actions on our fellow believers. Consider how others are effected by the decisions you make.
Few of us need worry about eating food that might have been offered to an idol. However, we do struggle with what we imagine to be very significant issues. Among the professed saints of the Risen Saviour are people who are prepared to quit worshipping if the “wrong” music is employed in a service. There are actually people who refuse to participate in the services of a congregation if drums are used in the service. Others refuse to share in the worship of the church if the music doesn’t have a syncopated rhythm. Imagine!
There are people who insist they cannot worship if they must wear a tie. Others are distracted by blue jeans and tees if the service. Among the professed people of God are some who won’t participate in a service if the “wrong” version of the Bible is used. Their version is the only one that is approved; all other versions are contaminated. Churches have been split over the most inane non-issues—using an electric piano rather than an organ, using one cup for the Communion Meal rather than using multiple cups, using plastic cups rather than glass cups, using pita rather than wafers as an element of the Communion Meal, the pastor refusing to wear a robe rather than a suit, and on and on and on. The Apostle would challenge us to focus on the impact of our choices on those who share the Faith with us. He insists that we come to the realisation that the congregation is the Body of Christ, and not a conglomerate of individuals.
THE AUTHORITY FOR ORDERING LIFE — The Apostle exercised great care in what he wrote. Therefore, in this passage we are considering at this time, he has written, “If anyone loves God, he is known by God” [1 CORINTHIANS 8:3]. Imagine that! “Known by God!” As Paul pleaded with the Galatian Christians to live as free people, he observed, “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more” [GALATIANS 4:8-9]? When we are known by God, we are freed from whatever has previously enslaved us.
Surely, one of the most comforting statements Moses ever received was this affirmation from the LORD. “You have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name” [EXODUS 33:17]. Can you imagine God telling you, “I know you by name?” We want to be able to assert that we know God, but even more important is that each of us may be confident in the knowledge that God knows who we are. I well remember a young man kneeling in a vacant field one dark evening, waving a white hanky toward Heaven and crying out, “God, do you remember who I am? Do you remember how You called me to serve you?” Each Christian has likely had those moments when she or he cried out for some recognition from the Living God.
We need the confidence that comes from the Word of the LORD as He comforted Israel,
“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”
[ISAIAH 49:15-16a]
To Israel, the LORD said, “Each time I lift my hand, I see you. You are that precious to Me.” Surely you will agree that this should be viewed as true comfort. God’s ancient people must surely have drawn courage from that divine promise. When I am hurting, when I am distressed, when I am grieving, I need to know that God sees me as precious.
Dear people, I am well aware that the LORD spoke these words to His ancient people, but I am naïve enough to seize upon this precise promise and apply it to myself since God has included it in the pages of Holy Writ. The Lord loves His people, and He plans good for us! The promise of God to Israel delivered through Jeremiah applies to the people of God in general. “I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” [JEREMIAH 29:11-13].
And I encourage all of God’s holy people to appropriate this glorious knowledge of His love to their own situation. When you are discouraged and feeling as if you’ve been forgotten, seize this promise and make it your own promise. When trials appear to block your way, hold onto this promise and know that you have a God who is determined that nothing shall come into your life that is not for your benefit and for His glory. When you are deserted by those who imagined to be friends, draw fresh courage from the knowledge that your name is known in the sacred precincts of Heaven. God knows you. You are precious to Him. God has not forgotten you. You are known to God.
Recall the number of times that the Lord has sought to impart confidence in His people. As I read the Word one morning a few weeks back, I witnessed again Moses’ testimony of God’s faithfulness. He was recounting the way in which the Lord had led the people out of slavery and into freedom. Moses reminded the people, “The LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing” [DEUTERONOMY 2:7].
Again, remember the observation that David made in his old age.
“I have been young, and now am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken.”
[PSALM 37:25a]
Have you ever seen the righteous forsaken? I’ve lived a long time—longer than David lived! And in those years, I can testify with the Psalmist that I have never seen the righteous forsaken.
