Law and Love 121230

Romans 13:8-10 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

In our attempts to follow Christ it is very easy to be drawn into a legalistic mindset. When that happens, we find ourselves missing the most important part — LOVE! Pharisees of Jesus' day lived that kind of life. One day Jesus said to them, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and then neglect the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others." Then he called them "blind guides" because they could not see the truths contained in their own Scripture. In their legalism they missed the most important things. In the same way, Paul points out that love fulfills the law.

Our Debt is Love

According to Jesus' command found in. John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Please note that Jesus says here that all people will know that we are his disciples if we have love for one another. It's little wonder that the world doubts the validity of the Christian faith when they see how little we love one another. One of the most important testimonies we can give to the world is to act out our love for others. Remember, love is not the way we feel! Love is how we act – it is an act of our will. It is possible, literally, to love another person without having any strong feelings of liking them. When Jesus gives the command that we love one another he quantifies it by adding, "just as I have loved you,". This means that we are to die to our own selfish desires and ambitions in order to serve others. The world believes that those who are important are to be served. Jesus said that he came to be a servant and then said we should be like him, even unto death. The life we live is his life being lived through us. That life is one that is marked, preminently, by acts of love and compassion.

Love binds everything else. If you have your Bible turn with me to Colossians 3:12-14, and listen while I read. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Since we are chosen by God and set apart to his service (that's what "holy" means), and are loved by him, we are to "put on" compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. We are to bear with one another even to the point of forgiving another that you have a complaint against. After all, that's what God did for us. He loved us, sought us out, forgave our sins and adopted us into his family. Yet, as comprehensive as the "put on" list is there is even more! Not only are we to "put on" compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience; bearing with and forgiving one another. Above all these, we are to put on love that binds everything together in perfect harmony.

This should be the goal of our teaching! Listen while I read 1 Timothy 1:5, The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Someone once said that if you have no goal in life you are bound to be successful. Without a goal you never have to worry about achieving it. Paul said he had a goal for his teaching. This goal was simply "Love". Not some "touchy-feely" kind of love like the world offers, instead, it was to be God's kind of love. The word "Love" actually characterizes God. John, in his writings, tells us, again and again, that God is love. God's love comes to us in purity. Purity is one of the things we need in our lives. The only place we can get it is in the presence of a holy God. We need to come to him and confess our sins for cleansing.

When we confess our sins he forgives our sins and cleanses us of all unrighteousness. That kind of cleansing comes from the pure heart of God and enables us to give love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

When we look at the multiple tragedies going on the world today we know that something is missing. That something is morality based on the loving heart of God. These people who murder others and then take their own lives cannot believe that God exists or that he exercises judgment in this world and in the world to come. They have missed out entirely on the love of God.

The love we have in us should be like that Shown in the "human relations" commandments. By that term I mean the commandments that are directed toward our relations with others. In our text for today, Paul gives us four commandments: “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” these all reflect how we treat other people. They are all "human relations" commandments.

Jesus gave a longer list. A young man came to Jesus with a burning question, "What good deed must I do to have eternal life?" Listen while I read from Matthew 19:18-19. Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Obviously, Jesus knew the 10 Commandments and he also knew this young man. He knew that throughout his life this young man had tried very hard to live according to the rules. In fact, after Jesus' statement he affirmed that he had kept all these from his youth up but he still knew he had a need, a great need, in order to be worthy of eternal life. Like most people on earth today, he believed that he had to do "something great or good " in order to inherit eternal life. He was in bondage to the law and did not understand that the law is simply a schoolmaster to bring us to the end of ourselves — to bring us to Christ! Only one man has ever kept the law in its entirety and that man is Jesus Christ! He knew no sin, had no sin of his own, and therefore could take our sins into his own body and nail them to the cross. From the cross Jesus passed through the grave and arose a victor over death, sin and the grave.

Jesus quoted to the young man from the last six of the 10 Commandments given on Mount Sinai. Jesus puts them in a different order and even changes the last from no coveting to loving your neighbor as yourself.

A quick glance will show us that what he gave was different from the 10 Commandments. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 5 with me.

Simply stated, the Commandments are as follows: verse seven, No other gods; verse eight, No idols; verse 11, do not take the name of the Lord in vain; verse 12, observe the Sabbath day as a day of rest; verse 16, honor your father and mother; verse 17, no murder; verse 18, no adultery; verse 19, no stealing; verse 20, no lying and verse 21, no coveting. The 10 are divided four toward God and six toward man. The human relations commandments are the ones we must concern ourselves with. If we are careful to carry them out we will show others love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience and a pure faith.

