THE WILL TO LOVE - Vital Christianity

1THE WILL TO LOVELars Wilhelmsson

2CONTENTSPREFACE 3-4INTRODUCTION 5-61. HOW WILL THE WORLD BELIEVE IN JESUS? 7-152. FOURFOLD DIMENSIONS OF LOVE 16-243. HOW DO I LEARN TO LOVE? 25-304. THE DISCIPLINE OF LOVE 31-395. SERVICE: LOVE IN OVERALLS 40-496. SHOULD WE LOVE OURSELVES? 50-577. LOVING OUR ENEMIES 58-708. THE TRUE TEST OF LOVE Part I 71-789. THE TRUE TEST OF LOVE Part II 79-8910. LOVE IS ALSO FEELING 90-100NOTES 101-103BIBLIOGRAPHY 104

4He who loves calls us also to love. Love is the greatest thing we can give to God andothers. God calls us to a lifestyle that makes love observable, tangible, visible—love with skin onit.We must allow Christ to love others through us.

5INTRODUCTION

6We live in a world starved for love! Most of us already agree that love is the mostimportant ingredient in life. D. L. Moody, the great evangelist of love, advised his successor,“Dr. Eerdman, give the people the importance of love. If they are right here, they will be right95 percent of the time.”Much has been written on the importance of loving, but little has been written on whatlove is. Unless we understand the biblical meaning of love with its many facets, we will beunable to love properly, scripturally.The word “love” has been a foggy, hazy concept to most people. Hollywood has beenquite successful in giving the word a new meaning: today people in general, as well as Christiansin particular, have come to see this word in mostly emotional terms. The expression, “falling inlove” has taken over the biblical concept of “choosing to love.” As a result, people have come tofeel that love is something that mysteriously “happens” over which they have no control. As awhole culture and society we have become prisoners of this adulterated “love” and the result isthe pervasive and tragic breakup of marriages and families, because if you can “fall in” love youcan just as easily “fall out” of love.Tragically, the word love has become the most misunderstood, perverted word in theEnglish language. It has become so misunderstood that it has lost most of its content and power.And it is up to those of us who are Bible believing Christians to restore its meaning once again.For we have the Bible which is our only infallible, authoritative source.We all know that love is shrouded with mystery. In analyzing this wonder it is not mypurpose to try to dispel its wonder (which would be not only impossible but also foolish), butto dispel some of the fog that surrounds it, and to distinguish reality from illusion and truth fromsentimentality.It is my utmost hope that the following pages will have a part in giving back content andthus power to this most important virtue.God’s kingdom is being retarded because so many of us who name the name of Christexhibit so little evidence of Christian love in our hearts.May we, as Christians, learn the real meaning of love and practice it so that the worldwill see our unity which will in turn lead them to acknowledge our Lord and Savior. May weproclaim Him with our lives as well as with our lips! We need a baptism, a revival, of His love!

7CHAPTER 1 HOW WILL THE WORLD BELIEVE IN JESUS?

8“Division has done more to hide Christ from the view of men than all theinfidelity that has ever been spoken.”–George Macdonald“The final apologetic for Christianity is love.” 1–Francis ShaefferHow will the world ever be reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Many of us live inunresponsive countries and communities. Can God’s message of salvation get through to thesepeople? If so, how?Jesus tells us how:“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Methrough their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are inMe and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that the world may believethat You have sent Me. I have given them the glory that You gave me, thatthey may be one as We are one: I in them and You in Me. May they bebrought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and haveloved them even as You have loved Me” (Jn 17:20-23).How will the world believe that God the Father sent Jesus here to earth and that He lovesthem (the world) even as He has loved His one and only Son?UNITYThe answer is: unity: unity among all Christians of all denominational, cultural, racialbackgrounds.The context, the soil, for evangelism is unity. Only when God’s children are united willtheir message have nay validity to the unbelieving world. Considering all the divisions that haveplagued Christianity, all the divisions that have plagued His body—the Church, it is a wonderthat God has been able to use the Church to extend His kingdom. Division had kept the Churchof Jesus Christ from really marching forward.ORGANIZATIONAL UNITYBut what kind of unity is Jesus speaking about here? It certainly is not organizationalunity. All we have to do is to study church history to find out that this is not the answer. Therewas little organizational unity the early years of the Christian church and yet there was vitalityand growth. Yet during the Middle Ages when the church was literally one united ecclesiasticalbody with the pope as its head, we find that it had lost much, and often, all, of its vitality andfervor.

9This is not to say that there are no advantages to some form of outward, visible unity, butit certainly is not what we need the most, nor is it that for which our Lord Prayed.CONFORMITYAnother type of unity which we do not need is conformity. We do not need that whichwould make everyone alike. I believe that this emphasis is the error of the evangelical church.While the liberals and the Roman Catholic Church have emphasized organizational unity, we asevangelicals–Bible-believing Christians, have emphasized conformity. We have worked for anidentical pattern of looks and behavior among our members. This has sometimes been carried tosuch an extreme point that Christians end up speaking and acting exactly alike. This was not thekind of unity that Jesus was praying for. There should be diversity among Christians. Thereshould be diversity of personality, interests and even methods of Christian work and evangelism.This is what makes church interesting. Uniformity is dull. Variety is exciting.THEOLOGICAL UNITYI also do not believe that Jesus is talking about theological unity to the point oftheological precision. While we all must strive to know and speak the truth, we must also beaware that our picture or image of truth has been distorted because of sin. As Paul put it, “Now Iknow in part. . .” (1 Co 13:12). Though we have a perfect revelation—the Bible, the Word ofGod–our understanding is imperfect and incomplete. Therefore we as fellow believers need tolive by the axiom:In essentials: unityIn non-essentials: freedomIn everything: love.If unity for which Jesus is praying is not organizational unity, conformity or theologicalprecision, what kind of unity is it?THE MODELJesus makes it plain that it is a unity parallel to the unity that exists within the Godhead.Jesus said, “that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. . .I inthem and You in Me. May they be brought to complete unity? (vv. 21,23). It is a unity ofpersonal relationship. The union between Jesus and the Father was a union in love. And this lovewas expressed through obedience. It is a unity of purpose with the same goal in mind. The unityJesus is praying for is the unity in which Christians love each other because they love Him. It is aheart of heart unity.

10D. L. Moody painfully recognized in his day the inconsistency of the Church is notholding to the necessity of love. He observed:“If love don’t prompt all work, all work is for naught. If a man in the churchain’t sound in his faith, we draw our ecclesiastical sword and cut his headright off; but he may not be sound in love, yet we do nothing in his case. Thegreat want in our churches is the want of love in them.”Today, ninety years later, this is still the “great want” of the Church.Paul wrote to the Christians at Colossae that he struggled for them so that they would be“united in love” (Col 2:2). Peter in writing to believers facing persecution said, “Finally all ofyou, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate andhumble” (1 Pe 3:8).I do not believe that Christians will ever organize their churches I exactly the same way,worship God in exactly the same way, believe precisely the same things, because as Paul pointedout, “Now we see but a poor reflection” (1 Co 13:12), yet the unity which Jesus is talking abouttranscends all these differences and joins men together in love.During the Evangelical Awakening of the eighteenth century we see this point illustrated.Controversy arose over Calvinism and Arminianism. Two Englishmen, John Fletcher and JohnBerridge were on opposite sides and wrote openly against the views maintained by the other.Berridge became uncomfortable as a controversialist and gave up his attack. Fletchercontinued the debate, yet when the two men met after not seeing each other for several years,they embraced each other with both arms, as Berridge exclaimed “My dear brother!”In recording this incident, Marcus Loane states,“Never did two spirits of more kindred joy meet with each other, and for two hoursthey were absorbed in most affectionate conversations. Then they took to theirknees, which each joined in prayer of the most warm and tender spirit; it seemedalmost as if they could not bear to part.” 2The Church of Jesus Christ has suffered tremendously because her members have lovedtheir own ecclesiastical organizations, their own ritual, their own creeds more than they haveloved God and each other.Unity which is expressed by love—love for each other because of our love for Jesus—is the kind of unity which will convince the world of the truth of Christianity. That’s why Jesussaid, “All men will know that you are My disciples if you love one another” (Jn 13:35).

11As Christians we must be the love of Christ in order to be heard when we speak about it.THE ULTIMATE APOLOGETICThe ultimate apologetic, the ultimate defense or offense for the truth of Christianity islove. And love for one another brings unity. Paul put it, “And over all these virtues put on love,which binds them altogether in perfect unity” (Col 3:14). Love is cement that keeps us together.It is because of our relationship to Christ that we are related to each other. We belong tothe same family—the family of God. And we have no choice about who belongs to the samefamily. It is not always easy to get along with our family members. It is certainly talked aboutmore than practiced. Too often our love within the family of God is restricted to those whom weadmire and respect. We love those who live up to our standards and conform to our norms. Welove those who are our “type.” We love conditionally.The following statement expresses too well our feelings:“To live above with saints we love is heaven and glory. To live below with saintswe know is quite another story.”CONDITIONAL LOVEI believe that this is one of the reasons why the world is not very impressed withChristian community. Bruce Milne describes the Christian community this way:“We appear simply as another social club which attracts folks of a certain type.We are the ‘goodies’ who naturally like each other and respect each other.We are drawn together simply by common interests and outlook. Our mutualattraction is simply, on a different level, the same as that of the sailing club, theworking men’s club, the gingerbread group, or whatever. It is a love for theworthy. It is a love for equals . . . And so they can ‘explain’ us, and leave usalone.” 3Milne continues,“It is when the love which we express begins to stoop; when we really beginTo love those who are unworthy, those who have failed, those who reject ourstandards, those to whom we are not naturally attracted, it is then that thenon-Christian begins to take notice.” 4

12A COMMANDGod knew it would be hard to live by unconditional love. He therefore commanded us to“love one another.” The phrase, “love one another” is used 16 times in Scripture. And the Bibletalks about at least 27 different ways this love is to be expressed using the phrase, “one another.”Love is to be expressed in concrete ways. Love is wanting the very best for the other person andbeing willing to do whatever we can to see that that happens. Love is being of service to anotherperson.FELLOWSHIPHow is love to grow among us? By fellowship! The Greek word for fellowship, koinonia,means “sharing something” or “having something in common.” fellowship is the “sharing of ourlives together.” We cannot be of service if we do not know what the needs of our brothers andsisters in Christ are. It is by fellowshipping together that we learn about each other so that we canminster to each other. The purpose of fellowship, then, is the strengthening of each member ofthe body of Christ; it is that love may grow stronger and stronger among the members of God’sfamily.THE PURPOSEBut for what purpose? Just so Christians can have a deeper more meaningful fellowship?Why is maturity so important? Why is unity so important? Because it makes the sharing of God’smessage credible, believable. As Jesus put it, “so that the world may believe . . . to let the worldknow” (Jn 17:21,23).Does that mean then that we don’t have to say anything to the unbeliever? Is it enoughthat we are an example to them? By all means NO! Our example, our lifestyle, is not the messageitself. It makes the message believable. This is why the apostle Paul said,“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the newhas come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ andgave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world toHimself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And He has committedTo us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, asthough God were making His appeal through us” (2 Co 5:17-20).A few verses earlier Paul said, “Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try topersuade men” (v. 11). Not a silent witness but a vocal one. And not one who carelessly throwsout some verses at a person, but one who “persuades.” A sense of urgency is reflected here.Similarly Jude states that we who know God should keep ourselves I His love and “snatch othersform the fire and save them” (Jude 21,23).

13THE DANGERThere is always the danger that fellowship, growth becomes an end in itself. Love, unitymust be for the purpose of ministry, service. In reach is for the purpose of outreach. Worship,fellowship must lead to witness. Otherwise our spiritual exercises become ingrown and selfcentered.Input without output leads to decay. If you don’t believe that, look at the Dead Sea. Ithas inflow but no outflow and that’s the reason why it is dead. God’s life, His love, is the flow inand through us to others.OUTREACHGod’s purpose in blessing people has never been just so that they would be blessed.God’s purpose in calling people has never been just so that they would be called. God blessedIsrael so that she might be a blessing to others. God chose Israel so that all nations would bechosen through here. The miracles God performed on behalf of Israel was not just for Israel’ssake. Let’s look at a few of these.God sent ten plagues which forced Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave their captivity inEgypt. And God’s word to Pharaoh was,“I will send all my plagues upon your heart, and upon your servants and yourpeople, that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. . .but for this purpose have I let you live, to show you My power, so that Myname may be declared throughout all the earth” (Ex 9:14,16).While the immediate purpose of the plagues was to rescue Israel form Egypt, the broaderpurpose was to make God’s name known through all the earth.Joshua, reflecting on the two great events of the Israelitis’ exodus from Egypt–theopening of the Red Sea so they could march out of the land and the opening of the Jordan Riverso they could march into the land of Canaan–said,“For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passedover, as the Lord your God did to the Read Sea, which he cried up for us until wepassed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of theLord is mighty; that you may fear the Lord your God forever” (Jos 4:23-24).God’s reasons for delivering His people Israel must not be limited to Israel alone. Godintervened for Israel not only for her benefit, but for the benefit of the whole earth. For God usedIsrael as a showcase to make His name known throughout the earth.

14The familiar story of David and Goliath shows again that God had a greater purpose thanjust the immediate rescue of His people. David warns Goliath,“This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, andcut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines thisday to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth that all the earthmay know that there is a God in Israel” (1 Sa 17:46).In the same way, Solomon, David’s son, saw God’s universal purposes in the building ofthe temple in Jerusalem. In his dedicatory prayer, Solomon expressed his desire that the glory ofGod be seen through the temple worship.“Likewise when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a farcounty for your name’s sake (for they shall hear of your great name, and yourmighty hand, and of your outstretched arm). When he comes and prays towardthis house, hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all for whichthe foreigner calls to you; in order that all the peoples of the earth may knowyour name and fear You . . . Let these words of mine, with which I have madesupplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, andmay he maintain the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires; that all thepeoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other.”(1 Ki 8: 41-43,59-60)WORLD-WIDEGod’s purpose is world-wide. As Peter put it, “God is not willing that any should perish,but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pe 3:9).Throughout biblical times God verified His message by signs, wonders, miracles. ThoughGod still verifies His message through these means, I believe that the primary miracle by whichGod verifies His message today is through the unity of His people. And this is by far a greatermiracle than cosmic, physical miracles. I believe it is much “harder” for God to change selfish,depraved human beings than it is to hurl this whole universe into space by the breath of Hismouth. The miracle of seeing self-centered believers united in love is by far a greater happening.And only God’s grace is able to do that.If you were Satan and you knew what unity among Christians will reach the world withthe message of truth, what would be your strategy? To divide Christians” Of course! And Satanhas done that very thing. And he has been quite successful. Divide and conquer is his strategy.

15GOD’S PROVISIONSGod has provided all kinds of ministries which can help us to be united in love. God’sgrace is appropriated more easily through certain ministries than others. And there are areas ofour lives that can more easily be touched by certain ministries. This is why churches try toprovide many kinds of ministries.Are you taking advantage of these many ministries provided through your church? MayJesus High-priestly prayer be fulfilled in us:“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Methrough their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You areone in Me and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that the world may believethat You have sent Me. I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that theymay be one as we are one: I in them and You in Me. May they be brought tocomplete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved themeven as You have loved Me” (Jn 17:20-23).

16CHAPTER 2 FOURFOLD DIMENSION OF LOVE

17“We will not find God’s way for us through either stubborn independence nor inchildish dependence. We will find maturity only in the third alternative—in ahealthy interdependence on other Christians, through a fellowship where wecan learn to be ourselves in an honest and loving relationship with others.” 1–Wally HowardAn independent spirit is a curse to the church, the body of Christ. In fact, an independentspirit as a part of the body of Christ is a contradiction. For a body, by definition, is made up ofmany members, and if we are a part of that body we cannot be independent. Yet this is whatmany Christians insist upon.In our Western world (and especially the United States) we have stressed individualism,independence. In some ways this has been a good thing. For it has catapulted our young nation togreat technological achievements. But the problem is that this individualism and independencehave also made us insensitive to the needs of our people as a whole. For we have been toopreoccupied with our own personal needs and advancement. We have come to call our world a“dog eat dog” world. “Each man for himself” has become a catch-phrase. “My” success, not“our” success has become the emphasis.INTERDEPENDENCE IS GOD’S METHODWhile the Christian faith is a personal matter, it is not an individualistic thing. TheChurch of Jesus Christ by definition is a body of believers. Independence has no part in the bodyconcept. Not independence, but interdependence is God’s pattern.As Christians we are members of the body, the Church (1 Co 12:12-27). By definitionwe belong to each other. We are not an island by ourselves. Rather, everything we do or don’tdo affects all the other members of the body (vv. 14-17,21). Paul says, “If one part suffersevery part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (12:26).WE MUST BE VULNERABLEI come across Christians who do not belong to any body of believers, a church. Theyclaim they practice their faith by themselves. And usually the reason they don’t belong to achurch is that they have been hurt or have not found what they consider the right church forthem. Since when did Christ promise that we would not get hurt? Since when did Christ pledgeease and tranquility to His followers? To be a part of a group of people, including the church,automatically puts us in a vulnerable position where there will be friction. But since when didChrist promise us that we would not have to be vulnerable? Getting involved in the lives ofpeople is impossible apart from vulnerability. But that is the price of love.