We should never imagine that God demonstrated such mercy only in the days of Moses or during the reign of David. The writer of the Letter to Hebrew Christians seized upon the divine promise, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” [see HEBREWS 13:5b]. We can trust God fully, knowing that He has made an eternal commitment to the one who has trusted the Saviour. We can be confident that we will never be deserted, we shall never be left in the lurch. God stands with us, even during the difficult times the each of us must face.
Surely, the words the Apostle Paul wrote out of his own experiences provide great comfort for God’s holy people! He wrote, “We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies” [2 CORINTHIANS 4:7-10]. Focus on what is written: “afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. Our feelings will betray us into thinking we have been forsaken, but our faith assures us that we are not forsaken. Christ the Lord always stands with His people.
We read in Scripture that “We walk by faith, not by sight” [2 CORINTHIANS 5:7]. So long as we permit our feelings to reign over us, we will always be blown hither and yon by the circumstances in which we find ourselves. When we walk by faith, we will move through this darkened world with confidence. When we allow our emotions to control our lives, we are building our lives on a foundation of sand. And you know very well that the floods which shall surely come will wreck our lives if that is the case. However, when we have built our lives on Christ, when we live by faith, we will not be shaken by the floods that shall assail our lives. Having established our lives on Christ our Rock, we shall not be shaken!
A couple of comments are in order concerning the steady walk of the confident Christian. We gain confidence by passing through life’s storms and coming out safely on the other side. If we never had a problem, we’d never know that God can fix them. We who believe have the promise the Master gave us as He was taken up into Heaven. Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” [MATTHEW 28:19-20]. Focus on that final promise Jesus gave us—“I am with you always.” How long, Master? “To the end of the age.” This promise is iterated in the Hebrew Letter. God promises, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” [HEBREWS 13:5b].
You can go nowhere without the Master accompanying you. You cannot find a location that excludes His presence. This is the powerful promise written in the Psalms:
“O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
“Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,’
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.”
[PSALM 139:1-12]
When confronted by the Assyrians, Hezekiah encouraged the people, reminding them, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles” [2 CHRONICLES 32:7-8a]. Powerful as Hezekiah’s testimony was, we have an even stronger testimony as followers of the Christ, who is “Immanuel,” God with us [see MATTHEW 1:23].
When the spies Moses had sent to spy out the land which God had promised Israel, the majority report spoke of how difficult it would be to conquer the land. After all, they reported giants in the land. They testified that the land would swallow them up. Who can fight against giants? Their report disheartened the people.
The people wanted to turn back to slavery, and they were prepared to stone Moses and Aaron whom God had appointed to lead them to the land He had promised. Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes and pleaded with the people, “Do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them” [NUMBERS 14:9]. This is the confidence we have as those who are born from above and into Christ, “If God is for us, who can be against us” [ROMANS 8:31].
Also, we cannot expect to stand firm without the support of the assembly of the Lord. Remember Paul’s encouragement given in the Ephesian encyclical. The Apostle has written, “[Christ] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” [EPHESIANS 4:11-16].
Stability, the ability to stand firm and not be frightened by the foe is ensured when we are trained. And an integral aspect of spiritual training is that we share our lives in the sacred precincts of the assembly wherein the Lord has placed us. The assembly of the Lord is designed to allow us to build one another, to comfort one another, to encourage one another. The Spirit of God has determined that the gifts with which each member has been entrusted is precisely what is needed within that congregation to produce great saints. If we are not investing ourselves in one another, we are ensuring that the assembly cannot grow as strong as it should.
Remember, we are identified as the Lord’s flock, not as His pack. We don’t snarl and growl at one another, snapping at each other to keep us in line. Rather, we urge one another along. We lift up those who are fallen. We nurture the young, always seeking to strengthen them. We grieve over those who are fallen or those who turn aside to the beggarly elements of this dying world. We recognise how much we need one another, and we value what God has done and what God is doing in the life of each member of the congregation.
