John 13:35 (KJV) By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
The topic of today in our loving God series is a discussion about loving God our father by loving fellow believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The text in John 13: 35 above states that the evidence of our belief in the Lord Jesus is shown by how we love fellow believers in Christ because faith in Him has brought us into the family of God our father and family members strive to love one another. God our father is the source of Love and as we abide in love, we abide in Him as stated in 1st John 4:16 “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” which means that loving God and fellow believers is evidence of our continuing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The scriptures encourage us to walk in love towards our fellow believers in Christ in 1 John 4: 11- 12, 21: 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 21 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
As we can see from the text above, godly love towards other believers in Christ Jesus is an important virtue a true believer in Christ should possess. This love comes from God because we have His Spirit dwelling in us, and Love is a fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22). When we have a loving relationship with God our father, we will by His Grace and the Holy Spirit equally love those who genuinely believe in Him.
But what is this godly love that we are talking about? And how can we manifest it as children of God? When we understand this love as espoused in the word of God and how to manifest it, it will help the body of Christ tremendously.
What is Love (Agape Love):
Agape Love is the center of our Christian experience and shapes our understanding of God’s character which was portrayed throughout scriptures and cemented by the sacrificial death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus on the Cross. The Lord Jesus therefore left us example to follow His steps by genuinely loving God first from which we receive strength to love our fellow believers.
This love is important because it is a sacrificial love that loves others based on God’s standards and principles revealed in his words. It seeks God’s glory and the benefit of other believers and will thrive under any circumstances because it is coming from God. It is rooted in the acts performed to the Glory of God and benefits of others not just out of obligation but to please our father in heaven.
Description of Love (Agape Love):
The apostle Paul describes what love is and shows that love is always demonstrated by action done lovingly to please God as instruments of righteousness to the glory of His Holy Name. He affirmed the importance of love in our Christian lives and encouraged us to genuinely love each other since love is the most important virtue of the Christian Faith as he asserts in 1st Corinthians 13: 1-12:
1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Paul in this passage addressed the Corinthian Christians who were fascinated with spiritual gifts but were immature in their expression of the gifts which caused problems in the church. Paul acknowledged the importance of spiritual gifts but emphasized that the purpose of spiritual gifts is for the benefit of the Church and for the Glory of God. He asserted that exercise of spiritual gift is not for self-serving purposes but for serving God and other believers so that each Christian will benefit from each other’s spiritual gift especially when they were exercised in love. He highlighted the importance of love above all spiritual gifts since love is the only virtue that will endure forever and therefore encouraged us to pursue after Love. Paul stated that even if you experience martyrdom, has faith to move mountains, do amazing miracles and speak in angelic tongues but does not walk in Love, it is meaningless and of no use. Therefore, Paul insisted that serving in love is the excellent way.
Unfortunately, the same problems experienced by the Corinthian church is prevalent in our Christian experience today. Many of us become enamored by prophets and other miracle workers and make them our gods instead of seeking God our father and getting to know Him, love him and love His children- the body of Christ. This blog is encouraging us to walk in love towards fellow believers
Therefore, if your love of God stems from your genuine faith in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, you should obey the command to love other genuine believers in the Lord Jesus Christ because by doing so you are loving God our father. We know that charity begins at home, therefore, we encourage people to learn to start loving Christians from their locality-home, church, fellowship, work etc. and to other believers also. If we pay attention to God’s words and commands, submit to the word of God and the leading of the Spirit of God, He will help us to love our fellow believers though we might have differences of opinions on certain issues but same belief in the basics of our Christian Faith. Paul described what love looked like which show that we are working in love and we explore those characteristics of love below.
Characteristics of Love: 1st Corinthians 13: 4-12
Love is patient
Love is kind.
Love is not envious
Love does not boast
Love is not proud.
Love does not dishonor others
Love is not self-seeking
Love is not easily angered
Love does not record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil
Love rejoices with the truth.