18Our faith and love are tested when we become close enough to people where they canreally hurt us. This is part of the trials that the Bible talks about that will make us purer, strongerand better. As it says concerning Jesus, “. . . He learned obedience from what He suffered . . .”(Heb 5:8). Why should it be different with us? Is the servant greater than his Master?TEAM WORKWe have already seen how that when we become Christians we become members ofGod’s family. And the Bible is clear that this also means that we become members of oneanother. We constitute the body of Christ, the Church. As we study the New Testament itbecomes clear that we are to become functioning members of that body (1 Co 12; Eph 4:1-16).Paul put it,“It was He (Christ) who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some tobe evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s peoplefor works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we allreach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and becomemature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”Then we will longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blownhere and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness ofmen in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will inall things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From Him thewhole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows andbuilds itself up in love, as each part does its work (Eph 4:11-16).Here we see the concern that the apostle has that each child of God become a maturebeliever built up to attain to the “whole measure of the fullness of Christ”(v. 13). Paul points outthat God has given to the Church, His body, ministers and ministries to prepare all of “God’speople for works of service”(v. 12). He states that we would “in all things grow up into Christour Head” and that from Him the “whole body, joined and held together by every supportingligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (vv. 15-16).But how are we to built up? How are we to grow toward maturity? Paul answers, “aseach does its work.” That is, as each believer does his part.In talking about mutual up building the New Testament uses the word allelon, mostfrequently translated “one another.” This word is used 58 times if we exclude the gospels. Pauluses it the most, mentioning it 40 times. Many of these concepts and commands are repeated butthere are about 22 different injunctions using this phrase that we ought to heed.

19The injunction, “love one another” is the foundation upon which all the other commandsare built. It is therefore the injunction repeated more than any other. Six teen times we are exhortedto “love one another” (Jn 13:34; 15:12,17; Ro 14:8; Gal 5:13; 1 Th 3:12; 4:9; 1 Pe 1:22;1 Jn 3:11,23; 4:7,11-12; 2 Jn 5).In his letter to the Christians at Colossians, Paul shows how that love is foundational toall other Christian virtues. He states,“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselveswith compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with eachother and forgive whatever grievances you may have against on other. Forgiveas the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which bindsthem all together in perfect unity (Col 3:12-14).Love is the cement that keeps all the other virtues together. In reality, as we shall see, allother virtues are expressions of love.DEFINITIONS OF LOVEWe all talk and sing about love. But what is love? A secular song states, “What the worldneeds now, is love, sweet love.” But is this the kind of love the world needs? The word, “love”is undoubtedly the most misunderstood word in the English language. It is the most abused andmisused word in our vocabulary.In tennis “love” means “nothing.” In marriage love means “everything.” Love may mean“anything” to the rest of life. We have come to use the word love in talking about ice cream,candy and sports as well as in talking about our mates and children. The same word is being usedin describing the highest form of sacrifice as well as the lowest form of lust.When the Bible talks about love what is it talking about?A pastor was leaving his church to go to another. A young man came up to him and said,“Pastor, I am sorry we are going to lose you. When you came to us three years ago, I was ayoung man who did not care for God, man, or the devil, but since listening to your beautifulsermons I have learned to love them all.”This is the kind of sentiment that passes for love these days. But what is Love?Whereas English has only one word for love which is used to refer to a variety of loves,the Greek language is rich in words for love. This enables the Greek writers (the New Testamentwas written in Greek) to communicate this most important concept with great precision.

20STORGEStorage is the word used in referring to “natural affection,” or “family love.” It is thelove of a child for the parent and parent for the child. Grandparents, uncles, aunts—relative ingeneral—would be embraced by this term. Though this word could also include love for countryetc., its primary usage has to do with family relationships.The negative form of this word astorgo as means “without natural affection” (Ro 1:31;2 Ti 3:3) indicating the lack of love between parents and children, husbands and wives etc.Although this particular word is not found in the Bible, its concept is. By condemning thenegative form of this word (astorgos) Paul, the apostle, was clearly exposing its original orpositive form (storge). While storge is natural and good, Christian love that we are examininggoes beyond this concept.It is significant that when the writers of Scripture refer to the Father’s love for the Sonthat they use the word agapetos (“beloved”—Mt 3:17; 17:5; Mk 9:7; etc.) and not storge.This emphasizes the fact that the Father’s love for the Son is a deeper love than just “natural” or“family/familiar” love.EROSDuring the fifth and fourth centuries before Christ, eros had broad usage meaning“aesthetic love.” Eros referred to “love of beauty,” “love of an adorable object,” “love of theworthy.” It is love directed toward the object which is worthy of affection.By the time of Jesus the meaning of the word had changed to “sexual love.” Eros refersto “romantic,” “passionate,” “affectionate” love. Although eros is more than just sexual experience,“the sex act is the fitting expression of eros.”Although I believe Swedish theologian Anders Nygren drew the contrast between erosand agape too sharply and did not give eros enough legitimacy, I believe Nels Ferre’s illustrationof Nygren’s own tabulation of these words for love effectively communicates their fundamentaldifferences:“Eros is a desire of good for self.Eros is man’s effort to ascend.Eros is man’s way to God.Agape is self-giving.Agape comes down from above.Agape is God’s way to man.

21.Eros is man’s achievement, theendeavor of man to achieve salvation.Eros is ego-centric love, a form ofself-assertion of the highest, noblest,kind.Eros seeks to gain its life, a life Divine,immortal.Eros is a will to have and to possess, restingon a sense of need.Eros is primarily human love, and God is theobject of Eros.Eros, when it is applied to God, is a loveFashioned after the pattern of human love.Eros is determined by and dependent on thequality of its object, its beauty and value,Hence it is not spontaneous, but “caused,”called forth by the value of its object.“uncaused,” and bestows itself onAgape is a free gift, a salvationwhich is the work of Divine love.Agape is unselfish love, which“seeketh not its own,” andfreely spends itself.Agape lives by God’s life,And therefore dares to “lose it.Agape freely gives and spends,for it rests on God’s ownrichness and fullnessAgape is primarily God’s ownlove, for God is Agape.Agape, when it appears in man, isa love that takes its form from God’sGod’s own love.Agape is sovereign and independentwith regard to its object, and ispoured out on “the evil and thegood”; hence it is spontaneous,those who are not worthy of it.Eros recognizes value in its object, and Agape loves, and creates value intherefore loves it. its object.” 2Although eros is not essentially a Christian idea of love, it is not inherently evil either.Even though the word eros is not used in the Bible, its concept certainly is. Song of Songs isgreat poem of sexual, passionate, romantic love. It is a celebration of love that is profoundlyemotional and ecstatic. Here as in other portions of the Old Testament, we see that there isno asceticism in the Hebrew mind with respect to natural human loves. Eros, therefore, hasits legitimate place in our lives.

22PHILIAThe third word for love is philia, which means the love of “friendship.” This is afriendship word speaking of filial love—natural human love, the love of a person for anotherperson. This word means “friendly affection” and is the word from which we get our Englishword, “philanthropy.”Philia is considered a higher form of love since it is not necessary.C. S. Lewis perceptively analyzed this word as he stated:“Philia . . . is the least natural of loves; the least instinctive, organic, biological,gregarious and necessary . . .Without Eros none of us would have been begotten and without Attention(storge) none of us would have been reared; but we can live and breedwithout Friendship (philia). The species, biologically considered, has no needof it . . .Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (forGod did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of thosethings which give value to survival.Friendship, however, “is built on common insight or interest or taste, somethingthat the friends have in common but that other people do no share.” 3Friendship can be both a very positive thing in that it can bring out the best in each of thefriends and a very negative influence in that it can bring out the worst in each of the friends.C. S. Lewis notes: “Friendship (as the ancients saw) can be a school of virtue; but also (as theydid not see) a school of vice. It is ambivalent. It makes good men better and bad men worse.” 4Leon Morris explains how this happens:“Just as a group strengthens the friends good points, so it serves as a justificationfor their weaknesses. The friends refuse to be controlled by outside opinion,because this is part of what friendship means. This means that when outsidersare wrong, friends strengthen one another in the right. But it also means thatwhen those outside are right, the friends may well encourage one another tocontinue in a wrong way. Their very friendship hinders them from seeing whatis right in the contentions of outsiders. Further, their bond may lead to pride,which despises those not admitted to the intimacy of the circle.”

23Like eros and storge, philia has its limitations as well as value. Philia, like the otherloves, is reciprocal—it responds to another’s love- -and thus it is basically natural. Christianlove goes beyond this natural level. While the words storge and eros do not appear in the Biblephilia occurs fifty-five times.WHAT LOVE IS NOTAccording to Scripture, love is not emotion. Biblical love is not matter of “feeling fondof someone,” “finding someone attractive,” “liking someone.” Love is not a matter of sentiment.Biblical love “loves without feeling” kind of love which is based upon attraction and need is thelowest form of love.Love is also not optimism. Love is not making out your enemies to be really not suchbad people after all, when it is plain that they are. Love is realistic. It does not bury its head inin the sand and try to believe that everything and everyone is nice. Love comes to grips withreality. It is not deluded by wishful thinking.Love is not pleasing. Love does not withhold punishment or discipline when required.Although we are to love ourselves, this does not mean that we ought not to be subject tocorrection.What kind of love is Paul talking about then?AGAPEAgape or agapic love is what Paul if speaking about. This fourth word for love was notused very much in classical Greek. Its concept was so noble and divine that only Christianitycould rightfully use it. The word was used only ten times by Homer; only three times byEuripides; later on it was used a few times in the popular Greek (koine Greek—the Greek of theNew Testament) which was spoken throughout the then-known world after Alexander the Greatconquered it.There was no need for such word as agape because Plato taught that there could be noreal love between God and man since the gods, being perfect, desired nothing. Therefore theyhad no love for man. Aristotle argued similarly that there was too great a disproportion betweenman and God for any love to express itself between the two.Although philia in all its forms appear 55 times in the New Testament, agape in itsvarious forms appear 320 times. Agape, then, is the characteristic New Testament word for love.It was Christians who put content into this word for although it was used on rare occasions, eventhen it was not given its full meaning.

24The pre-Christian use of the word was primarily in the sense of “preference” conveyingthe idea of God’s preference for one man to another. This concept watered agape down toaesthetic love, reciprocal love. ‘

25CHAPTER 3 HOW DO I LEARN TO LOVE?

26HOW DO I LEARN TO LOVE?1 John 4:7-10,19What the World Needs Now Is Love, Sweet LoveWhat the world needs now is love, sweet loveIt's the only thing that there's just too little ofWhat the world needs now is love, sweet love,No not just for some but for everyone.Lord, we don't need another mountain,There are mountains and hillsides enough to climbThere are oceans and rivers enough to cross,Enough to last till the end of time.What the world needs now is love, sweet loveIt's the only thing that there's just too little ofWhat the world needs now is love, sweet love,No, not just for some but for everyone.Lord, we don't need another meadowThere are cornfields and wheat fields enough to growThere are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shineOh listen, lord, if you want to know.What the world needs now is love, sweet loveIt's the only thing that there's just too little ofWhat the world needs now is love, sweet love,No, not just for some but for everyone.No, not just for some, oh, but just for everyone.--Jackie deShannonIs Jackie deShannon, the songwriter, right? Is love what the world needs now?Definitely!The most important lesson Jesus taught us about God is about how much God loves thepeople He made. He took little children on His knee and blessed them. The disciples protested,but Jesus rebuked them and showed them how much He loved the little children. These lessonsin love pop up from almost every page of the gospel stories. But nowhere do we see God’s lovemore clearly, nowhere does it stand out so boldly, as in the story of the cross.

27How do I learn to love? This is the most crucial question in life. And it’s one thing to seehow God loves us, but it’s another thing for us to learn to love as we want to and know weshould.THE PREEMINENCE OF LOVEMost of us are probably convinced of the preeminence of love. The Apostle Paul rated itabove faith and hope in importance when he said,“The greatest of these is love” (1 Co 13:13).A century ago Henry Drummond wrote a book on love called The Greatest Thing in theWorld. Even though there may be a few people who would prefer to be famous or wealthy ratherthan to be really loved, most of us would agree with Drummond.For most of us love or lack of it is the most important thing in the world. Analyze thetheme. The primary message of popular music, novels, magazine articles and television plays isthat love or lack of it is the most important thing in the world. When we look at the maritalproblems in our country, the unrest on our college and university campuses, the tension betweenchildren and parents, the rising crime rate, the bitter prejudices against people of other races, wesee that these are symptoms of our basic illness—failure to love.loved.As human beings made in the image and likeness of God, we are made to love and beSome time ago the importance of love was highlighted in a dramatic experimentperformed in an orphanage by some social scientists. Babies in the orphanage were divided intotwo groups. Both groups received all the routine care provided by the nurses and matrons. Theywere fed on schedule, given proper medical attention, and their diapers were changed regularly.But one group was given more personal loving care than the other. The babies in group one wereheld and cuddled as they were fed, changed, and put to sleep. The babies in group two had alltheir basic physical needs met but were shown no love at all.It did not take long in this experiment for significant differences to develop between thetwo groups of babies. The youngsters in group one who were receiving love thrived anddeveloped bright, sunny personalities. But some of the babies in group two began to show signsof serious emotional maladjustment and even their physical condition suffered, as well.Eli Lilley gave $100,000.00 to Harvard University sociologists to measurescientifically what love does to people. Their conclusion was that love

28Prolongs lifePrevents or cures many mental or bodily diseasesImproves beautyBuilds self-confidenceLessens crimeIf applied by everyone, it would reform the world.The importance of love!THE DIFFICULTY OF LOVEBecause we are selfish by nature—rebellious toward God—our ability to love as weshould simply is not there. This is why will power is not the answer. We cannot learn to love justas a matter of resolve. We cannot just decide to start loving. As fallen creatures, we are goodadvertisers but poor producers. In our world we are bombarded by slogans, placards, or songs totry to resolve the problem of love. We are all for it, but we cannot achieve it.While we may have lofty ideals, we find that our achievements are not. As we look at ourworld, it is obvious that love does not reign. Even as we look at our finest institutions, we aredisappointed. And the Church, the people called out by God, also fails miserably in this mostimportant enterprise.We find it difficult, if not impossible, to express our love steadily and maturely. It isinconsistent at best.One of the reasons we find it so hard to love is that we know ourselves so well. Becausewe know dark secrets about ourselves, we find it difficult to believe anyone could love us.Therefore we develop defenses to keep people at a distance so they won’t find out what we reallyare.Another difficulty in love is that we set standards that we want people to come up toso that we can love them. We don’t really love them; we love their good qualities.THE CROSS IS THE ANSWERThe cross of Christ provides the answer to our dilemma. The cross shows us the way tolove as God intends: “By receiving God’s love.” John, who started out as a son of thunder butbecame the apostle of love, put it:“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Sonto be the propitiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4:10).

29This—the death of Christ—is the acceptable sacrifice for our sins.On the cross Christ died for us as we are.God’s love for us is where our love begins (Dt 7:6-9; 10:15; Hos 11:1-9; 1 Co 1:2-31).Psychologists tell us that babies are not born knowing how to love but with a capacity toreceive, to experience love. Infants learn to love by feeling and seeing how their parents lovethem. Even though this is an imperfect, human example of how God’s love works, yet itintroduces a baby into the world of love. Therefore, human beings learn to love by being loved.God has demonstrated His kind of love—divine love—so that we can truly know whatlove is. When it comes to love, especially, talk is cheap. But God has shown us the truemeaning of love by loving us. Through the death of Christ on the cross, God has given us thefinal proof of His love.It is only by putting our trust in Jesus Christ, committing our lives to Him, that weexperience the meaning of this kind of love—divine love. A love that is personal,unconditional, sacrificial and eternal.At the cross of Christ, we, like John Bunyan, discover what it is to be taken just as weare, to have the Lord of heaven and earth concerned for us and committed to us.If God who knows all our secrets can accept us, can’t we learn to accept ourselves? IfGod can take us, just as we are, and love us so much, can’t we learn to love each other as we are?We can. We must. There’s no other way to learn to love—no other hope fo harmony within thehuman family.“We love because He first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19).We learn to love by receiving God’s love and then by practicing it. But when it comesto love, practice does not make perfect. Practice, however, enables us to grow in our love. Wewill not be perfect until we see Christ face to face and are changed to be like Him. But we cancontinually grow in our resemblance of our loving Lord.GOD’S LOVE AND OUR LOVEGod’s love to others is manifested by the quality of our love. 1 John 4:20 puts it in thestrongest possible terms:“For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God,whom he has not seen.”