The truths we have just discovered in the Word are worth repeating. They are sufficiently essential to strong growth in the Christian life that I encourage you to write them down in the margin of your Bible, reviewing them from time-to-time. The first truth we saw was We gain confidence by passing through life’s storms and coming out safely on the other side. The next truth is that We cannot expect to stand firm without the support of the assembly of the Lord. These divine promises are based upon the fact that We are known by God! Let me emphasise for all to hear—if you are a follower of Christ, seek out a church where you can lend your strength to others and where you can be strengthened by fellow believers. There is a name for the Christian who does not now have the support of a congregation—VICTIM! I say this because “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” [1 PETER 5:8b]. As an assembly of the faithful, we always stand ready to receive those whom the Lord brings into the fellowship of the congregation. Join us in our pilgrimage.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF CHOOSING WRONGLY — “If anyone loves God, he is known by God” [1 CORINTHIANS 8:3]. Too often we thoughtlessly toss around the word “love.” It is an easy thing for us to say that we love butter pecan ice cream, to aver that we love the Canucks, to express our love for the mountains; but I notice that we often take care to avoid speaking of loving God, at least not in a way that would make us appear fanatical to a censorious world. Oh, perhaps on Facebook where the cost of affirming love for God is not exorbitant, we will casually say that we love God; but when there is potential cost for declaring love for the Lord our God, we are much more cautious. We say we don’t want to offend friends or family. We don’t want to be put on the spot by being forced to defend our love for Christ or forced to stand for the Faith.
I make the assumption that those to whom I am now speaking do love God. By saying that, it is a fair assumption that because you love God you try to please Him. You want to know His will, and knowing His will you want to do what He commands. This is as it should be. Remember that Jesus taught His disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” [JOHN 14:15]. I am not suggesting that you perfectly obey Him, but you have the desire to do what He says if you are His child.
Jesus’ words in this instance anticipate what the Apostle of Love would write in a later missive. John wrote, “By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked” [1 JOHN 2:3-6].
Jesus expanded on this theme when He spoke of our expression of love for the Father. The Master taught, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” [JOHN 15:8-10].
It becomes obvious as we hear the words Jesus spoke that love and obedience are intimately connected. We do not show love for God, we do not show love for the Master, when we are disobedient to what He has commanded in His Word. Moreover, the love we have for God is revealed through our love for the brotherhood of believers. John understood this to be the situation, when prompted by the Spirit of God, he wrote, “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother” [1 JOHN 4:15-21].
There are two immediate consequences in our failure to love God. The first consequence that I must bring before you is for outsiders, for those who have never been born from above. That unsaved people do not love God is evident from their refusal to believe the Son of God. Because they love their own autonomy more than they love the Son of God, they are excluded from the mercy of God. Because they have not believed the Son, they are now under condemnation. This is the testimony provided in the Fourth Gospel.
John has written, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” [JOHN 3:16-21].
We must not beat around the bush in this matter; all who would be saved must come to Christ as Master over life. Jesus confronted the religious leaders of that ancient day, charging, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God” [JOHN 5:39-44]? Those who receive Jesus have the love of the Father in them. Those who do not receive Him, do not know the love of the Father.
Failure to love God leads to condemnation. And the consequences of being excluded from the love of the Father for all eternity is too awful to imagine. This is the reason we plead with all who will hear the message to believe the Good News of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection that they may have the forgiveness of sin.
Let me speak pointedly to disobedient Christians, to followers of the Christ who exalt their own desires above the will of the Master. Yes, Christians can live as though they do not love God. They can become disobedient to His will, focusing on their own desires rather than focusing on what is pleasing to the Lord. When one who is twice-born acts in this manner, that believer invites divine correction.
Divine discipline because of disobedience is what we are warned against in the Letter to Hebrew Christians. That ancient writer, writing under the Spirit’s inspiration penned these words to those who would follow the Risen Saviour. “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.’
“It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
“Therefore, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears” [HEBREWS 12:3-17].
God does not spank the devil’s children; but because He loves us, He will discipline those who belong to Him. He does this for our good and for His glory. Do not ever forget that disobedience will bring divine correction. He corrects us, not because he hates us or because He seeks to injure us; God corrects us for our own good that we might glorify His Name.
Having spoken boldly in this message, I must ask those who know the Saviour and who love God, “What do you know?” Does the way in which you are living your life reveal your love for God? Do you love His people, and is that love evident? I urge all who know God to live to glorify His Name. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