Love always protects
Love always trusts
Love always hopes
Love always perseveres.
Love never fails.
From the above virtues, we can see that Love is described in actions that we perform and does not occur alone but is the expression of a collection of virtues that will indicate that we are walking in love. As we discuss these virtues individually, let us not reject them because we think that they are unattainable and continue to sin since we manifest the gifts of the Spirit. Sometimes we deliberately sin because we have decided that that sin is our weakness and part of our human nature and therefore should be accepted. If we have this opinion, it will be difficult to walk in love. The only way that we can attain these virtues is by firstly believing what God said about them, recognizing our shortcomings, repent of them and genuinely seek to change. Then as we ask the Holy Spirit, he will help us and transform our hearts and give us the grace to work in love.
As we explore these characteristics of love, I encourage us to check ourselves against these virtues to ensure that we incorporate them into our lives. I have seen God work amazing miracles in different areas of my life and I believe that living in love is possible by His Grace. As I pursue it, I encourage other fellow believers to pursue it with me so that we can see the amazing transforming power of the Holy Spirit in us.
We will explore these virtues in several blogs and trust that the Lord will help us to learn from them starting with Patience.
Love is Patient:
In this context, we are discussing patience as an attribute of agape love as we relate with fellow believers in Christ Jesus. Patience is the ability to act responsibly with self-control, humility and compassion when someone or something provokes and irritates you. It is not the ability to wait in line or passive disinterest in a situation while waiting but an active exercise of self-control, humility and compassion when confronted with discomfort and displeasure.
This is the type of patience that apostle Paul presented in the scriptures when letting us know that Love is patient. This is because the confluence of self-control, compassion and humility in the presence of displeasure produce a character attribute called Patience. When this Patience is exhibited when confronted with circumstances that will naturally provoke someone and at the same time able to humbly and firmly point out a flaw that needs correction, it translates as love to a fellow Christian.
Our Lord Jesus Christ correctly portrayed the virtue of patience in his relationships with his disciples, other people and in his perseverance through trials and death on the cross. We might think that because the Lord Jesus is fully man and fully God therefore it is possible for Him to accommodate their flaws and pass through trials with patience. But we also have the Spirit of God who empowered the Lord Jesus while He was here on earth and on the day of Pentecost empowered the same apostles of the lord Jesus Christ who deserted Him to become trailblazers of the faith. Therefore, if they could change by the power of the Holy Ghost, we can acquire patience as an attribute if we work on it by His assistance.
The scriptures portrayed how the Lord Jesus handled many disappointing and displeasing situations from his apostles with patience
The apostles of the Lord Jesus were slow in comprehending his teachings Luke 18:34, Matthew 15:16.
They could not believe in Him as the Messiah irrespective of the teachings and the miracles that He did. Only one Peter knew but because it was revealed to him by God. Mark 8:27–30
After the various miracles, the Lord Jesus did in their presence, they still panicked when the storm arose when he was sleeping in the boat. Matthew 8:23-27
They were self-serving and seeking positions of authority here on earth when the mother of Zebedee’s sons (James and John) requested to have her sons sit at His right and left hand. Matthew 20:20-23
When he needed their prayerful support at Gethsemane, they all fell asleep. Mark 14:32-42
At His apprehension, trial and the crucifixion, they all ran away and denied Him. Mark 14:50. Matthew 26:57-75
And after the resurrection, Thomas had to see and feel the scar before he believed. John 20:24-29
From all the interactions above which could have frustrated any of us, the Lord Jesus did not rail accusations of unbelief against his apostles and did not dismiss them as ignorant. Rather he highlighted their slowness to believe and have faith in Him and asked them how long it will take them to develop faith in Him.
He did not prevent them from being his apostles because of their flaws and did not become frustrated with them because he knew that they were genuinely following Him but unfortunately were dealing with their humanity. He corrected them when they erred but did it in love. He washed their feet to show them how to serve in humility. John 13:1–17
In John 20, 21, Acts 1:1-10: When he rose from the dead, he sought them out, encouraged, served and promised them the coming of the Holy Spirit which happened on the day of Pentecost and thereafter unto this day.