30We can only love to the degree to which we have experienced love:“Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she lovedmuch. But he who has been forgiven little loves little” (Lk 7:36-50).Love is experienced in direct proportion to how much we don’t deserve it. In fact,love in response to goodness is not love; it is reward. This is why the moral, ethical, religiousperson is typically the hardest to reach.Our love for God and our love for others are directly connected. As Christians, wemust put Christ’s love to work in our lives. This does not mean that we will have fuzzy, warmfeelings toward everyone. Contrary to the message of Hollywood, feelings are neither thebeginning nor the center of Christian love. Love and romance—love and affection—are notnecessarily the same.LOVE IS A VERBLove is a verb. Love is a decision. We decide to love others by doing for others whatGod has done for us. In practical terms this means that we learn to accept others with all theirfaults and failures as God has accepted us—accepting them even when we cannot approve whatthey do. Just as God has met our deepest and most basic needs through Jesus Christ, we need tocome alongside people and stick with them through thick and thin. After all, is that not what Godhas done for us?Total acceptance and patient support are ingredients of Christian love that assure usthat God really loves us. And this sets us free to love. Paul urged the Corinthians to make lovetheir aim. So he writes at length about the Holy Communion (Eucharist—1 Co 11) as a chief wayof remembering constantly God’s greatest act of love toward us in Jesus Christ.To many people the cross is merely a symbol that crowning our church buildings or apendant around our necks, but for many of us it is much more than that. It is the reality offorgiveness, peace and joy which comes from what Christ accomplished on the cross. It is herethat we find the answer to the problem of sin. It is here that our lives are changed.APPLICATIONThis transforming change is available to all! God’s love is as real today as it was twothousand years ago when Jesus died on the cross. All we have to do is accept it and share it.

31CHAPTER 4 THE DISCIPLINE OF LOVE

32THE DISCIPLINE OF LOVEHebrew 12:5-11“A man may be consecrated, dedicated and devoted but of little valueif undisciplined.”--Hudson Taylor“When God wants to drill a man,And thrill a man,And skill a man,When God wants to mold a manTo play the noblest part;When he yearns with all His heartTo create so great and bold a manThat all the world shall be amazed,Watch His methods, watch His ways!How He ruthlessly perfectsWhom He royally elects!How He hammers him and hurts him,And with mighty blows converts himInto trial shapes of clay whichOnly God understands;While his tortured heart is cryingAnd he lifts beseeching hands!How he bends but never breaksWhen his good he undertakes;How He uses whom He chooses,And with every purpose fuses him;By every act induces himTo try His splendor out—God knows what He’s about.” 1

33Many would object to the title of this chapter. Love and discipline somehow seemcontradictory. In fact, they seem like complete opposites. Our view of love is more accuratelyexpressed by the song, “What The World Needs Now Is Love Sweet Love.” The word love isusually associated with sweetness.Is it possible to grow spiritually on only a sweet diet? Growth in holiness, is God’s chiefpurpose for his children. Paul put it,“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him,who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew He alsopredestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be thefirstborn among many brothers” (Ro 8:28-29).God’s love and calling is related to a specific purpose: that His children will be likeJesus. God does not promise to make us comfortable, He promises to make us conformed to theimage of His son.THE PURPOSE OF SALVATIONC. S. Lewis illustrates the misunderstanding that the average Christian has concerningGod’s purpose for salvation when he says,“I think that many of us, when Christ has enabled us to overcome one or two sinsthat were an obvious nuisance, are inclined to feel (though we do not put it intowords) that we are now good enough. He has done all we wanted Him to do, andwe should be obliged if He would now leave us alone.But the question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what He intended usto be when He made us.Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first,perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right andstopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doingand so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house aboutin a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earthis He up to? The explanation is that He building quite a different house from theone you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floorthere, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going tobe made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intendsto come and live in it Himself.” 2 (Emphasis added)

34Holiness, not happiness, is God’s main concern for His children. Happiness is abyproduct of holiness. As the Westminster Catechism states, “The chief end of man is to glorifyGod and enjoy Him forever.” It is in the process of glorifying God that we also experienceenjoying Him.Among Christian circles happiness has become an end in itself. All kinds of wrongdoinghas been excused on the grounds that they were done in the pursuit of happiness. This is puttingthe cart before the horse. Holiness, righteousness, truth, honesty must be our pursuit.The following verse shows the relationship between godly pursuits and happiness:“Happiness is like a butterfly.The more you chase it,the more it will elude you.But if you turn your attentionto other things,It comes and softly sits onyour shoulder.” 3God is more concerned with the state of our hearts than with the state of our feelings.Knowing God and doing His will must be our main concern. Then our happiness will springfrom a more intimate fellowship with God.HOLY LOVEThe love of God must never be seen apart from the holiness of God. “The holiness ofGod,” as Francis Schaeffer points out, “is to be exhibited simultaneously with love.” Love apartfrom holiness is merely sentimentality. God’s love is not indulgent, soft, gooey—divorced frommoral standards. God’s love is holy love.J. I. Packer writes the following about God’s holy love:“The God whom Jesus made known is not a God who is indifferent to moraldistinctions, but a God who loves righteousness and hates iniquity, a Godwhose ideal for His Children is that they should be ‘perfect,’ even as your Fatherin heaven is perfect (Mt 5:48). He will not take into His company any person,however orthodox in mind, who will not follow after holiness of life, and thosewhom He does accept He exposes to drastic discipline, in order that they mayattain what they seek . . . God’s love is stern, for it expresses holiness in the loverand seeks holiness for the beloved. Scripture does not allow us to suppose that

35because God is love we may look to Him to confer happiness on people whowill not seek holiness, or to shield His loved ones from trouble when Heknows that they need trouble to further their sanctification.” 4A LOST PERSPECTIVEThe book of Hebrews was written to Hebrew Christians who were undergoingpersecution. The writer points out that they had not suffered to the point of death yet and thenreminds them of God’s enduring promise. He writes,“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of sheddingYour blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addressesyou as sons: ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not loseheart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, andHe punishes everyone He accepts as a son” (Heb 12:4-6).Discipline and punishments are signs of God’s love, not His hatred, unfaithfulness orimpotence. Though these Hebrew Christians might have to meet fiercer trials than they hadalready met, they were not to be discouraged when they thought of others who remained steadfastduring sufferings much worse than theirs (ch. 11). Instead they were to recognize thatthese hardships were a sign of Jehovah’s love for them, and the means by which He was trainingthem to be more like His sons.These suffering Christians are reminded of God’s promise to them in Proverbs 3:11-12.It was important for them to see their discipline and punishment in the light of God’s unfailinglove. They had lost perspective. The trees of discipline, punishment, suffering blinded them tothe forest of God’s eternal plan and purpose for their lives. God had not lost control. God had notforgotten them. God was still the One who “holds in His hand your life and all your ways”(Da 5:23).GOD’S TRAINING METHODThe wise man, says Solomon in the book of Proverbs, is the one who sees hardship asGod’s method of training and disciplining him, and as a token that he is really a child of God.The writer to these Hebrew believers continues,Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplinedby his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then your areillegitimate children and not true sons (Heb 12:7-8).

36God’s discipline is a sign that He is our Father. A true father always discipline his child.It would not be a mark of a father’s love to let a son do what he likes and make things as easyas possible. This would not prepare the son for life. It would make him a misfit, a totally selfish,rebellious person.The author makes the point that lack of discipline is a sign of lack of love andresponsibility. For a child’s father does not have the responsibility of disciplining another’schild. That is the responsibility of each child’s father. Lack of discipline, therefore, shows thatchild does not belong to that father. Thus he is an illegitimate son.The book of Proverbs has much to say about discipline. In Proverbs chapter thirteen versetwenty four, Solomon, like the author of the book of the book of Hebrews, ties love to discipline.He states, “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to disciplinehim”Solomon makes the point that obedience leads to safety “but he who is contemptuous ofhis ways will die” (Pr 19:16). This is why he states,“Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death . . .Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he willnot die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death” (19:18; 23:1).Lack of discipline is dangerous: it leads to disaster, even death. Not only physical deathbut spiritual death. Hope for a child’s future, says Solomon, is grounded properly only when itis preceded by loving, firm discipline.BAD EXAMPLESBoth David and Samuel are rebuked by God for not exercising proper discipline.Adonijah, David’s fourth son, was very rebellious and was in fact killed by his brother Solomonas he tried to usurp his (Solomon’s kingship. The Bible states concerning Adonijah, “His fatherhad never interfered with him by asking, ‘Why do you behave as you do?’ (1 Ki 1:6) Neverany discipline. And the tragic result was death.The Bible speaks of discipline as a purifying instrument. It says, “Folly is bound up inthe heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him” (Pr 22:15). Disciplinegets rid of folly.Solomon also shows us that discipline guards a child from disgrace and gives himwisdom: “The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to itself disgraces his mother”(29:15).

37A disciplined child also brings peace and blessing: “Discipline your son, and he willgive you peace; he will bring delight to your soul” (v. 17).TOUGH LOVEBill Milliken as he worked with the young men and women of New York’s lower EastSide who were for the most part drug addicts, talks about the importance of discipline alongwith love or loving discipline. He shares,“We needed extreme sensitivity, knowing when to shove a guy a little bit, whento let him go, when to get rough. The tough side of love is so missing in manyrelationships. It’s easy when you can put your arm around a guy and say, ‘You’rewonderful.’ But telling a kid, ‘Ok, it’s time you grew up; I don’t want to hear anymore whining,’ is not easy.”Bill continues,“When we were too afraid to be tough, we usually lost the kid; and there weremany times when we hurt him by being too careful.”People respect standards, boundaries, even when they might not agree with them. Thereis security in knowing that someone cares enough about me to hold me accountable for myactions.THE EXAMPLE OF JESUSDiscipline is a necessary ingredient to success in living, in growing. It is interesting tonote here that the writer of the book of Hebrews has pointed out earlier in this book that evenJesus, though He was and is the Son of God “learned obedience from what He suffered”(Heb.5:8). As Andrew Murray points out,God gives His own Son, as the chief of sufferers, to show us how close the relation isbetween suffering and His love, suffering and the victory over sin, suffering and perfection ofcharacter, suffering and glory. Yea more, to provide us with One, who can sympathize, whocan teach us how to suffer, and who, as the Conqueror of sin through suffering, can breathehis own life and strength into is.If Jesus suffered as a Son, why should it be different with us?The book of Hebrews continues,

38“Moreover, we have all have human fathers who disciplined us and we respectedThem for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits andlive! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but Goddisciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness (Heb 12:9-10).EARTHLY DISCIPLINEThe writer points out that we have come to respect our earthly fathers for the fact thatthey thought enough of us to discipline us. Though earthly discipline was based upon what ourfathers thought best, and though it lasted only for a short time until we were grown, yet werealized the value of that discipline, though imperfect as it was. If this is so, how much moreappreciative should we be of our heavenly Father who disciplines us according to his perfectlove and wisdom. Earthly discipline is sometimes mistaken in the method and dosage to bemeted out, but not so with heavenly discipline. There is no unnecessary discipline that comesfrom God who knows us thoroughly. Because of God’s infinite love and wisdom we can relyupon Him never to impose any discipline on us that is not ultimately for our own good. This isthe point that Paul makes when he states,No temptation (and we could add here: ‘testing, trial, hardship, suffering) has seizedyou except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyondwhat you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you canstand up under it (1 Co 10:13).Any temptation, any testing, any trial, any hardship, any suffering is not unique. Othershave endured it and others have come through it.William Barclay shares an illustration about a friend who was driving the biblical scholarLightfoot, the great Bishop of Durham, in a horse carriage along a very narrow mountain road inNorway. It got so narrow that there were only inches between the wheels of the carriage and thecliffs on one side and the precipice on the other. He suggested in the end that Light foot would besafer to get out and walk. Lightfoot surveyed the situation and then he said, ‘Other carriagesmust have taken this road. Drive on!THE PURPOSEWith any temptation there is always a way of escape. And the way of escape is not theway of surrender or retreat, but the way of conquest by the grace and power of God. While Godwill not always allow us to escape (in the sense of withdrawal from) hardships and persecutions,He will enable us to conquer each situation by making these difficulties stepping-stones tospiritual maturity. And spiritual maturity is the supreme good that God has in view for Hischildren: “. . . that we may share in His holiness” (Heb 12:10).

39Spiritual maturity is again emphasized in the eleventh verse of the twelfth chapter ofHebrews. It states,No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces aharvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.The purpose of discipline is righteousness and peace. As F. F. Bruce points out,“The man who accepts discipline at the hand of God as something designed byhis heavenly Father for his good will cease to fell resentful and rebellious; hehas stilled and quieted his soul, which thus provides fertile soil for the cultivationof a righteous life, responsive to the will of God. “ 5All of us can relate to the fact that “no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful”(Heb 12:11). May we learn with David that it is for our good. For, He testifies,“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word . . .It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (Ps 119:67,71).Paul tells the believers at Thessalonians that the persecutions they endured were themeans by which they themselves had grown and thus brought glory to God:We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith isgrowing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. Therefore,among God’s churches we boast about your endurance and faith in all the persecutionsand trials you are enduring.

40CHAPTER 5 SERVICE: LOVE IN OVERALLS

41“The great use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it.” 1–William James“The greatest of all the arts is the art of losing ourselves in the service of others.”--Anonymous“Get religion in your soul, but let it get down in your souls also.”--Anonymous“I can more easily see our Lord sweeping the streets of London than issuing edictsfrom its cathedral.”--Dick SheppardWe have just seen that love without commitment is not love at all. Love withoutcommitment is merely sentimentality. Agapic love is not a matter of sweet emotions, goodfeelings, beautiful sentiments, great intentions; it is commitment to doing God’s will. And if youare committed to God, then you are automatically committed to serving Him and His people.THE TEST OF LOVE IS SERVICEJesus weds love and service. We see this clearly illustrated when He reinstated Peterafter his denial.“When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John,do you truly love Me more than these?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ he said, “you know thatI love you.’Jesus said, ‘Feed My lambs.’Again Jesus said, ‘Simon, son of John, do you truly love Me?’ He answered,‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Take care of My sheep.’The third time He said to him, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me?’Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’He said,‘Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.’Jesus said, ‘Feed My sheep’” (Jn 21:15-17).

42To love Jesus is to love His people and the test of that love is service: feeding Hislambs and sheep—ministering to immature and mature Christians. Jesus is saying that our lovefor Him is not wrapped up in some mystical experience, rather, it is expressed in caring forothers.The thermometer of our love for Jesus is our love for one another, and the test of thatlove is service. For service is the practical expression of our commitment to God and His people.Service is love in overalls.While God is the source of love, and Christ is the proof of love, service is the expressionof love.AN EXAMPLEThe church at Thessalonica is an example of service—love in action.Paul wrote:“We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. Wecontinually remember before our God and Father your work produced byfaith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired byhope in our Lord Jesus Christ.Brothers loved by God, we know that He has chosen you, because our gospelcame to you not simply with words, but with power, with the Holy Spirit andwith deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. Youbecame imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, youwelcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And you becamea model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia . . . the Lord’s messagerang out from you not only in Machedonia Achaia—your faith in God hasbecome known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything aboutit, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell howyou turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Th 1:2-9).Here is no theoretical love, no useless faith, no empty hope. Here is faith, hope andlove being expressed in a very concrete way.Paul, Silas and Timothy who ministered to these Christians at Thessalonica alsoillustrate this concrete love. Paul writes,

43“We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only thegospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night andday in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel ofGod to you” (1 Th 2:8-9).Here we see love that is costly. Here we see service that costs. And that is really theonly kind of service that counts.Paul writes to the Christians at Corinth, “I will gladly spend for you everything I haveand expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less? Be that as it my . . .”(2 Co 12:15).Human love, natural love expects some return, but Paul says, “I do not care whetheryou love me or not, I am willing to give myself completely for you.” Sacrificial love with nostrings attached.THE FEAR OF HURTWhat is it that keeps us from serving the Lord and His people the way we ought?The fear of getting hurt! Unlike Paul who said that he was willing to give himself completelyto his people whether they responded to his love or not, we play it safe for fear that we willsuffer pain. We don’t want to be vulnerable, to be misunderstood, to be criticized, to be takenadvantaged of, to be used, to let our ego suffer humiliation.We shrink from service because we don’t want to get hurt again. It is too painful. Butservice is then impossible. For service always includes hurt. Playing it safe is foreign to themind of the disciple of Jesus Christ.A TESTIMONYThe following testimony gives us insight into this problem of not wanting to getinvolved, not wanting to serve:“Before becoming involved with church work and workers there was an idealin my mind that the tasks of the church were always accomplished in a loving,giving manner and with much ease. Christians, after all, were patterning theirlives after their Lord. Therefore there should be no strife or stress in agreeingon procedures.

