Not much to say today. Much to contemplate however.
We believers, as the Body of Christ, the manifestation of Jesus in our time are to be a people marked by, known by, our love one for another. And yet to the average guy on the street we are marked more by our division, rather than our unity, and by judgment than our love for one another. It is a conundrum.
The scripture is clear about our being marked by love. And let us note that mark is not a mark coming from our love of others in the world… nor even necessarily even of a pious love for God in a religious sense. At least not as the first priority. It is a mark, and testimony given by, and through, our love for one another. Our love of God will be manifest, and, yes, love for the lost and hurting will be too. But the mark that is a first priority is our love for one another.
[John 13:34-35 NASB95] 34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.“
[John 15:12, 17 NASB95] 12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. … 17 “This I command you, that you love one another.
[Romans 12:10 NASB95] 10 [Be] devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;
[Romans 13:8 NASB95] 8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled [the] law.
[1Thessalonians 3:12 NASB95] 12 and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also [do] for you;
[1Thessalonians 4:9 NASB95] 9 Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for [anyone] to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;
[1Peter 4:8 NASB95] 8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
[1John 3:11, 23 NASB95] 11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; … 23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.
[1John 4:7, 11-12 NASB95] 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. … 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.
[2John 1:5 NASB95] 5 Now I ask you, lady, not as though [I were] writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.
What is this love that is to mark our relationships and give testimony to the Lord and the fullness of His love? How is it displayed that we may see and share it, and, even more, that the world may see it in us? These are the questions. Most of us spend far too much time asking ourselves about sin: “Is this sin?” , “Can I do, or get away with, this and not sin?” Perhaps we need a paradigm shift to “Is this displaying love?” or ‘Is this sharing love?” That shift would probably keep us away from sin as well. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about not doing something sinful, or doing something loving, just for the sake of appearance. I am talking about manifesting Jesus, in the love of God.
In John 17 Jesus prayed that we might be one with one another. Not for the sake of the Baptist getting along with Charismatic and Pentecostals, or Catholics and Methodist or Lutherans all getting along. (I’m not certain He even imagined the denominational and doctrinal divisions that mark His disciples today!). He wanted us to enjoy the fellowship He and the Father had enjoyed from eternity past.
[John 17:3-6, 9-11, 15, 20-23 NASB95] 3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. 6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. …
9 “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 “I am no longer in the world; and [yet] they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, [the name] which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We [are.] …
15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil [one.] …
20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, [are] in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.
What an incredible prayer from the Son to the Father on our behalf! Notice that His concern was toward those of us that believe and are His own first. Why? Look at verse 21 “that the world might know You sent Me”, and verse 23… That we might be giving testimony that the Father sent Him “that the world might know that you sent Me”..and that the Father’s love for us and for the Son might be obvious “and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”
Our fellowship/unity is borne out of that of the Father and the Son. We are invited into their fellowship/unity, and the display and testimony of love comes out of that and the fullness of their love.
The commandment to love one another marks our fellowship, but not out of compulsion or under law. Loving one another is the mark and natural outgrowth of our relationships, because it is the mark of the relationship with Jesus, the son, and the Father. And, the natural outgrowth or our being one with them is our love one for another.
John, who knew Jesus in the flesh. He walked and talked and ate with Him, listened to Him, .. ahd fellowship with Him would one day write:
[1Johm 1:1-3 NASB95] 1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life-– 2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.p
And then would encourage and admonish us:
[1John 3:1-3 NASB95] 1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and [such] we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope [fixed] on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
[1John 4:7, 9-12 NASB95] 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. …
9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.
May His abiding in us be obvious, and may His love be perfected in us, as we love one another.
God’s nature and character is not love alone. It is not His sole attribute or essence. Some make that erroneous assumption when they read [1John 4:8 NASB95] 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. He is loving, merciful and gracious. However, He is also holy, just, perfect, eternal, immutable, and more. All His attributes move as One. And, no one attribute overrides another. All that said, He has manifested the fullness of His love in Jesus, and we as the church, His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all (see Ephesians 1:23) are tasked with loving one another and manifesting His love to the world around us. If we are concerned about appearances, let us tackle the conundrum of division, and the challenge of living in a perverse generation and time, through a testimony of love one for another. And in more than word; but as His servants.
[Galatians 6:10 NASB95] 10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.