He manifested patience (self-control, humility, and compassion) which showed how he loved them in a very beautiful way-His Love is so amazing.
How to develop Patience:
This is my own opinion and how I am working to troubleshoot and develop this attribute by the help of the Holy Spirit. I pray that it will be helpful to you as well because we are triggered daily and cannot run the Christian race without an abundance of patience. Impatience seems to be angry response to a displeasing or discomforting situation and such emotions are unhealthy spiritually and physically.
- Inform yourself daily that something that might require you to act in patience can present itself today, but you determine to respond with self-control, humility and compassion. When you expect something, you are usually prepared for it. But what happens in most cases is that we are thrown off balance when displeasure and discomfort happens unexpectedly. Be prepared to confront it daily by praying to the Holy Spirit to help you as you remind yourself of the word of God in
James 1:20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires (NIV)
Proverbs 16:32 One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and one who rules his spirit, than one who captures a city.
When you have self-control, you can manage your emotions, impulses, feelings and behavior to achieve long term goals.
- Remind yourselves that genuine fellow believers in Christ are human beings with flaws like yourself and are working with the help of the Holy Spirit to attain perfection. Therefore, in dealing with each other, do not expect perfection from an unfinished work of art. Ephesians 4:2 states with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.
But the Lord Jesus commanded us in Mark 12:31 to love your neighbor as yourself meaning that we all have been created to love ourselves first and in doing so we learn how to love our neighbors. In that case therefore it means that you should extend that grace, kindness and compassion which you always extend to yourself when you displease yourself to someone else when that person has irritated you at home, church or fellowship. You approach that situation with self-control, humility and compassion knowing that you treat yourself that way and will want someone else to treat equally the same way.
Luke 6:31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
- Do not put yourself on a special pedestal in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ probably because of a particular privilege that you have received from our father in heaven in academics, finances, spirituality and exceptional spiritual gifting or whether you think that you have nothing outstanding but life itself is a precious gift from God. We are all in the body of God to serve only one person and that alone-our Lord Jesus Christ thereby serving the body of Christ. Remember that you received these benefits from God and should use them to the glory of God. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.†Romans 12: 3.
When you have a good assessment of yourself, it includes your inadequacy also which will help you to be compassionate towards other people when they are not as smart, as gifted, cannot comprehend as quickly which are things that might cause irritation in dealing with fellow believers causing you to be impatient and dismiss people immediately. The Lord Jesus is God but lowered Himself to human level to fulfill the will of His Father. His humility enabled Him to be patient with his disciples despite their flaws and we should learn from Him.
- Knowing whom you want to please will help you really strive to conform to the image of our Lord Jesus Christ in developing patience. Ultimately our goal is to please God our father and our Lord Jesus Christ therefore we develop virtues that will enable us to serve the body of Christ in a way that our Lord Jesus will be pleased with us. This does not mean that we love other believers just to fulfill all righteousness. But that we genuinely walk in love towards them knowing that God our father will be glorified. When we develop patience in the form of self-control, compassion and humility it will enable God to show His amazing Love through us.
Colossians 1:10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
Conclusion.
Our natural response to delay, displeasure and discomfort is anger, impatience and
Frustration which has destroyed lives, friendships, ministries, families among
believers in Christ etc.
But have you ever regretted that word, action, and outbursts of emotion?
Have you ever felt that you could have handled that situation in a different way which
could have shown the love of God?
Do you feel that you would like to change the way you deal with situation if given a
Second chance?
Hebrews 3:15(ESV)encourages us to take that step of practicing the development of
patience today. As it is said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as
you did in the rebellion.”
Because we died with the Lord Jesus, we have risen with Him and can live in the
Newness of life by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us therefore develop the attribute of
Patience and walk in love which is the excellent way. May God help us Amen.