44Quickly my bubble popped, the ideal was shattered! Christians were patterningtheir lives after their Lord but at the same time they were very much individualswith different ways (in some instances, very different) of looking at things.My reaction to this was retreat! The unexpected had happened. A matureChristian had proven to be a real human being! I was hurt! I was devastated!I wanted to hurt back, to recoil, to get even! What’s worse, I felt guilty aboutthose rebellious feelings! Maybe I wasn’t such a great Christian myself. MaybeI had to look at my own life. Maybe I wasn’t even worthy of doing church work.From there I sat back and observed. Those people weren’t as ideal as I hadExpected them to be. They were striving. There was stress. But then I wasn’tthe ideal person I had thought I was either.From that point, it seemed to me, that a choice had to be made. I could choose toremain invulnerable or I could risk becoming vulnerable.Because the hurt was still there I continued to observe hoping that I would growstronger while uninvolved. But then I felt left out and grew bitter. I again sawtheir imperfections and felt they were no better than I was. I felt they werehypocrites. And I began to notice within myself that I was becoming bitterrather than growing.Now I have progressed to the point where I realize that growth is possible onlyBy being vulnerable and in a position where my attitudes and beliefs are tested.While we all need to become more Christ-like, we must admit to ourselves thatWe don’t find perfection here on this earth whether it applies to our fellowChristians or ourselves.The bumper sticker, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven” has now taken onspecial meaning. The only way to grow is to put our faith into action to becomevulnerable. Vulnerability includes getting hurt sometimes but in the processgrowing toward the ideal Christ put before us. We must learn to be sensitiveto others, to be loving and giving, and when hurt not to retaliate but to workthings out together.”THE RISKS OF LOVEC. S. Lewis writes concerning the risks of Love:

45“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainlyBe wrung and possible broken. If you want to make sure of keeping intact, youMust give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully roundwith hobbies and little luxuries; avoid entanglements; lock it up safe in the casketor coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable,irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, isdamnation. The only place outside heaven where you can be perfectly safe fromall the danger and perturbations of love is hell.” 2 (Emphasis added)To love is to reach out to others in service. And Paul was a man who set a pattern forsuch service—sacrificial service. This is why he continually emphasized with his people theimportance of doing. Paul is saying that the proof of love is revealed by what we do, not say.To Titus he writes,“I want to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be carefulto devote themselves to doing what is good . . . Our people must learn to devotethemselves to doing what is good . . .” (Titus 3:8,14).To the Christians at Ephesian Paul writes,“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith--and this not from yourselves,it is the gift of God—not by work, so that no one can boast. For we areGod’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which Godprepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:8-10).To the Christians at Philippi Paul writes,“. . . continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is Godwho works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose” (Php 2:15).And Paul continues in this passage by saying,“But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice andService coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you” (v. 17).The words “sacrifice” and “service” go hand in hand. It is impossible to serve unlesswe’re willing to sacrifice . . . sacrifice our security, our pride, our comfort.

46TIMOTHY AS AN EXAMPLEAccording to Paul, Timothy was an unusual example of sacrificial service. Paul saysabout him,“I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare (that isthe welfare of the Christians at Philippi). For everyone looks out for his owninterests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has provedhimself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work ofthe gospel” (Php 2:20-23).Although Paul had an enormous circle of friends, yet he claimed that he had no otherservant like Timothy—selfless and hardworking. Timothy was the only one who would not seekhis own interests.The Christian life is a life of love expressed in sacrificial service. Anything less is sub-Christian. It is not the brand of Christianity that Paul was writing about.Love never asks how much must I do. But how much can I do.THE SUPREME EXAMPLEThe greatest example of service, of love in action, is Jesus Himself. Christ did notbroadcast the gospel from the sky; He came, and He came in the form of a servant in order tomeet the deepest needs of the human heart. Paul put it,“[Jesus Christ] who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equalityWith God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking thevery nature of a servant . . .” (vv. 6-7).I believe the most beautiful example of servant-hood in the life of Jesus is the incidentwhere He washed His disciples’ feet.In Jesus culture the most menial servant was stationed at the door to wash the feet ofarriving guests. And so when the disciples arrived at the upper room for their last meal withJesus, not one of them volunteered to take that lowly position. Each one of them assumed thatthe task would fall to someone further down the line. So the task of washing feet fell to theirleader, Jesus. It is John, the disciple, who tells about the incident.“It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come forHim to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who werein the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love.”

47The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot,“son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all thingsunder His power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, sohe got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towelaround His waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to washHis disciples, feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.”(Jn 13:1-5)After Jesus showed His disciples the meaning of Love—what it means to be a servantHe tells them what it means. He says,“Do you understand what I have done for you? He asked them. ‘You call Me‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lordand Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell youthe truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is the messenger greaterthan the one who sent him.”Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them (Jn 13:12-17).Did you notice how Jesus closed this demonstration and teaching on love? He said,“Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (v. 17).NO SUBSTITUTE FOR ACTIONThere is no substitute for action, for doing. As someone put it, “I have never heardanything about the resolutions of the apostles, but a great deal about the acts of the apostles.”“All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.” Small deedsdone are better than great deeds planned. And in the service of Christ there is nothing too smallto do well.Jesus taught by His life and lips that worldly conceptions of greatness and leadershipcannot be carried over into His spiritual kingdom. Personal gain, personal status, is to be foreignto the mentality of the disciple of Jesus Christ. Leadership and greatness are found inservant hood. Jesus explains by using this contrast:“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their officialsexercised authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, however wants tobecome great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be firstmust be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but toserve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mt 20:25-28).

48Jesus Christ came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give His life. Thedistinctiveness of Christianity, therefore, is not living to get, but living to give. And servanthood is the process of giving up our rights of one’s servants, but the number one serves, thatcounts.The greatest of all the arts is the art of losing ourselves in the service of others.The following poem illustrations what of ten passes for love nowadays.“I was hungry and you formed ahumanities club and discussedmy hunger . . . Thank you.I was imprisoned and you crept offquietly to your chapel and prayedfor my release.I was naked and in your mind youdebated the morality of my appearance.I was sick and you knelt and thankedGod for you health.I was homeless and you preached tome of the shelter of the love of God.I was lonely and you left me aloneto pray for me.You seem so holy; so close to God;But I’m still very hungry, andlonely, and cold . . .”--AnonymousWhile faith deals with invisibles, God hates that “love” which is invisible.Love that is not expressed in concrete action is not love. It is possible to “serve” withoutloving, but it is not possible to love without serving. True service is the result of spiritualworship. Service is the overflow of our love relationship with Jesus Christ. Any other kind of“service” is fleshly or forced.

49The trouble with the church is that “too many Christians are like the wheelbarrow; notmuch good unless pushed, and very easily upset.” When we require pushing, we need to get backto spending time alone with Jesus. We need to nurture our relationship with Him. We need to sitat His feet and experience His love.Service is a barometer of our love Jesus and our love for others is revealed by ourwillingness to serve. As John points out we cannot love God without loving our brothers (1 Jn4:20-21).Service is love with skin on it. Service is love in action:“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says . . .Dear Children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”(Jas 1:22; 1 Jn 3:18)Are you a hearer or a doer?Service is love in overalls. Do you have your overalls on?

50CHAPTER 6 SHOULD WE LOVE OURSELVES?

51“Acceptance of one’s intrinsic worth is the core of the personality. When itcollapses, everything else begins to quiver.” 1“The better the self-image, the larger the capacity for loving.” 2“The truest self-respect is not to think of self.” 3–Henry Ward Beecher–John Powell–James DobsonSeeing ourselves as God sees us is the key to self-love. Our worth as individuals isendowed by Almighty God who made us in His image and likeness.What do you think of yourself? What do you think of your personality? Your physicalappearance? Your physical prowess? Your intellectual or mental ability?The four attributes that our society puts a premium on are:1. Beauty (or handsomeness)2. Athletic ability3. Intelligence4. Wealth (status and power).If a person does not have these he is made to feel inferior in our culture.If you have all four you’ve got it made (at least that’s what our society thinks). If youhave at least two or three of these you might have a fair chance of getting along in the world, butif you don’t have any of these or just one you might as well give up.This is the value system, the standard, of the world.The apostle Paul warns us, “Do not let the world around you squeeze you into its ownmold . . .” (Ro 12:2). Yet we Christians have changed the Beatitudes of Jesus to read,“Blessed are the handsome men and the beautiful women.Blessed are the intellectual and athletic people.Blessed are the wealthy, the powerful, the people of status—the whole world belongs to them!

52How different from the words of Jesus who said,Blessed are the poor in spirit (the humble), fortheirs is the kingdom of heaven.Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Mt 5:3-5).How different God’s standards are from that of the world! Unlike the world which puts apremium on the exterior, God emphasizes the interior.A person simply cannot be happy with life in general so long as he is unhappy withhimself. Self-rejection is a major cause of unhappiness in our day. Because of our dissatisfactiontoward ourselves—the way we look and the way we act—we easily build pent-up resentment andbitterness which cause serious inner conflicts and deeply affect our personality.As a child I shied away from wearing swimming trunks or shorts because of an uglybirth mark. I became self-conscious of this and tried to with draw. Fortunately, I learned early toaccept birth mark and all.If you are typical of the average person, something about your physical appearance orpersonality does not please you. When you look into the mirror, what do you see? A big nose?Ears that seem out of proportion? Freckles that you don’t like? Bald head?Or what do you think of your personality? Too bubbly? Too shy? Too emotional? Notemotional enough? Do you ever say, “I wish I were more like him . . . or herWhat kind of self-image do you have? Is it positive or negative?But why is this so important, you might ask.Because our capacity to love is directly and inseparably related to our self-image.Psychologists are all agreed that babies are born not knowing how to love but with acapacity to receive, to experience love. In other words they learn to love by seeing and feelinghow their parents love them.The importance of love and care is shown by the study some time ago in an orphanage.A group of social scientists experimented with two groups of babies. Both groups received allthe routine care provided by nurses and matrons. They were fed on schedule, their diapers werechanged regularly and they were given proper medical attention. However, one group morepersonal loving care than the other. While the babies in one group were held and cuddled as theywere fed, changed and put to sleep; the babies in the other group were not shown the love--werenot held and cuddled.

53Marked differences developed between the two groups of babies within a short time.While the youngsters in the group that received love thrived and developed bright and sunnypersonalities, the babies from the other group began to show signs of serious emotionalmaladjustment and even their physical condition suffered as well.Your self-image is greatly affected by your early years. The love, or lack of love, that youreceived from your parents has influenced you significantly.Bill had always been criticized by his father when he did something wrong. On the otherhand, when he did something right he never received appreciation and encouragement. He wascontinually put down and told that he would never amount to anything. As a result Bill began tobelieve that he wasn’t worth much, that he was a failure, and in fact, became one. Why? Becausewe become what we believe ourselves to be! As the Bible states,“What a man thinks is really what he is” (Pr 23:7).These negative attitudes that we receive from our parents lead to further harm in thatwe tend to project our image of our earthly parents (especially our fathers) to that of ourheavenly Father. Because we feel rejected as persons by our own parents, we also feel rejectedby our heavenly Parent—God. Because our parents didn’t see any hope in us we tend to thinkthat God doesn’t either.How can we get out of this dilemma? By allowing God to be God!To do this we must find out what God is like. When we do this we see what His attitudetoward us really is. Gaining God’s perspective on ourselves is the key to improving our selfimage.The good news then, is that we do not have to be permanently handicapped by ourparents lack of love for us in those early years or since. Parents love is imperfect at best. The bestof our human loving falls far short of God’s.Since we learn to love by being loved, it is important that we experience the deepest kindof love that is possible. And that is God’s love. There is nothing theoretical about His love--Hehas demonstrated it.What God thinks of us and has done and wants to do on our behalf is the most importantthing for us.It was Mark Twain who once said, “God doesn’t know we are here, and He wouldn’t careif He did.” How foreign this perspective is to that of the Bible! For the Bible states, “AndGod saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Ge 1:31).

54At creation, God was pleased with His work—especially with the crown of His creation:man and woman. They were a delight to Him. Even after the Fall, God came looking for man torestore him to fellowship.According to the Bible, each one of us is unique, special to God. David, the psalmist,testifies,“You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’swomb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; yourworks are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden fromYou when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together inthe depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the daysordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”(Ps 139:13-16)God has made us just the way we are because He wants us that way, to play a uniquerole in the work of His kingdom. And no one can take our place.This truth is beautifully expressed by James McConkey:“Every life is a fresh thought from God to the world. Every jewel gleams withits own radiance. Every flower distills its own fragrance. Every Christian hashis own particular bit of Christ’s radiance and Christ’s fragrance which Godwould pass through him to others.”We are unique. There is no other person just like us in the entire world. Our Creatornever makes two leaves or two lives the same. Every star, every snowflake, every human beingis different.God is interested in our outward appearance. Our bodies are temples of God, so we needto take care of them (1 Co 6:19-20). How we eat, exercise and dress is important to our wellbeing.We ought to do the best with what we have. I believe we should strive to improve ourappearance wherever possible. We ought to use braces, for example, if that will straighten ourcrooked teeth. However, with regard to those things we cannot change, we must learn to acceptthem and go on living with a positive attitude towards ourselves and towards life in general.Let us accept our gender, our age, our height or lace of it, our big nose, our freckles orwhatever. God made us the way we are for a purpose. We cannot legitimately complain to God.Jeremiah, the prophet, warns,

55“Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherdAmong the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter ‘Whatare you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands?’ Woe to him whosays to his father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to his mother, ‘What haveyou brought to birth?’” (Isa 45:9-10).Can you imagine the clay as it is being formed on the potters wheel bitterly complaining,“Why are you making me like this? Please change my appearance or I will become resentful andbitter.” It is the privilege of the potter to shape the clay into whatever kind of vessel he wishes. Inthe same way God has that same privilege with us.This problem of accepting oneself, of loving oneself, is especially acute among teenagers.Resentment and bitterness often results when a girl feels that she isn’t very beautiful. And thiscompounds the problem. For when this happens she becomes unattractive not only in appearancebut also in personality.Let us trust God’s wisdom in making us the way He did. In fact, let us go one step furtherby thanking Him for making us the way we are.Though God is interested in our outward appearance, what concerns Him more is theinner self. Samuel discovered this when the Lord explained the criteria for Israel’s king:“Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lorddoes not look at the things man look at. Man looks at the outward appearance,but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sa 16:7).This is why it is important to have an attitude like David’s “Search me, O God, and knowmy heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, andlead me in the way everlasting” (Ps 139:23-24).Peter warned the women of his day of putting an undue emphasis on outward beauty:“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hairand the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that ofyour inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which isof great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the Holy women of the pastwho put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful” (1 Pe 3:3-5).We all can overcome outward “deficiencies” by developing inner strength and beauty.

56As far as we know the apostle Paul was neither handsome, robust or eloquent. Accordingto church history he was very short, bow legged, long nosed. Yet he didn’t go around whiningand pining because of this, He accepted himself as God made him and accomplished great tasksfor God. There have been scores of people who have not been handsome, eloquent nor brilliantwho have experienced fulfilled lives and who have had fruitful ministries in our Savior’s service.What make this possible? The joy and enthusiasm that is found in Christ! These peoplefixed their eyes upon Jesus rather than on themselves, and they drew their wisdom, strength andpower from His inexhaustible resources instead of from their own weaknesses.Not only are we unique in God’s eyes, but we are also personally known and cared for.David testifies,“O Lord, You have searched me and You know me. You know me when Isit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern mygoing out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. Beforea word is on your tongue You know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in,behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me” (Ps 139:1-5).David continues by talking about the fact that God is with us wherever we find ourselves,“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?If I go up to the heavens, You are there; If I make my bed in the depths,You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, If I settle on the far sideof the sea, even there you hand will guide me, Your right hand will holdme fast.If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night aroundme, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like theday for darkness is as light to you” (vv. 7-12).Jesus assures us of His knowledge of us and His presence and care with the followingwords: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apartfrom the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t beafraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Mt 10:29-31).If God knows about and cares for each sparrow, how much more so for us!The little girl was correct when she said, “God made me and God don’t make junk!”

57While we have marred “the image of God” by our disobedience, this has not invalidatedHis love for us. Did not Jesus teach that even the wealth of the world could not equal the value ofone soul? “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Orwhat can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (16:26).Jesus gave His life, His all His best for us—fallen, sinful men--because we mattered toHim! We cannot say, “Christ died for nothing or nothings.”Muretus, a Christian scholar of the 16 century, became ill while he was traveling. Somedoctors were called in to treat him. They did not know him and, as he looked rather ordinary,they said, “Let’s try an experience on this fellow, for he looks of no importance.” From the bedcame the patient’s reply, “Call not any man cheap for whom Christ died.”Martin Luther rightly expressed the nature of our self image and self-acceptance whenhe wrote his fourth thesis:“God does not love us because we are valuable; we are valuable because Godloves us.”God did not wait to demonstrate His love to us when we would be worthy; He did itwhen we were unworthy. Paul testifies,“. . . at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for theungodly . . . But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While wewere still sinners, Christ died for us . . . when we were God’s enemies, wewere reconciled to Him through the death of His Son . . .” (Ro 5:6,8,10).