The apostle Paul tells us that the debt we owe, once our sin debt is paid, is to love each other. If we'll do that, we will fulfill the original intention of the law.

The law is Summed up in this word Paul tells us…

Any other commandment… There are 613!

The Jewish rabbis, who made the study of the law their life, count 613 Commandments. Of course, the key to them all is the 10 Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai. All of the others grow out of them. In our text for today Paul takes four of the commandments that all reflect how we treat other people and then says any other commandment is summed up in this word, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." This goes a long way towards explaining the condition of the world we live in today! I submit to you that we can only love others if we love ourselves. I'm not talking about a narcissistic love that is self-centered and egotistical. I'm talking about a love that recognizes that we are made in the image of God and we should respect ourselves as God's image bearers on this earth. Having done that, we are able to respect others as image bearers of God. We can call them to come to him whose image they bear.

As Jesus ministry began to come to an end he was confronted frequently by the Pharisees and teachers of the law in an attempt to challenge him and prove that he was a heretic. In Matthew 22 we find several such instances. "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?" they questioned him. He confounded them thoroughly by simply asking for a coin and then asking whose image was on it. When they told him the image was Caesar's he simply said they should give Caesar that which belongs to Caesar and God what belongs to God.

Then they brought up a classic problem with the resurrection. According to their story, a woman had seven husbands. "Whose wife would she be in the resurrection?" they asked him. He answered that they simply didn't understand the Scriptures or the power of God. Then he said, contrary to Mormon doctrine, that in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but instead are like the Angels. Note, he didn't say they would be Angels he said they would be "like the Angels".

The Pharisees then decided to try to prove he was a heretic by asking what the greatest commandment in the law was. This opened the door for Jesus to confront them about the real meaning of the law. He put forth two Commandments rather than one. He said the…

Most important is Godward. Listen while I read Matthew 22:36-38, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. …"

Love for God is first and foremost. With all your heart. I think that means with your feelings. We need to choose to feel love for God. With all your soul. I believe that means our personality is to reflect God. With all your mind. I believe that we are to reflect love for God in our thoughts and with that which we store in our mind. I deeply regret many things that I've allowed to be brought into my mind and struggle against them so that I may love him with all that I am.

Jesus had answered their question. But he wasn't through with them. He had a second commandment, the first commandment is Godward, …

The second is manward. Listen while I read Matthew 22:39-40, And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

"All the law and the prophets" is a very comprehensive statement. To love God with all you are and to love your neighbor as yourself sums up the teaching of the Bible. Remember I said earlier that our ability to love others is in direct proportion to our willingness to love ourselves.

In Paul's first letter to the Corinthians he gave us a comprehensive statement about the importance of love in chapter 13. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For 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. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Love never ends! Prophecies? They won't be needed — they'll pass away! Tongues? They will cease! Knowledge? It will pass away! None of these will be needed when the perfect comes.

Paul once said that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom he was chief. The law, given thousands of years before Christ's birth, was never intended to be a source of salvation. In Galatians we are told that the law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Jesus did not come to do away with the law he came to fulfill the law. Having met the law's demands he allowed himself be taken and crucified. He had no sin of his own and as such

he took our sins into his own body so that we could become God's righteousness in him. Rather than trying to keep the whole law we need to devote ourselves, by our actions, to loving God and loving each other. Surrender your life to him today and then let him live it out through you. That's what I want to do! Please join me in this.

All scripture quotes from:The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Genuine Love Or Hypocrisy 121125

Romans 12:9-13, Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another in the same manner that he loved them. Jesus told them that such love would be the evidence that they were his disciples. In John's first letter, again and again, we are confronted with the fact that God is love and the love he has given us flows through us to other people. You may be a Christian who says, "Well, I just don't feel love!" Don Francisco's song, "Love is Not a Feeling" gives an answer to that. Love is an act of the will not a feeling. In other words, love is what we do! Feelings are involved but they should always be secondary to actions. In fact, acting in a loving manner towards another person will usually cause feelings to begin. Acting out love is not hypocrisy it is obedience to Christ's command. Hypocrisy is intentionally pretending what is not real. The love we have for one another is real because it is in imitation of God, implanted by the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

The English word "love" is used so casually that it has lost its deeper meaning. I expect it was the same way in the first century because Paul uses the phrase, let love be genuine. This certainly implies that love might not have always been "genuine" in their society as well as in ours. People say things like, "I love a rainy night", or, "I love chocolate". It seems that to say, "I love ice cream" has about the same value in the English language as, "I love my wife". What we need in the world we live in is…

Genuine Love. And it needs to be…

Our aim, or goal. Let's look at what Paul said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:5, The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Goals are very important. It has often been said that most people aim at nothing in life and with amazing accuracy, they hit it! What is the goal of your life? Is it to be healthy? Rich? Well liked? Successful? Or is it, love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith? I don't believe you can improve on that goal for your life.