58CHAPTER 7 LOVING OUR ENEMIES

59“Your reactions to your enemy can hurt you more than your enemy can.” 1“Love your enemies, for they will tell you your faults.” 2–Benjamin Franklin–Hannah HurnardGod requires of those who follow Him to love our enemies as He does:“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise onthe evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Ifyou love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the taxcollectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doingmore than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as yourheavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:43-48).“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).What does Hemean by the word “perfect”?THE MEANING OF PERFECTIONWas Jesus referring to absolute sinlessness? Obviously not since He had earlier in HisSermon stated that one element of the blessedness of the citizen of the kingdom was that herecognized that he was “poor in spirit” (spiritually bankrupt), that he “mourned” for his sins andthat he “hungered and thirsted after righteousness,” which he obviously had not yet attained (Mt5:3-4,6).In the Old Testament when Moses speaks of being “blameless” he was referring to thefact that God’s people were not to worship other gods, not to become idolaters. To be “perfect”or “blameless” was to seek God first and to seek only Him with the whole heart.And Christian love is anchored in the very character of God Himself. Christians are tolove others, not as a man loves his friends, but as God loves. The standard that God has setbefore us is a love of which only God is capable.Divine love—agape—is love that loves without variableness. It is “unconquerablebenevolence, invincible goodwill.” It is a love whose source is found in the one loving ratherthan in who or what is being loved. It loves even when the object of love is hateful or unlovely. Itis moral love as distinguished from personal affection. “If we regard a person with agape, itmeans that no matter what that person does to us, no matter how he treats us, no matter if he

60insults us or injures us or grieves us, we will never allow any bitterness against him to invade ourhearts, but we will regard him with that unconquerable benevolence and goodwill which willseek nothing but his highest good.” This is godlike love.DEFECTIVE CONCEPT OF LOVE“Love your neighbor as yourself” is the second great commandment which is like thefirst, “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all yourstrength” (Dt 6:4; Mk 12:30-31).But the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day gave new content to the word “neighbor.”They pointed out that the passage in Leviticus 19 is addressed “to all the congregation of thepeople of Israel” giving them instructions concerning their duties to their own parents and fellowbrothers. Therefore, they argued, that “neighbor” meant a fellow Jew and that they, the Jews,were to love their fellow Jews but hate their enemies. One of their maxims stated:“If a Jew sees a Gentile fallen into the sea, let him by no means lift him out thence.It is written, ‘Thou shalt not rise up against the blood of thy neighbor, but thisMan is not thy neighbor.’”But they had missed what the passage in Leviticus 19 said concerning the non-Jew or“alien”:“When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alienLiving with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him asyourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (Lev 19:33-34).Every one who joined the Dead Sea community had to pledge himself to:“Love all that He (God) has chosen and hate all that He has rejected . . . tolove all the children of light . . . and to hate all the children of darkness.”When Jesus made this statement He was not misrepresenting the law but He wasrecognizing a well-known attitude of at least one Jewish sect and of the scribes and thePharisees. And He used this attitude to set forth a higher attitude and ethic.It should be pointed out here that “hate” did not carry the connotation of emotionalanimosity toward a personal enemy which the English word usually carries. The “hate” impliedin the Old Testament and demanded in the Manual of Discipline was that of the people of Godagainst the world (world system). Israel’s wars were “holy” wars because they were wars againstthe world of idols.

61But Jesus made such enmity a thing of the past. From now on, He says, the only way toovercome the enemy is by loving him.“But I tell you: Love your enemies” (Mt 5:44).UNIQUE SAYINGThis is the one absolutely unique saying of Jesus on love. His command to love Godand neighbor came from the Old Testament. But there is no precedent anywhere for thecommand to “love your enemies.” There are examples in the Old Testament of kindness toenemies but no command to love them. David spared Saul when ha had Saul in his power(1 Sa 24:7), but his kindness came from his love for God who had anointed him king rather thanlove for Saul, his enemy. Elisha refused to let the king of Israel slay the blinded armies of Syria(2 Ki 6:22), but it was their helplessness not his love that motivated him. The book of Proverbsstates:“If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, if he is thirsty, give him waterto drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lordwill reward you” (Pr 25:21-22).But nothing is said of love for enemies either in the Old Testament or in the Talmud, theJewish commentary on sacred Scriptures. With this statement Jesus set the spirit of His followersfree from rabbinic fundamentalism on the one hand and from the natural resentment and hatredof the Gentiles on the other. When Jesus made this challenge His followers’ land was underoccupation by a foreign army: the Romans.ENEMIESDo Christians have enemies? Yes, but they are not people against whom we cherishhostility. Rather, they are the people who harbor hostility and show contempt toward us. Thosewho “persecute” us (Mt 5:44) and those who “hate,” “curse,” and “mistreat” us (Lk 6:27-28) areour enemies.When we begin to live they way God wants us to we find opposition, pain andsuffering. Persecution has always been the lot of God’s people. Cain slew Abel because “hisown works were evil and his brother’s righteous” (1 Jn 3:12). Joseph was sold to an Egyptianand thrown into prison for righteousness’ sake (Ge 37,39). Moses was reviled again and again ashe sought to follow God’s directives (Ex 5:21; 14:11; 16:2; 17:2). Samuel was rejected becausehe sought to please God (1 Sa 8:5). Elijah as despised and persecuted by his people for hisfaithfulness to God (1 Ki 18:17; 19:2). Micah was hanged by king Jehoshaphat because herefused to flatter the king but instead always told him the truth (22:8). Nehemiah was oppressedand defamed because of his unswerving obedience to God’s commands (Ne 4).

62The last part of Hebrews 11 catalogues the sufferings of Old Testament saints:“Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a betterresurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained andput in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in tow; they were put to deathby the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute,persecuted and mistreated . . . they wandered in deserts and mountains, and incaves and holes in the ground” (Heb 11:35–38).The writer then ends this section with these words:“. . . the world was not worthy of them” (v. 38).What a testimony! And the same is true of the New Testament saints. Persecution is theChristian’s common lot. Persecution is inevitable.As Christians we must expect this kind of treatment if we really identify with JesusChrist. When we meet hostility in others, we must respond with the love that overcomes theirenmity.THE GOOD SAMARITANThe story of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37) was used by Jesus to illustrate themeaning of who our neighbor is. The Samaritan, a detested and detestable person to a Jew, gaveunselfish help to a Jew whose desperate plight had been ignored by his own countrymen. Heendangered his own life and walked while his “enemy” rode. He paid for his care at the inn. Thushe demonstrated sacrificial concern for his fellow man who, under other circumstances, wouldhave been his enemy. The point of the story is that our “neighbor” is anyone in need and to bea neighbor is to minister to anyone in need. And this kind of love demonstrated by the GoodSamaritan is what Jesus meant when he said “love your enemies.”HOW ARE WE TO LOVE?What does it mean to love our enemies? Loving is not the same as liking. To likesomeone is to have a certain emotional feeling toward somebody, it is to have a sentimentalfeeling of goodwill or respect from them. Because we cannot entirely control or command ourfeelings it is not always possible to like somebody. And in some instances we probably shouldnot. For we are not to like what is wrong! While we are to love and affirm a person, we shouldnot necessarily like what he does. Love, then, is not so much a matter of feelings; it isprimarily a matter of the will. And because it is of the will and not of the feelings, it issomething that is always possible and may always express itself in action. We can do thiswhether we feel like it or not since our wills are subject to command.

63This is implied in the commands to love that God gives us. If love was dependent on ourfeelings, it would be foolish for Jesus to say, “Love one another” or “Love your enemies” sinceour feelings cannot be commanded or controlled. But if love is a matter of the will and if ourwills are surrendered to the Lord, we can love our enemies.I have found the late C. S. Lewis of Cambridge, England, most helpful at this point.Lewis writes:“The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste your time botheringwhether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this wefind one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone,you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you willfind yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourselfdisliking him less . . . The difference between a Christian and a worldly man isnot that the worldly man has only affections or ‘likings’ and the Christian has only‘charity.’ The worldly man treats certain people kindly because he ‘likes’ them;The Christian, trying to treat every one kindly, finds himself liking more and morepeople as he goes on—including people he could not even have imagined himselfliking at the beginning.” 3 (Emphasis added)The feelings of affection follow action, they are a byproduct of what we do. Noticewhen Jesus talks about loving our enemies He does not do so in abstract or emotional terms. Heties love to action. He says:“. . . pray for those who persecute you . . .” (Mt 5:44).Love finds expression in prayer, a petition for God’s goodness to come on the persecutor.Jesus is not demanding affectionate feelings; He is demanding prayer. And in the process ofpraying our feelings toward those who persecute us also change.Luke in his parallel passage expands this saying as he adds:“. . . do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you . . .” (6:27-28).Action words! Do something for that person. This is how you show your love.” Dogood,” not just talk about something good. And “bless” that person. This means that we are toexpress good wishes to God on their behalf.GODLY SONSJesus continues by pointing out that when we love this way--in action--we demonstrateour sonship.

64“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Mt 5:45).Hebrew is very poor in adjectives and for that reason it often uses “son of . . .” withan abstract noun where we would use an adjective. For instance, Hebrew would state theconstruction “a son of peace” whereas we would say, “a consoling son.” In this instance Jesusused the Hebraic expression (He actually spoke in Aramaic), “the sons of our Father” whereaswe would say, “the godly sons.” A “son of God” is a “godly” or “godlike” son. Those whodemonstrate God’s love are “godlike” people.INDISCRIMINATE LOVEWhen we pray for those who persecute us, do good to those who hate us and bless thosewho curse us we demonstrate God’s love for His love is indiscriminate.“He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends the rain on therighteous and the unrighteous” (v. 45).Rabbi Joshua ben Nehemiah used to say,“Have you ever noticed that the rain fell on the field of A, who was righteous,And not on the field of B, who was wicked? Or that the sun rose and shone onIsrael, who was righteous, and not upon the Gentiles, who were wicked?”Then he would affirm:“God causes the sun to shine both on Israel and on the nations, for the Lord isgood to all.” 4Even the Jewish rabbi recognized the sheer benevolence of God to both saint and sinner.There is a rabbinic tale which tells about the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea.The tale states that when the wicked Egyptians drowned that the angels in heaven began paean ofpraise, but that God said sorrowfully:“The work of My hands are sunk in the sea, and you would sing before me?!” 5Because God is love He finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God grieves whenany one of His creatures suffer and are destroyed. God loves those who have broken His lawsand broken His heart.

65Because God’s love is without discrimination and extends to the just and the unjust alike,our love is to be without discrimination. Because God’s love results in action, our love is toexpress itself in action. We are to love those who are, by all human standards our enemies.MAN’S LOVETo love merely our family, relatives and friends is natural:“If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the taxcollectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doingmore than others? Do not even pagans do that? (Mt 5:46-47)To love our own kind is an instinct in human nature which has survived the Fall. Even theworst and lowest of mankind—(the “tax collector” and the “pagan”)—show this kind of love.Therefore there is nothing meritorious or praiseworthy in it. It is mere human love—reciprocallove. What God demands is divine love—supernatural, indiscriminate love.Returning good for good and evil for evil is the rule of the natural man. Returning evil forgood is the rule of the devil and his cohorts. Returning good for evil is the rule of God. And it isto this the sons of God are summoned here.Justice seems to be the highest form of ethics man is able to attain. Confucius was onceasked whether one should respond to injury with kindness. His answer was:“With what then will you recompense kindness? Recompense injury with justiceand recompense kindness with kindness.”On the eve of the final collapse of the Nazi empire the central conference of Jewishrabbis met and declared:“In considering the treatment of a defeated Germany, we, as religious leaders, firstaffirm our confident hope that the victorious allies will be guided by justice ratherthan by vengeance.”But the standard of the kingdom of God is higher than the standard of the world. Thestandard of the kingdom of God is even higher than justice; it is love. Love is what is expected ofthe citizens of the kingdom of God. And this love is made possible by God who has revealedHimself in the Person of His son Jesus Christ.Jesus ends this section of His Sermon with these words:“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48)

66“Love indiscriminately, therefore as your heavenly Father loves indiscriminately” areJesus’ closing words. When we love indiscriminately, as God loves, then we are perfect as He isperfect. For we exemplify the perfection of His divine love.WHY LOVE OUR ENEMIES?Why love our enemies? We have already seen that we are to love them because Godloves them. For, we are commanded to be like God. Thereby we manifest the perfection of Hislove and prove our sonship, that we are His true sons. But there are other practical reasons whywe should love our enemies.We must love our enemies because only love breaks the spirit of hatred. Returninghatred for hatred only multiplies hatred, adding deeper darkness to an already dark world.Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hatred multiplies hatred, violencemultiplies violence in a descending spiral of destruction. The chain reaction of evil must bebroken. And it can only be broken by love.Loving our enemies rescues us from the hatred that not only hurts them but whichalso scars our own souls and distorts our own personality. While hatred does irreparabledamage to its victims it is just as injurious to the person who hates. Like an unchecked cancer,hatred corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. For hatred destroys a person’s senseof value and his objectivity.Loving our enemies is also important because love is the only force capable oftransforming an enemy into a friend. We never get rid of an enemy by meeting hatred withhatred; we get rid of an enemy by getting rid of the enmity he has. Only redemptive, forgivinglove can free a person from that spiral of hatred and enmity. Love transforms with redemptivepower.Peter Miller, a Baptist pastor during the American revolution, enjoyed the friendship hehad with George Washington. In Ephrata, Pennsylvania, where Rev. Miller lived, a very evilmindedperson by the name of Michael Wittman, also lived. Mr. Wittman did all he could tooppose and humiliate Rev. Miller.One day Michael Wittman was arrested for treason and sentenced to die. Peter Millertraveled seventy miles on foot to Philadelphia to plead for the life of the traitor.General Washington answered Rev. Miller’s pleas with a resounding “No! I cannot grantyou the life of your friend.” “My friend!” exclaimed the old preacher. “He’s the bitterest enemy Ihave.”

67“What?” cried Washington. “You’ve walked seventy miles to save the life of an enemy?That puts the matter in a different light. I’ll grant you your pardon.” And he did!Peter Miller took Michael Wittman back home to Ephrata--no longer an enemy but afriend.6It was this same kind of love that enabled Abraham Lincoln to speak a kind word aboutthe South during the Civil War when feelings were most bitter. Asked by a shocked bystanderhow he could do this, Lincoln said, “Madam, do I not destroy my enemies when I make them myfriends?”The awesome power of redemptive love!SEEN AT THE CROSSAnd God’s selfless, sacrificial, impartial love is seen most clearly at the cross. There ishardly a verse in the New Testament that speaks of God’s love without an immediate referenceto the cross.“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son . . .” (Jn 3:16).“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. Thelife I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gaveHimself for me” (Gal 2:20).“This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as anatoning sacrifice for our sins: (1 Jn 4:10).“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners,Christ died for us” (Ro 5:8).The cross, Christ’s death, is made the measure of God’s love in each case.Jesus died for sinners—people who were in themselves naturally repugnant to Him.Many of us would not risk our lives for our friends or for good people. Much less for repugnantpeople, our enemies!That is why the Bible states:“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someonemight possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this:While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Ro 5:7-8).

68It was while we were hideous to God that He loved us and died for us!And this same passage tells us that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners and italso tells us that He died for us while we were “helpless, without strength” (v. 6). There was nopossibility of our ever helping ourselves out of our lost condition.“If that is the standard, I may as well admit right now that I cannot attain it” might be theresponse of some of us. And that is true. In ourselves we cannot attain God’s holy perfectstandard. God’s love—divine love, supernatural love, indiscriminate love—is possible only tothose in whom the Lord Jesus Christ is working and in whom His love dwells. If you are not aChristian, you must begin by becoming one and asking Him to create that love in you, or, if youare a Christian but are far from the Lord, you must draw near to Him and ask Him to work outthat love in you.THE SOURCEOnly the imparted grace of God can empower us to scale the heights of impartial,indiscriminate love. We are compelled to cry with St. Augustine:“O God, give what Thou commandest, then command what Thou wilt.”This is just what God has done for us through the inner working of His Spirit:“. . . God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whomHe has given us” (Ro 5:5).The source of God’s love, the power to manifest His love is found in God Himself. As weobey the Lord in serving our fellow men, friend and foe alike, the Holy Spirit pours out His loveinto our lives and this love spills over to other people.Is your love impartial, without discrimination? Like the God who sends His sun and rainon the good and bad alike, are you impartial in your love—omitting no group, loving enemies aswell as friends?EXAMPLESIn His famous sermon entitled, “Loving Your Enemies,” Martin Luther King powerfullypreached:“To our most bitter opponents we say: ‘We shall match your capacity to inflictsuffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical forcewith soul force. Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you.