In sports the goal is pretty much the focus of attention for both teams. In NCAA basketball a new record was set last week when Jack Taylor of Grinnell College scored 138 points in a single game! Do you suppose he did that without having a goal in mind? Oh, by the way, David Larson, of Faith Baptist Bible College, (the opposing team) scored 70 points in the same game! Both these young men focused on the goal and were equally successful.

Paul encourages Timothy to focus on the goal of love — genuine love. That should also be…

Our pursuit. Later, Paul writes Timothy along the same lines in 2 Timothy 2:22, So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Things have not changed much over the centuries. Paul's balance is between "youthful lusts"and "righteousness, faith, love, and peace". We are to run away from one and run towards the other.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks someone said that the heroes were those who ran towards the destruction in an effort to help others. In fact, emergency workers can do amazing things when they focus on the problem and not allow themselves to be distracted by the chaos around them.

We need to know what to run towards, for sure, but equally important is the ability to know what to run from. Joseph, in the Old Testament, was confronted by the temptation to commit adultery with his boss' wife. She grabbed his coat to pull him towards the bed and he let her have the coat and ran away. Joseph should be one of our heroes! We need young men and women who were willing to run from "youthful lusts". At the same time, those men and women need to have a goal to run towards. Joseph, obviously, had a goal for his life of remaining pure and honorable. The society we live in doesn't seem to respect honor and purity anymore. Pray for a return to solid moral values in our society. If we're going to be pure it's going to be done because of…

Our obedience. Listen while I read the words of Peter in 1 Peter 1:22, Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,…

In order to express a sincere brotherly love we need to have purified our souls by obedience to the truth.

On the night before Jesus' crucifixion he said to Pilate, "I have come into the world — to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." Pilate's reply to Jesus was simply, "What is truth?" Jesus didn't answer him at that time but he had addressed the question earlier. When Thomas asked him, "Lord, we do not know where you're going. How can we know the way?" Jesus answered him with these words, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

A sincere brotherly love is accomplished by a purified soul acting in obedience to the truth. That love must never be passive! We're not called upon to "feel" love we are called upon to willfully choose to love! Our love must be an…

Active Love. Expressed in…

Brotherly affection. Listen while I read the words of John found in, 1 John 4:20-21, 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.

Since God is love, and he comes to live in the life of every believer, it would be very natural for love be the standard of Christian Fellowship. In his letter to the Colossians the apostle said that we are to put on love because it binds everything together in perfect harmony. Every Christian church should be known in it's community as a place where love resides. John recognized that it is impossible to truly love God and hate his brother. James expressed the same idea when he said, "(the tongue) is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things are not to be so." (James 3:8b-10) We are to actively love one another with brotherly love. There once was a time when, at least in a Baptist church, men would be called "brother" and women would be called "sister". Bill and Gloria Gaither wrote a song about it:

I'm so glad I'm a part of the Family of God, I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood! Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod, For I'm part of the family, The Family of God.
You will notice we say "brother" and "sister" 'round here, It's because we're a family and these are so dear; When one has a heartache, we all share the tears, And rejoice in each victory in this family so dear.

I'm so glad I'm a part of the Family of God, I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood! Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod, For I'm part of the family, The Family of God.

From the door of an orphanage to the house of the King, No longer an outcast, a new song I sing; From rags unto riches, from the weak to the strong, I'm not worthy to be here, but praise God I belong!

I'm so glad I'm a part of the Family of God, I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood! Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod, For I'm part of the family, The Family of God.

That song expresses very well the attitude we should have for one another. It's impossible for us to like everything about everyone but we can love them and know that God will change them, or us!, as we grow closer to being like him day-by-day. One way we express our love is by…

Actively honoring them. Listen while I read, Philippians 2:3, Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Remember, Jesus said that he came not to be served but to serve. He took the lowest place rather than the highest. In the upper room he washed their feet and that was the job of the lowest servant in the house. Peter was embarrassed that Jesus would wash feet. As you probably know, I am president of the board at Core Values. One of the things I do regularly as part of my work there is to haul the trash that cannot be put in the dumpster. A while back I found myself hooking up the trailer alone. A friend came by and saw me and asked to help. As we were going to empty the trailer he said to me, "A man of your stature shouldn't be doing this kind of work." I assured him that this was simply something I should do because of the call of God in my life.