69We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws, because non co-operationwith evil is as much a moral obligation as is co-operation with good. Throw us injail, and we shall still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and weshall still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communityat the midnight hour and beat us and leave us half dead, and we shall still love you.But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. One daywe shall win freedom, but not only for ourselves. We shall so appeal to your heartand conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory will be adouble victory.” 7 (Emphasis added)

70Love is the most durable power in the world.Dietrich Bonhoeffer gave up the safety of a professorship at Union Theological Seminaryin new York City to return to his native Germany and suffer under the Nazi dictatorship. He waswilling to risk the love of his fiancee and even life itself to be faithful to the Gospel. Even thoughhe loved life, his meditations upon Christ’s love for him on the cross gave him the grace to facedeath and even to forgive those who were about to murder him. In his book The Cost ofDiscipleship he boldly affirmed that the love of Christ conquers:“How then does love conquer? By asking not how the enemy treats her but onlyhow Jesus treated her. The love for our enemies takes us along the way of thecross and into fellowship with the Crucified. The more we are driven along thisroad, the more certain is the victory of love over the enemy’s hatred. For then itis not the disciple’s own love, but the love of Jesus Christ alone, who for thesake of his enemies went to the cross and prayed for them as he hung there.” 8This creative force of love was most beautifully exemplified in the life of Christ. And it isthe most potent instrument available in mankind’s quest for peace and security. NapoleonBonaparte, the great military genius, looking back over his years of conquest, is reported to havesaid:“Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I have built great empires. But upon whatdid they depend? They depended on force. But centuries ago Jesus started anempire that was built on love, and even to this day millions will die for Him.” 9Who can doubt the authenticity of these words? The great military leaders of the past aregone. Their empires have crumbled and burned to ashes. But the empire of Jesus, built on thefoundation of love, is still growing. While that empire started with a small group of twelvecommitted men it has powerfully expanded into all the world. May we, in this crucial twentiethcentury, be channels of that redemptive love. May we manifest by our lives that we are true sonsof our heavenly Father who showed us in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ what it means tolove our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

71CHAPTER 8 THE TRUE TEST OF LOVE Part I

72LOVE’S TRUE TEST Part IJohn 14:15,21,24“Love is the only meaning of the law: therefore obedience to the law canonly be an echo or response to God’s love”–G. C. Berkouwer“The final test of love. . .is not sweet emotions, not willingness to sacrifice,not zeal, but obedience to the commandment of Christ.” 1–A. W. TozerWhen Martian Luther rediscovered the basic truth, “the just shall live by faith”—salvation by faith alone—he found himself released from the burden of a conscience weigheddown by sin from which no efforts of his own could have freed him. Out of this there came theReformation with its recognition of the grace and mercy of God to which alone man owes hissalvation.Martin Luther stood immovable on the affirmation, “The just shall live by faith,” and thistruth became the corner-stone of the Reformation.We Christians rejoice in the fact that we are saved by faith, not works; that it is the puregrace of God through faith on our part which makes us whole.A MISINTERPRETATIONHowever, since the Reformation, people have misinterpreted faith to be a mereaffirmation of words, and grace to be a gift without corresponding obligations. What validity canthere be in a profession of faith that is not confirmed by obedience to the will of God? Obedienceis faith in action.Saul, king of Israel, disobeyed God by saving some of the spoils of a victory even thoughhe had been commanded to destroy everything. His excuse was that he had preserved the best ofthe flocks to be used for a sacrifice to God. But Samuel, the priest, replied:“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying thevoice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better thanthe fat of rams” (1 Sa 15:22).Many Christians cover up disobedience under the false front of so-called “Spiritualactivity.” They fool themselves by deliberately disobeying God and engaging in frantic work forthe church of some other Christian cause, thinking their duplicity will go unnoticed by God.Faith becomes saving faith when validated by obedience, and saving grace is God’s freegift only to those who do God’s will.

73CHEAP GRACEA few years ago I talked with a man who was an active church member. But by his ownadmission he was living a life of open sin. He claimed that he lived by faith in God’s grace, so itdid not matter much how he lived. A loving God would generously forgive and thereby manifestHis unsearchable riches of grace. But the “grace” about which he spoke was a cheap grace thatdenied the holiness of God and the life of obedience God requires of those who call on Him.The apostle Paul answers this problem once and for all:“Now grace is the ruling factor, with righteousness as it purpose and its end thebringing of men to the eternal life of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Nowwhat is our response to be? Shall we sin to our heart’s content and see how farwe can exploit the grace of God? What a ghastly thought!” (Ro 5:21-6:2, Phillips).Obedience requires both repentance for sin and turning from it. Paul asks,“Do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience,not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance” (2:4).To live in disobedience is to “exploit the grace of God” and show contempt for Hisgoodness. This kind of disobedience is the result of “stubbornness” and an “unrepentant heart”(v. 5).Obedience is a matter not primarily of outward action but of inward response.Faith without obedience is disobedience, and disobedience is rebellion. Satan—theinstigator of all rebellion—and his cohorts know the truth but do not obey it. “Even the demonsbelieve—and shudder” (Jas 2:19). No Christian has the right to glory in his faith who does notwith that faith obey the One who has redeemed him.DISOBEDIENCE IS DANGEROUSThe incident of Saul’s disobedience also shows us the danger of not obeying God. Saulfailed to “completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites” (1 Sa 15:18) and it was anAmalekite who in the end destroyed him. Either we are obedient and destroy our sins, or our sinswill destroy us.Donald Grey Barnhouse told of an incident from Zaire. The little son of a missionary wasplying in the yard when suddenly he heard his father’s voice: “Philip, obey me instantly: drop toyour stomach!” the boy obeyed without question, “Now crawl toward me as fast as you can.”The lad did so and ended in his father’s arms. Only then did he turn to look at the tree by whichhe had been playing. Hanging from a branch was a fifteen-foot snake!

74Suppose the boy paused to ask, “Why, Dad?” or “Do I have to right now?” He could havebeen killed by the snake. Instant obedience is a mark of faith.RECOGNITION OF GOD’S WISDOM AND AUTHORITYObedience involves a recognition of God’s authority and right to command. Furthermore,in the line of obedience there comes the realization that God knows what is best. It is thisrecognition of the love and sovereignty of God that enables the true believer to rest in Hispromise that “in all things God works together for the good of those who love Him, who havebeen called according to His purpose” (Ro 3:28).We are like small children at God’s feet, unable to see what He sees. Often we do nothave time or the wisdom to reason out a certain instruction. We only have time to obey.Little wonder that we Christians repeatedly find ourselves in difficult situations. Moldedby this age of disobedience, we want to “do our own thing.” Rejecting God’s perfect will, webypass Him and go our own way—only to meet frustration and defeat. Then we complainbecause of difficulties that are the natural result for disobedience.FAITH MUST BE COUPLED WITH OBEDIENCEJesus has warned us all—ministers, church officers, rank-and-file members—that callingHim “Lord, Lord” Has no meaning unless it is coupled with obedience. “Not everyone who saysto Me, ‘Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of myFather who is in heaven” (Mt 7:21). The only faith that counts is one that results in obedience.The writer to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the Source of salvation for those whoobey Him. He writes,“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, oncemade perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him . . .”(Heb 5:8-9)The God who sent His Son to redeem us from our sins is the same God of whom we read,“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Theone who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction;the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the spirit will reap eternal life” (Gal 6:7-8).We may shout from the housetops our faith and orthodoxy, but unless they are coupledwith obedience to the teachings of God’s holy word, there will come a time when we findourselves rejected from His eternal presence.To truly know God is to obey Him. The Bible warns “If we claim to have fellowship withHim yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth” (1 Jn 1:6).

75AN EXAMPLEAbraham is a good example of what faith and obedience means. From his faith thereproceeded a promise and a covenant, “because you have obeyed my voice” (Ge 22:18).The writer of Hebrews described Abraham’s faith in these words:“By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that hadreceived the promise offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said,that in Isaac shall your seed be called: accounting that God was able to raisehim up, even from the dead; and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaacback from death” (Heb 11:17-19).His faith and obedience were so intermingled that no one can say where the one beganand the other ended. Abraham’s confidence, assurance and faith resulted in an obedience whichGod honored, both for Abraham’s good and for His own glory.We should search our own hearts to find out whether we are holding back from Godsomething we should be yielding in obedience. He always demands what is best for us and whatbrings Him the most glory. And he does not make mistakes. We acknowledge this fact butunfortunately often deny it in practice.SEARCHING QUESTIONSAre you prepared to love Him first when your human loves are broken, and when yourhopes are dashed to the ground? Have you come to that place where you are prepared to say,“Though He slay me, though He takes from me all my own planning, all my own wanting, I willstill love Him and obey Him. Although everything is taken from me, and although I am called towalk right through the fire, I am prepared to venture even when the furnace is heated seventimes; I am prepared to hold on, and dare believe that in love He has planned even this for me”?Obedience—is that for you?Perhaps you say, “Such a demand for obedience is far too much. It is not possible.” Thenyou need to look to Jesus, who paved the way by His obedience for us.THE SUPREME EXAMPLELook at the Lord as He leaves His Father’s home on high, as He moves into the world.Why? Because it was His Father’s will. He rejected the palace, He passed by the home of a priestor a rabbi, and He came to a stable.He worked as a carpenter in a carpenter’s shop. Tradition indicates that Joseph died early,so Jesus would have had to help Mary with the younger children during those hidden years. TheBible says, “He was obedient to them that is, His parents” (Lk 2:51).

76Here we have the great God whom the heavens and earth could not contain, submittingHimself to His earthly parents.The keynote of Jesus’ life was “I came . . . not to do mine own will, but the will of Himthat sent Me” (Jn 5:30; 6:38). Jesus delighted in His Father’s will from the very beginning andright through His life. The Father’s will led Jesus to touch lepers, to speak to harlots, to eat withpublicans and sinners, to spend His life in the service of others. In His Father’s will Jesus choseJudas though He knew he would betray Him. Obeying His Father’s will, He took the cup, thebitter cup of death, and drank it. As Paul puts it, “He became obedient to death—even death on across!” (Php 2:8).Obedience always involves suffering. If our Master had to go that way, can we, Hisfollowers, do any less? There are no easy ways to learn the lesson of obedience. There are noshort cuts.The Lord only spent three years in preaching and teaching, but He spent thirty-three yearsin obeying God, His heavenly Father. During His growing years, He was subject to Mary andJoseph as well (see Lk 2:51). Why? In order that a rebellious, proud and diabolically independentworld, might learn the value of obedience and submit to God.Jesus lived a life of obedience and finally died in accordance with the Father’s will. AsIsaiah, the prophet, puts it, “It was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer”(Isa 53:10). His obedience was, as ours must be, an expression of love.INTERNAL AND NOT JUST EXTERNALObedience does not mean the execution of an order given by a drill sergeant. It springs,rather, from love for the one who gave the order. The merit of obedience is less in the act thanin the love; the submission, the devotion, the service that obedience implies are not born ofservitude, but rather spring from and are unified by love. Obedience is servility only to thosewho do not understand the spontaneity of love.Obedience to God is a matter of sanctification of growing in love and knowledge and theperformance of God’s will. At times it involves taking a step in the dark, but the One who willcommand is also the One who will guide and strengthen us.One point must be clear: obedience is not legalism. It is not doing things whereby weearn or merit salvation. Obedience is one side of the coin and faith the other. Neither can existalone.James warns against the deception involved in merely hearing the Word. He says thatknowledge adds its own responsibility: “whoever know what is right to do and fails to do it, forhim it is sin” (Jas 4:17).

77KNOWING AND DOING GOD’S WILLObedience requires knowledge of God’s will, faith in His goodness and confidence in Hispromises. The Bible is wonderfully explicit in many areas and in others it lays down generalprinciples to guide our lives. Obedience therefore requires knowledge of, and faith in, the writtenWord of God.Our problem is not as much to know the will of God as to be willing to obey it. Manypeople do not want to know God’s will in order to do it; they want to know in order to considerit. They want options.Someone has said,“The trouble with our churches is that they are filled with orthodox Christian whoare educated beyond their obedience.”For those interested in doing His will, God provides a witness. By the clear and directleading of the Holy spirit in bible study, during prayer, through contacts with others and in thecombination of circumstances He will make His will known. We may not immediately see Hiswill, but in His good time He will reveal His thoughts as we depend upon Him.We can judge the depth and reality of our love for God by our attitude toward Hiscommands. Jesus Himself said,“If you love Me, you will obey what I command . . . Whoever has My commandsand obeys them, he is the one who loves Me . . . If anyone loves Me, he willobey My teaching . . . He who does not love Me will not obey My teachings.”(Jn 14:15, 21 23-24)John evidently had learned this truth, for he later wrote, “This is love: that we walk inobedience to His commands” (2 Jn 6). And then John states what Jesus’ command is: “As youhave heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love” (2 Jn 6).Oswald Chambers observed,“The best measure of a spiritual life is not its ecstasies, but its obedience.” 2“If you love Me keep My commandments” (Jn 14:15) are still Jesus’ words to us today.But does God require an obedience we are unable to render? In the verse following thiscommand Jesus told His followers that He would send to them the Comforter, the Holy spirit,who would abide with them forever (v. 16). The finger that points the way is part of the hand thatprovides the strength to go in that direction.

78The God who has revealed that “the wages of sin is death” has also revealed that “the giftof God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ro 6:23). The same Jesus who requires of Hisfollowers that we obey the will of the heavenly Father has promised to be with us (Mt 28:20) inthe Person of His Spirit to the very end of the age.

79CHAPTER 9 THE TRUE TEST OF LOVE Part II

80“Faith and obedience are bound up in the same bundle. He that obeys God, trustsGod; and he that trusts God, obeys God.” 1“Unless he obeys, a man cannot believe.” 2“To obey God is perfect liberty.” 3–Dietrich Bonhoeffer–Seneca–Charles SpurgeonA young son of missionaries in Congo, Africa was playing in the yard when suddenly hisfather yelled, “Philip, obey me instantly! Drop to your stomach!” The boy obeyed. “Now crawltoward me as fast as you can!” The boy obeyed without asking a question. “Now stand up andrun to me!” Philip obeyed and landed in his father’s arms. Only then did he look at the tree bywhich he had been playing. Hanging from a branch was a fifteen foot snake!A matter of life and death! In this instance obedience saved physical life. Suppose theboy had paused, to ask, “Why, Dad?” or “Do I have to right now?” He would have been killed bythe snake!But obedience is not a natter of life and death physically. It is also a matter of life anddeath spiritually. Jesus warned:“Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say toMe on that day ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, drive out demonsand perform many miracles?’ then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Mt 7:21-23)Life and death, heaven and hell is not a matter of lip service but of lifestyle. Jesuscontinues to apply His Sermon on the Mount with warnings. After exhorting us to enter thenarrow road He warns us against false teachers who will come along and try to deflect us fromGod’s path. This is a danger from without. Now He warns us of a danger from without. Thegrave danger is self-deception, self-delusion. Jesus turns fro the danger of false professors,from unsound teachers to unsound hearers.This whole last section of the Sermon (vv. 13-29) is set against the backdrop of whatJesus calls “that day”—the Day of Judgment (v. 22). On “that day” there will be a lot ofsurprises. “Many” will find out that they have been self-deceived. This is why Jesus repeatedlygives is warnings in this section of His Sermon. He keeps flashing red lights in our faces so wewill be awake and aware of the dangers all around us and within us.Life must be lived in light of “that day”—the Day of Judgment when everything isexposed by God Himself.

81ORTHODOXYWhy will so many people, as Jesus puts it, be astonished on that day? First of all, becausethey have depended on their orthodoxy in order to gain entrance into God’s kingdom. Theirargument is:“Didn’t we address you as Lord, Lord?” (vv. 21-22).To address someone as “Lord” was the most respectful and courteous way of referring toa person. While to some it may not mean more than “sir” in this context, it is clear that it alsowas a confession of faith. The word “Lord” (both in Hebrew and in Greek) is a word that denotesdivinity. In the Old Testament “Lord” is the word “Jehovah,” the personal name for God. In theNew Testament the word is “Kurios,” a word which citizens of the Roman Empire were requiredto use in publicly confessing the divinity of Caesar. What Jesus is saying is that there will bethose who will confess His divinity but who will never have entered into a personal relationshipwith Him.Martin Luther is an example of such a person. Because of his intense concern for hiseternal destiny he left his secular occupation to enter the monastery of the Augustinian hermits ofErfurt, Germany. Because of his intense devotion Luther was quickly ordained into thepriesthood. His study of the scriptures led to a doctorate in theology and a very influentialprofessorship. If anyone would have asked him if he believed in the divinity of Jesus he wouldhave unequivocally answered a resounding, “Of course, I do!” yet he did not have peace of mind.He was continually plagued with guilt. He was torn by doubts and hounded by insecurity. WhileJesus was savior, He was not his savior. Only when Luther had a personal confrontation with thePerson of Jesus Christ did he find peace and rest for his troubled soul. Then, and only then, didhe become the great reformer.Orthodoxy is not enough! The trouble is that the Jesus of the fields the marketplaces andthe highways has been entombed on cathedrals and holy places and, and has been renderedinnocuous by making Him Lord of the lips and the hymn books.God said of the Jews:“These people come near me with their mouths and honor me with their lips, buttheir hearts are far from me” (Isa 19:13).The tragedy of empty profession! The Jesus of verbal confession is not enough. Theremust be an experience of the heart.The religion of mere verbal confession was prominent in the Lutheran Church inGermany in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s day. The church was filled with people who regularly citedthe great historic creeds yet whose lives had never been affected by such beliefs. Bonhoefferdescribed such a form of Christianity as “cheap grace.” He gives the following description of“cheap grace”:

82“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance,baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolutionwithout personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, gracewithout the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” 4(Emphasis added)God’s grace is costly. What He requires is not cheap grace but costly obedience.Profession without reality is not enough. Praise without practice is not sufficient. Faith that doesnot result from in works is dead faith, not living faith. Verbal confession is too often camouflagefor disobedience.The story is told of Mark Twain’s encounter with a man who gave the appearance ofpiety yet was corrupt in business practices. “Before I die,” he piously testified, “I mean tomake a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb to the top of Mount Sinai and read the TenCommandments aloud.” “I have a better idea.” responded Twain, “Why don’t you just stay rightat home in Boston and keep them?”Faith becomes saving fath when validated by obedience, and saving grace is God’s freegift only to those who do God’s will. As Jesus put it:“. . . only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven . . . will enter thekingdom of heaven” (Mt 7:21).A few years ago I talked with a man who was an active member of a church. Soon Idiscovered by his own admission that he was living a life of open immorality. He claimed helived a life by faith due to God’s grace and it didn’t matter how much he sinned since a lovingGod would generously forgive and thereby manifest His unsearchable riches of grace. But the“grace” about which he spoke was a cheap grace that denied the holiness of God and the life ofobedience God requires of those who call on His name.The apostle Paul answered this question once and for all:“. . . where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned indeath, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life throughJesus Christ our Lord.What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so grace may increase? By nomeans! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Ro 5:20-6:2).Costly obedience means being dead to sin. It means being dead to our selfish desires,ambitions, opinions, plans. And it means being alive to what God wants us to do.Faith without obedience is disobedience, and disobedience is rebellion. Satan—theinstigator of all rebellion—and his cohorts know the truth but do not obey it. James points out:

83“Even the demons believe—and shudder” (2:19).No Christian has the right to glory in his faith who does not with that faith obey the onewho has redeemed him.The incident of Saul’s disobedience shows the danger of not obeying God. Saul failed to“completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites” (1 Sa 1:1-10). Either we are obedientand destroy our sins, or our sins will destroy us.Calling Jesus “Lord, Lord” has no meaning unless it is coupled with obedience. We mayshout out from the housetops our faith and orthodoxy, but unless they are coupled withobedience to the teachings of God’s Word, there will come a time when we find ourselvesrejected from God’s eternal presence.GOOD WORKSDoctrine and orthodoxy are not the only dangers of self-deception. The other is goodworks. Jesus warned:“Many of you will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in yourname, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?” (Mt 7:22)These people were not only orthodoxy in their doctrine, they were also zealous in theirservice for Christ. They had been involved in prophesy, exorcism, and miracles. Notice thatJesus did not deny their claims.Jesus recognized that demonic faith could produce wonders. By God’s permission Satanat times exerts influence upon the physical as well as the moral and spiritual realms (Job 1:12;2:6-7). The Egyptian magicians had been enables to change rods into serpents (Ex 7:11-12). Yetin each case the result was a victory for the Lord and His people (Ex 7:12; Job 19:23-27; 42:5-6).Judas Iscariot, like the other eleven disciples, was also commissioned to heal the sick and castout demons (Mt 10:1).Paul points out that in connection with the coming of “the lawless one, the antichrist”there will be a mighty display of power, signs and wonders (2 Th 2:9-10). Paul also suggestedthat it was possible to preach, prophesy, have all knowledge and faith to move mountains, andsacrificially to give of oneself and one’s possession without having God’s love found in Christ:“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only aresounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and canfathom all mysteries and all knowledge, if I have a faith that can move mountains,but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrendermy body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Co 13:1-3).

84Service in the name of Christ is, by itself, no guarantee that we are true followers of Him.The phrase “in His name” is repeated three times implying that some of then used “the name” asa kind of magical formula or incantation. We see this in the case of some Jews in Ephesus whenPaul was ministering there. Luke points out:“Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name ofthe Lord Jesus over those who were demon possessed. They would say, ‘In thename of Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons ofSceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this” (Ac 19:13-14).Luke then tells the reaction of the demons to such a dangerous practice.“The evil spirits answered them, ‘Jesus I know and Paul I know about, but who areyou?’ Then the man who had the spirits jumped on them and overpowered themall. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.”(vv. 15-16)There were and are many charlatans who render lip service to Jesus Christ, and who useHis name to produce impressive effects. But those who use His name under false pretenses needto realize that the day of reckoning will come when their motives will be exposed and they willbe banished from the presence of God.Satan can give those under his authority the power to perform miracles and do great featsmaking gullible people think that their power is from God. Simon was such an example:“Now from some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city andamazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great andall the people, both high and low, gave his their attention and exclaimed, ‘Thisman is the divine power known as the Great Power.’ And they followed himbecause he had amazed them for a long time with his magic” (8:9-11).Simon was a preacher who authenticated his preaching by performing miracles. And hedid all in the power of Satan. We know he was not a follower of Christ since it was not untilPhilip came preaching concerning the kingdom of God that Simon himself became a believer.And at that time he was introduced to the miracle working power of Jesus which so impressedhim that he tried to offer the apostles money in order to have the same power.The world, and often the church as well, always enjoy it when spectacular miracles areperformed. This is not new to our day and age. Four hundred years ago Martin Luther confessed:“I am convinced that if someone were to arise here today and perform just one sign,whole crowds would fall for it. That is how the crazy mob behaves. If someonepulls out something new in front of them and makes them stare, they forsakeeverything, the word and doctrine, and go gaping after that. And you can shout

85yourself to death against it . . . The source of this is the shameful curiosity andboredom of our flesh and blood, as well as the devil himself, so that signs andwonders, especially the false ones, always get more of a following that thegenuine ones.” 5Will Ousler spent several months as a reporter documenting miracles of healing in thewestern world which he complied into a book called The Healing Power of Faith. Heinterviewed Roman Catholics, Christian Scientists, Religious Science people and Science of theMind followers. Star worshipers, snake handlers, outlandish cults, revivalists and Protestants ofall denominational stripes were all consulted in his study. He concluded:“From the mass of reports on a variety of sources—including ministers of majorreligions, medical staffs, of Roman Catholic shrines, priests, physicians, patientsand eye-witnesses—the fact that there are healings of paranormal character cannotbe questioned. That the reported healings are achieved by a variety of religiousand spiritual techniques, beliefs and rituals is evident.” 6While the factuality of the healings cannot be questioned according to Will Ousler,the matter of the healing of the soul is much more difficult to find:“The reporter is hard pressed to find documentation to healing of the soul.” 7It is the healing of the soul that Jesus is interested in. Not how impressive our signs andwonders are, not how amazing our power is demonstrated, but how people’s lives are changedfor the better—this is Jesus’ ultimate concern.Miracle alone do not prove one way or the other whether a person in a true follower ofJesus. To be used as an instrument in healing is not a sufficient credential to get past thejudgment.Because human nature is so easily fascinated with the supernatural we human beings areextremely prone to do such things from wrong motives. This seems to have been the case withthe people who came to Jesus on the Mount saying:“L-o-ord, oh L-o-ord, we sure did preach powerfully in your name didn’t we? Andin your name we sure did give the devil a run for his money, didn’t we? We did allkinds of stunts in your name, didn’t we?”There is always the danger of being too conscious of our own good deeds. In the case ofthese workers their service was not spontaneous expression of a loving heart, but a carefullyplanned program of a contriving heart. Their motive was too much centered on reward. Theyclaimed their good deeds and orthodoxy profession as a reason why God should allow them toenter His kingdom. They were employees who served God for a paycheck, rather than sons anddaughters who served Him as a response to Hid love for them.

86While they claimed Jesus as Lord, they probably thought of Him as a means to an end.They made it clear that they did the prophesying, that they cast out demons, that they performedthe miraculous signs and wonders. They used His name, but as a tool to accomplish their task,instead of seeing themselves as a tool in God’s hand to accomplish His task. Even though theycalled Jesus Lord, they remain Lord as they use His name to further their purpose.It is impossible to preach the gospel of Christ in an orthodoxy manner, to do so in thename of Christ, to be right in doctrine and zealous service, yet to be doing so for the purpose ofserving one’s own self-interest, one’s own glory, one’s own self-satisfaction.Because of the evil propensity of the human heart we must continually examine ourselvesto see why we are doing what we are doing. Is it for myself, or for God? Is it to elevate my ownreputation, or o elevate the name of Christ? Is it for my own self-satisfaction, or for the glory andhonor of Jesus Christ? If we do not regularly ask such questions we flirt with the ever-presentdanger of self-deception.There is always the danger of rely upon service for Christ as our security. Often inChurches we see over-worked eager beavers who are on the brink of exhaustion at any moment.Many times such people are overcompensating. They are trying to make up in service what theylack in their personal relationship and walk with God. Their sacrifice—service—is taking theplace of obedience—to know God intimately. Such people live on the momentum of their ownactivities. When their activities are taken from them they collapse for they no longer have theenergy that was driving them. Instead of being channels for God’s love with service being theoverflow of their relationship with God, they are religious squirrels running frantically in theirreligious squirrel cages motivated by fear and guilt. When the wheel in the cage stops they findthat life is empty and that they have no resources.This principle is seen in all of life. How often we hear of workaholics who have suddenlycollapsed within two years of their retirement. Why? Because their reason for living—work—had been taken from them! Scores of people of our day find their reason for living entertainmentand pleasure. When they are suddenly cut off they don’t know what to do with themselves. Sooften they become utterly bored and helpless and some decide life isn’t worth living bycommitting suicide.SELF EXAMINATIONWhether we are religious or not, we need to constantly ask ourselves, “What am I livingfor?” “What am I living on?” “Am I energized by my own activities, no matter how good, or amI energized by God’s power?” “Am I doing what I am doing because of my lack of a meaningfulrelationship with God, or am I doing it as a loving response to God’s goodness to me?”What God wants from us above everything else is ourselves. He is not looking just forpeople who are orthodoxy and who demonstrate good works; He is looking for who respond toHis love from their hearts. He is not looking for religious people; He is looking for spiritual

87people. He is looking for fruitful people. He is not looking for spectacular people; He is lookingfor faithful and obedient people. He is not looking for people who just talk and praise and yellabout how great He is; He is simply looking for people who will do His will.When all is said and done what matters is what God thinks. When these orthodoxy busyworkers came with their credentials of spectacular religious feats Jesus responded:“Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”(Mt 7:23)Jesus brushes aside the claims of the pretenders. The crucial question in whether Jesushas known them. And Jesus says, “No.” The phrase “I never knew you” refers to the time thesereligious workers were prophesying, casting out demons and performing great spectacularmiracles.The word “knew” is an intensive form of the verb which means “to know one’s own” or“to acknowledge as one’s disciple.” Here we see the all important distinction between knowingabout someone and knowing them. There is a knowledge of mind which Jesus as the divine Sonof God possessed in unlimited degree (Jn 1:47,49; 2:24-25; 21:17). It was precisely because Heknew these false pretenders so thoroughly that He was so completely justified in condemningthem. But there is also a knowledge of the heart in which there is acknowledgment, friendshipand fellowship (Am 3:2; Na 1:7; Jn 10:14; 1 Co 8:3; Gal 4:9; 2 Ti 2:9). This was the kind ofknowledge that Jesus was referring to. These religious workers spoke as if Jesus had ben theirfriend. Jesus points out that at no time had He known them on such a personal and intimate basis.He even puts it stronger than that as He calls them “evildoers.” He says He wants nothing to dowith them as He banishes them from His eternal presence. The word “evildoer” is literally“worker of lawlessness.” This implies that these were men who worked out their rebellionagainst God by religious exhibitionism. They camouflaged their rebellious natures with an emptyprofession and religious activity that would surely win people’s attention, praise and honor.Is it any wonder that Jesus doomed them to eternal destruction, in body and soul, awayfrom His loving presence (Mt 25:46; Lk 13:27-28; 2 Th 1:9)? Jesus presents Himself as theJudge to whom the whole world will one day give an answer to (see also Rev 20:11-15 andMt 25:31ff).“True knowledge of God,” said John Calvin, “is born out of obedience.” A person’ssincerity is seen in his action. Fine words can never be a substitute for fine deeds. The proof isobedience. This is love’s true test. Jesus put it:“If you love me, you will obey what I command...Whoever has my commands andobeys them, he is the one who loves Me . . . If anyone loves me he will obey Myteaching . . . He who does not love Me will not obey My teaching” (Jn 16:15,21).

88Ralph Sockman, a preacher, noted the frequent use of the word “walk” in the NewTestament: “walk in the light,” “walk in love,” “walk in truth,” “walk in light,” “walk in thenewness of life.” He then pointed out that:“We must enter into truth feet first even more than head first.”When the religious leaders of Jesus’ day asked how they could know whether what Hewas teaching was from God, Jesus responded:“If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comesfrom God or whether I speak on my own” (Jn 7:17).Obedience, therefore, is an organ of spiritual knowledge. We cannot know God apartfrom obedience. That is the final test. Doing God’s will is the litmus test of whether we knowGod in a personal and intimate way. The reason Jesus said He never knew these religiousworkers was because they were caught up in their orthodoxy and religious works rather than inlove relationship with Jesus Christ which evidenced itself in loving obedience.The greatest insult to the Lord is a will that is not surrendered. Whatever else we may do,however great our offerings and sacrifices! No matter how impressive our works in His name--these will add up to zero apart from obedience that comes from a yielded heart. God’s willcannot be simply discussed, debated, admired, praised, it must be done. It must not be merelytheologically analyzed, congratulated for its ethical tones; it must be obeyed.On “that day”—the Day of Judgment—what will Jesus say to you? “Enter into Myeternal presence and blessing!” Or “I never knew you, away from Me, you evildoer!”? Jesus’answer depends upon your relationship to Him. Jesus’ answer depends on whether thatrelationship is formal or personal, distant or intimate. And the sincerity of that relationship willbe seen in whether our lives are lived in loving obedience to Him and His commands.May the inscription on an old slab in the cathedral of Lubeck, Germany, not apply to us:“Thus speaketh Christ our Lord to us:Ye call me Master, and obey Me not;Ye call Me Light, and see Me not;Ye call Me Way, and walk Me not;Ye call Me Life, and desire Me not;Ye call Me wise, and follow Me not;Ye call Me fair, and love Me not;Ye call Me rich, and ask Me not;Ye call Me Eternal, and seek Me not;Ye call Me Gracious, and trust Me not;Ye call Me Noble, and serve Me not;

89Ye call Me Mighty, and honor Me not;Ye call Me Just, and fear Me not;If I condemn you, blame Me not.” 8I hope we have come to experience the reality of C.H. Dodd’s definition of theknowledge of God:“To know God is to experience His love in Christ and to return that love in obedience.”