We are to actively honor other people and seek to pick them up rather than put them down. We must always consider other people as important because they too are made in the image of God. We're not just to be active in honoring others we are to exercise…

Fervent activity — lukewarm won't do. While John was on the isle of Patmos he received a message to be given to seven churches. At the beginning of the letter there was a personal note to each of the seven churches. Listen while I read from the message to the church in Laodicea, Revelation. 3:15-16, “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. …"

Notice that Jesus seems to commend "hot" or "cold". On a cold day it is nice to have a hot drink. Maybe, cocoa or coffee or tea, but usually we like it "hot". Any time I have ever heard a sermon on this passage of Scripture it is always about the need for us to be "hot" in our service for the Lord. But here John quotes the Lord Jesus is saying that we are to be "hot" or "cold". On a hot dry day most of the time people desire a cold drink. So, comfortingly hot or refreshingly cold is what we want. Well, that's what God wants too! Lukewarm just won't do! I am told that Jesus may have chosen this illustration because it would be understood very well in Laodicea. The church there was familiar with the hot springs and cold springs in the vicinity of their city. There also is lukewarm springs that were offensive to the taste.

We are to show a genuine love for our brothers and sisters in the Lord, we are to aim at such love, we are to pursue such love, and, we are to do it out of obedience. We are to actively love our brothers and sisters in the Lord, we are to show honor to others in the body of Christ, and, we are to be fervent in our love. When we do that the result will be a…

Joyful Love. Which is...

A fruit of the Spirit. Joyful love is part of the fruit of the spirit, Galatians 5:22-23, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

I believe it would be proper to understand this passage as saying that the fruit of the Spirit is love. Such love is expressed in joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Jesus taught us that, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Two commandments, in the words of Jesus, express the entire law and the prophets. Total love for God and selfless love for neighbors are the basis for all the rest of it.

For several years I worked with my Dad in the heavy equipment business. One day I was approached by a salesman hoping that we would buy his lubrication products. He saw that I had in my shirt pocket something attached to a cross because the cross hung over the side of pocket. He questioned me about it. He quickly turned the conversation towards the necessity of keeping the whole law. He belonged to a group that worships on Saturday and believed that was part of the process of salvation. After all, one of the 10 Commandments says to keep the Sabbath day holy. I listened to him and told him I would be glad to talk to him next time he came through. I went to the Lord in prayer and asked what I should share with him. Jesus' statement of the two greatest commandments was one of the passages. The other was found in Romans 13:8-10 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Paul lists four commandments not ten. And the four he lists does not include keeping the Sabbath day. Then he adds to it love your neighbor as yourself because love does no wrong to neighbor and is the fulfilling of the law. Paul understood that with the change in the priesthood there was of necessity a change in the law as well.

Love that is the basis of the fruit of the spirit has been…

Poured into our hearts. Listen while I read, Romans 5:1-5, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

We are not ashamed of the hope that we have, which has been produced by endurance and character. We are not ashamed because this joy-filled love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us! Think of it! We don't have to work up the love or any other aspect of the fruit of the spirit. In fact, we can't work it up! It is gifted us by God and we should accept the gift and begin to life it out in our day-to-day activity. Our love is genuine because his love is genuine. You see we're not reflecting something that we have learned or inherited from our parents. Instead, we are reflecting something that God has given us! All who receive Christ and believe in him are given the right to be called children of God! And, if we are children then we should reflect certain character traits of the family. We should rejoice in our active love for our brothers and sisters in Christ…

As God rejoices in doing good. Listen while I read from the prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah 32:40-41, I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

Most Christians, and the vast majority of people in the world, are totally unaware that the God who created the universe, placed mankind in the garden of Eden, delivered him from his sin through symbolic sacrifice, guided him throughout history, and sent his son to die on the cross for our sins, is a God of love! We sing a chorus written and performed by Third Day and it goes like this:

Your love, oh Lord, Reaches to the heavens,

Your faithfulness stretches to the sky
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,

Your justice flows like the ocean's tide,

I will lift my voice, To worship You, my King,

I will find my strength In the shadow of your wings

Love produces joy every time. The love of God is poured out on his people in the Lord Jesus Christ. Love is the greatest expression of our faith. First Corinthians 13 sheds light on the kind of love we are to have. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; love is not arrogant or rude. Love is not self-centered nor is it irritable and resentful. Love rejoices in the truth and not evil. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes in all things, endures all things. Love is eternal because God is love and he is eternal. Remember, God rejoices in doing good to his people! And, it is the goodness of God that brings people to repentance. Have you felt the goodness of God? Do you need to come to him in repentance?

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.