90CHAPTER 10 LOVE IS ALSO FEELING

91LOVE IS ALSO FEELING“I would rather experience love than know its definition.”–AnonymousThroughout our study on love we have seen how that love is not primarily a matter of theemotions, but of the will. Love is not something that just happens; it is something (Someone) wechoose. Our feelings must be servants of the will.But then, what part do our feelings play in love?First of all, we need to realize that God made us emotional creatures. Therefore we do notneed to ignore, fear or despise our feelings. Our personality is made up of will, intellect andfeelings. To deny any part of our personality is to be an incomplete person.When it comes to our emotions, like everything else, we tend to go to extremes. On theone hand is the person who is fearful when his pulse rate goes beyond 72 beats per minute forany reason, no matter how good. Any slight expression of emotions he automatically brands as“emotionalism.” In fact, he had a tendency not only to become suspect but even regard any greatemotional expression as being “demonic.”On the other hand is the person who is sustained only by a diet of highly emotionalizedexperiences. He is the “hypodermic saint” who lives on shots of religious excitement instead ofgrowing normally by food, rest and exercise. Unless he “feels” God’s presence he questions itsreality.A. J. Gordon once classified some church members as “figureheads, soreheads anddeadheads.” 1 As Vance Havner says, “He might have added ‘hotheads,’ of which there is alwaysan abundance.” 2 What we need are clear heads and warm hearts.While I do not believer it is possible to love God as well as people without showingaffection, I do believe it is possible to express “affection” without truly loving. Yet genuineaffection should be encouraged. Too many of our churches are “frozen together” when theyshould be melted together. Many of us need our hearts warmed.The Bible is hardly lacking for examples of people who freely expressed their love bytheir emotions as well as by their actions. Paul shares with the Ephesian elders, “Remember thatfor three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears” (Ac 20:31) Paul’sburden for these people was so great he could not refrain from weeping for them. I believe thatmuch of fruitlessness today is a result of “dry” eyes. The psalmist writes,“Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping,carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy carrying sheaves with him.”(Ps 126:5-6)

92The Bible states, “As He (Jesus) approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept overit” (Lk 19:41). As the following verses show, Jesus wept because of the suffering that His peoplewould have to go through because of their rebellious, hard hearts. Matthew tells us, “When Jesuslanded and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick” (Mt 14:14).Jesus’ knowledge of the suffering of the people stirred His tender heart to compassion which inturn moved Him to heal them. It is truth (fact) that moves Jesus to moral action.A. W. Tozer gives us insight into the breakdown of the sequence of truth-feeling–action.He writes:“Because of sin the simple sequence of truth-feeling-action may break down in anyof its three parts. The mind which is created to receive truth is often turned over tofalsehood, and the feelings thus aroused may incite the will to evil action. Thecontemplation of any wrong or forbidden thing cannot but inflame the feelings ofsympathy with evil.A regrettable example of this was David’s long gaze at the beautiful Bathshebain the act of bathing. The king was moved by what he saw and acted accordingly,and the bitter and tragic consequences dogged him to the end of his days. He saw,felt, he acted, precisely as his Lord did centuries later when He healed the sick.The difference in the moral quality of the acts of the two men resulted from thedifference in their feelings, and these were the result of the objects that arousedthe feelings. David saw a beautiful woman; Christ saw a suffering multitude. Onegaze led to sin, the other to an act of mercy; but both followed the simple law oftheir inner structure.Another breakdown in the truth-feeling-fact sequence comes when the heart forselfish reasons deliberately hardens itself against the Word of God. This is the stateof all who love darkness rather than light and for that reason either withdraw fromthe light altogether or when exposed to it stubbornly refuse to obey it. The covetousman looks on human need and sternly refuses to be moved by it. To yield to theimpulse of generosity naturally aroused by the sight of poverty would require himto give up some of his cherished hoard, and this he will not do. So the fountain ofgenerosity is frozen at its source . . .But to be sure that human feelings can never be completely stifled. If they areforbidden their normal course, like a river they will cut another channel throughthe life and flow out to curse and ruin and destroy.The Christian who gazes too long on the carnal pleasures of this world cannotescape a certain feeling of sympathy with them, and that feeling will inevitablylead to behavior that is worldly. And to expose our hearts to truth and consistentlyrefuse or neglect to obey the impulses it arouses is to stymie the motions of lifewithin us and, if persisted in, to grieve the Holy spirit into silence.” 3

93Jesus freely expressed His emotions. When Jesus saw Mary, and the Jews who had comewith her to mourn the death of her brother Lazarus, weeping, the Bible states that Jesus was“deeply moved in spirit and troubled.” and that He “wept’ (Jn 11: 33,35).Paul was also uninhibited in showing his feelings. To the Christians at Thessalonica Paulwrites, “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel ofGod but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us” (1 Th 2:8). He speaks ofmaking every effort to see them because of their “intense longing” (v. 13; 3:6).In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian Christians, after having rebuked and correctedthem, he lavishes his affection upon them. He writes:“I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would liveor die with you. I have great confidence in you; I take great pride in you. I amgreatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy know no bounds.For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, but we wereharassed at every turn–conflicts on the outside, fears within. But God, whocomforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by hiscoming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longingfor me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy wasgreater than ever . . .In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see howhappy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. I hadboasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just aseverything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus hasproved to be true as well. And his affection for you is all the greater when heremembers that you were all obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling.I am glad I can have complete confidence in you” (2 Co 7:3-7,13-16).After Paul gave his farewell address to the Ephesian elders “they all wept as theyembraced him and kissed him” (Ac 20:37).From these examples in God’s Word we see that love is also feeling. To ignore or rejectfeelings is to invite callousness. Paul condemned the wicked for their inability to showcompassion: “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so asto indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more” (Eph 4:19)We are, in fact, challenged to express our emotions our feelings. Paul writes, “rejoicewith those who rejoice mourn with those who mourn” (Ro 12:15). We are to empathize with ourfellow human being. When people are hurting our hugs, our tears, our tender listening ear oftenmean more than spiritual cliches. Caring is often expressed more effectively by our demeanorthan by our sincere but often inappropriate words of counsel. Words simply cannot take the placeof feelings. May we not be stingy with our feelings for other people.

94The author of the book of Hebrews concerning Jesus,“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens,Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do nothave a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we haveone who had been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was with-out sin.Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receivemercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb 4:14-16).Jesus is not a celestial icicle; He is the God-Man who understands us and our feelings asno one else does. He can relate to our weaknesses, our hurts.So far we have looked at the place our emotions should play in our relation to otherpeople, but what part should our emotions play in our relation to God?Some Christians seem to place highest priority to our feelings in our relation to God. Tothem a meeting is not “real” or “alive” unless there are a lot of emotions expressed. Experiencesbecome the prime goal of significant worship. Emotionalism often stamps such meetings.It is important to realize that the free reign of our emotions in worship does notnecessarily mean genuine worship. Lively meetings might be the result of carnal enthusiasm andreligions excitement rather than a true visitation of God. Emotionalism and dreamy experiencesare not to be confused with God’s presence.Because of this fear of being radical, fanatical, many of us have gone to the oppositeextreme. As Elmer Murdock put it, “For the average evangelical church an emotional outburst isabout as dangerous as a riot in a cemetery.” 4 If we have to choose between deadness andfanaticism, fanaticism is to be preferred. For, it is easier to put out a forest fire than it is to raisethe dead. We evangelicals who are so afraid of extremism need not be. We need to loosen up andshed some of our hangups.The balance that God is looking for is God-controlled emotions. God wants us not only tounderstand truth, but to experience it. But we must not seek experience for its own sake; it is tobe a byproduct of our seeking God. The reason why so many believers who seemingly have suchgreat experience in worship are not permanently changed is because they had an experiencerather than a meeting with God. There is a great difference! One produces religiosity andspiritual pride, the other spirituality.Let us look at some examples of men and women in Holy Writ and church history whoknew what it meant to worship and serve the Lord. These people were not just deep worshipers;they were also men and women of action. True worship always leads to zealous and effectiveservice. If this does not follow it is not genuine worship.

95David, a lover of God freely expressed his feelings to God:“I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heartI will be glad and rejoice in You.I said to the Lord, ‘You are My Lord; apart from You I have no good thing. .I love you, O Lord, my strength . . .I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise.My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in a song. . .Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory due to theLord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness. . .Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous . . . sing to Him a new song;play skillfully, and shout for joy . . .I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.My soul will boast in the Lord . . .Glorify the Lord with me;let us exalt His name togetherYou O Lord, are loving . . .O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you my soul thirst for You,my body longs for You.Your love is better than life. . .My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God . . .Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being praise His holy name . . .Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawnI will praise You, O Lord, among the nations;I will sing of You among the peoples. For great is love, higher than the heavens;Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and letYour glow be over all the earth . . .I love the lord . . . Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.Praise the Lord . . .” (Ps 9:1-2; 16-23; 18:1,3; 21:13; 32:11; 33:1,3; 63:1,3; 62:12;84:2; 103:1; 108:1-5; 116:1).Hardly mere intellectual response! Here is a worshiper who feels deeply and is notashamed of it.There is also the incident where David danced In ecstasy as he brought the ark of theLord back to Jerusalem:“David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, whilehe and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shoutsand the sound of trumpets” (2 Sa 6:14-15).Dancing is referred to in the Bible no less than 27 times.

96On the day of Pentecost the early Christians were accused of being drunk (Ac 2:13-14).The accusers were partly right. They were right in that these believers were drunk, they werewrong in what they were drunk with. They were intoxicated with the spirit of God, not wine(Eph 6:18). The problem with the Church of Jesus Christ is that she is never drunk! She is tooproper, too predictable. As a result she is neither a threat nor a blessing to the world.A true visitation from God affects our emotions. Isaiah, the prophet, can testify to thatfact. In the year that King Uzziah died, he saw the Lord (Isa 6:1). This vision made Isaiah cryout, “Woe is me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people ofunclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (v. 5). Hardly a stoicresponse! This vision led to obedience. As the Lord challenged Isaiah with bringing His messageto these people, Isaiah responded, “Here am I. Send me!” (v. 8).Here is mystical experiencecoupled with practical response—action.John, the beloved disciple, also testifies to the life-changing effect a vision of God brings.He shares, “When I saw Him, I fell at his feet as though dead” (Rev 1:17). It was then that Godgave him the message which now makes up the book of Revelation.Let us not suppress our feelings in our encounter with God and His unchanging truth. Letus be open to the moving of the Holy Spirit. Share freely with God what He means to you.Few saints rival St. Augustine in their love for God. Can anyone question the depth of hislove for God when he reads the following lines?“What is it that I love in loving Thee, O my God? Not corporeal beauty, nor thesplendor of time, nor the radiance of the light, so pleasant to our eyes, nor thesweet melodies of songs of all kinds, nor the fragrant smell of flowers, andointments, and spices, not manna and honey, not limbs pleasant to the embracingof flesh. I love not these things when I love my God; and yet I love a certain kindof light, and sound, and fragrance, food, and embracement of my inner man—where that light shineth unto my soul which no place can contain, where thatsoundeth which time snatcheth not away, where there is a fragrance which nobreeze disperseth, where there is a food which no eating can diminish, and wherethat clingeth which no satiety can sunder. This is what I love, when I love my God.” 5Here are expressions of worship and adoration that rival the Psalms. One of Augustine’sfavorite expressions for God was, “My Holy Joy.” All of life, for him, was sweet fellowship withhis God. Though mysticism pervades much of his writings, abstraction is missing; intimacy ofperson with person is present. He magnificently portrays with his pen the glory of God, theradiance of His grace and the wonder of conversion. His soul sings with ecstatic joy as hecontemplates the light and love of God. His love is spontaneous and passionate. He is, in fact,intoxicated with God’s love.Samuel Rutherford is known as a believer with flaming personal love for his Lord.Joseph Newton testified,

97“We cannot read a line without being aware that we are in the presence of adevotion so ardent, a repentance so healing, a surrender so complete as shouldmake us hide our faces in mingled shame and awe.” 6We can sing St. Bernard’s song, “Jesus The Very Thought Of Thee” and not be aware ofthis man’s intimate friendship with Jesus? His fragrant hymn states,“Jesus, the very thought of Thee withsweetness fills my breast;But sweeter far Thy face to seeand in Thy presence rest.Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame,nor can the mem’ry findA sweeter sound than Thy blest name,O Savior of mankindO hope of ev’ry contrite heart,O joy of all the meek,to those who fall how kind Thou art!How good to those who seek!But what to those who find”Ah, this nor tongue nor pen can show–The love of Jesus, what it is,none but His loved ones know.Jesus, our only joy be Thou,as Thou or prize wilt be;Jesus, be Thou our glory now and thru eternity.”Frederick Faber was another intense lover of God. He sings.“Only to sit and think of God,oh what a joy it is!To think the thought, to breathe the Name;Earth has no higher bliss.Father of Jesus, love’s rewards!What rapture will it be,Prostrate before Thy throne to lie,And gaze and gaze on Thee!”7

98In speaking of Jesus Faber says:“We cannot exaggerate about many things; but we can never exaggerate ourobligation to Jesus, or the compassionate abundance of the love of Jesus tous. All our lives long we might talk of Jesus, and yet we should never come toan end of the sweet things that might be said of Him. Eternity will not be longenough to learn all He is, or to praise Him for all He has done, but then, thatmatters not; for we shall be always with Him, and we desire nothing more.” 8He addresses our Lord with these words,“I love Thee so, I know not howMy transports to control;Thy love is like a burning fireWithin my very soul.” 9In speaking of the Holy Spirit Faber says:“O Spirit, beautiful and dread!My heart is fit to breakWith love of all Thy tendernessFor us poor sinners’ sake.” 10G. K. Chesterton said of St. Francis of Assisi that he was a boy “who ran away to God asother boys run away to the sea.” Francis was transformed by a vision of God, like Saul of Tarsuson the Damascus Road, and since that time was aflame with a radiant love for his Savior. Hesays that from that hour his heart was “wounded and melted” at the remembrance of his Lord.At one time when he was applauded by his fellows at the conclusion of his sermon, he wenthome in tears to repent because men has applauded him rather than bowing in reverence at thefeet of his Lord.Victor Hugo says of his Bishop Bienvenu,“He did not study God; He was dazzled by Him.”God must grasp and absorb our attention.St. Thomas A Kempis testifies,“I come to adore His splendor, and fling myself and all that I have at his feet.Without Thy visitation I cannot live.”How lacking this burning love is in our churches today!

99St. Anselm addresses God with these passionate words:“O God, highest and sweetest! Desiring may I find Thee, and finding may I love Thee.”Here is no cold intellectual belief; here is a heart aflame with the love of Christ.One of the greatest poems on love that has ever been written is “Jesus, thy BoundlessLove To Me.” Paul Gerhardt writes:“Jesus, Thy boundless love to meNo thought can reach, no tongue declare;O knit my thankful heart to Thee,And reign without a rival there:Thine wholly, Thine alone I am:Be Thou alone my constant flame.O grant that nothing in my soulMay dwell, but Thy pure love alone;O may Thy love possess me whole,My joy, my treasure, and my crown:Strange fires far from my soul remove;may every act, word, thought, be love.O Love, how cheering is Thy ray;All pain before Thy presence flies;Care, anguish, sorrow, melt away,Where’er Thy healing beams arise;O Jesus, nothing may I see,Nothing desire, or seek, but Thee.In suffering, be Thy love my peace;In weakness, be Thy love my power;And, when the storms of life shall cease,Jesus, in that important hour,In death, as life, be Thou my guide,And save me, who for me hast died.” 11The Church of Jesus Christ needs a fresh revolution of the greatness, the beauty, the loveof Jesus!When we compare our love to these great lovers of the past we realize we hardly knowanything about love. And yet we have the same God and the same Bible. Paul, the apostle,testifies of God’s overpowering love and greatness as he says, “If we are out of our mind, it is for

100the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us . . .” (2 Co5:13-14). Paul was not concerned about the effect of God’s presence and power; he wasconcerned only with God’s glory.How about us today? What is our chief concern? To know God? To love God? To berespected Christians? To be proper Christians? As we have seen form Scripture and churchhistory, there are time when it is not proper to be proper. God’s Spirit must have freedom tomove as He wills!A. W. Tozer was a modern day prophet and lover of God. His ardent love for his Masteris seen in the following prayer as he cries out to his God:“O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made methirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I amashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; Ilong to be filled with longing; I thirst to be more thirsty still. Show me Thyglory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a newwork of love within me. Say to my soul, ‘Rise up, my love, my fair one, andcome from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus’ name,Amen. 12Our hearts need to be rekindled with the consuming fire of His holy love!May the second stanza of Ray Palmer’s song, “My Faith Looks Up To Thee” be oursong, our prayer:“May Thy rich grace impartStrength to my fainting heart,My zeal inspire;As Thou hast died for me,O may my love to TheePure, warm and changeless be,A living fire!”

101NOTESCHAPTER 11Francis A. Schaeffer, The Mark of the Christian (Downers Grove: InterVarsityPress, 1970), 15.2Donald K. Campbell, “What If The Doomsayers,” Kindred Spirit, Vol. 4, No. 2(Summer 1980), 9.3Bruce Milne, We Belong Together (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1978), 41.4Ibid.CHAPTER 21Lars Wilhelmsson, Vital Christianity (Torrance, CA: the Martin Press, 1982), 185.2Anders Nygren, Agape and Eros: A Study of the Christian Idea of Love, Part I, trans.A. G. Hebert (London: SPCK, 1932), n. p.; Agape and Eros: The History of the Christian Idea ofLove, Part II, trans. Philip S. Watson (London: SPCK, 1939), n. p. cited in Mary Douglas andEdmund F. Perry, “Anthropology and Comparative Religion,” (5/29/2006), http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jan1985/v41-4-article4.htm.3C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1960), n. p.4Ibid.CHAPTER 41J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), 223-224.See also “Suffering at the Sculptor’s Hands”http://unashamedworkman.wordpress.com/2008/08/28/suffering-at-the-sculptors-hands/`(5/8/2012), 1.2C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1952),174.3Edythe Draper, Draper’s Book of Quotations for the Christian World (Wheaton:Tyndale House Publishers, 1992), 455.4J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 110.

1025“When God Disciplines in Love” http://www.abideinchrist.com/messages/heb12v3-17goddisciplineslove.html (5/8/2012), 2.CHAPTER 51Draper, Draper’s Book of Quotations for the Christian World, 560.2C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1960), 169.CHAPTER 61Draper, Draper’s Book of Quotations for the Christian World, 550.2Ibid.3Ibid., 551.CHAPTER 7150.1Draper, Draper’s Book of Quotations for the Christian World, 174.2Ibid., 175.3Lewis, Mere Christianity, 116.4Thomas Watson, Beatitudes (London: Banner of Truth, n. d.), n. p.5Tertullian, Apology 40.7St. Augustine, The City of God, 2.3.8Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Simon & Shuster, 1959),9Draper, Draper’s Book of Quotations for the Christian World, 346.

103CHAPTER 8*This chapter is taken from my book, The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached Volume III.1Edythe Draper, Draper’s Book of Quotations for the Christian World (Wheaton:Tyndale Publishing House, 1992), 445.2The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations, compiled by Mark Water (GrandRapids: Baker Book, 1984), 693.3Inspiring Quotations, compiled by Albert M. Wells, Jr. (Nashville: Thomas NelsonPublishers, 1988), 143.4Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: The Macmillan Company,1966), 47.5Barclay, The Beatitudes & The Lord’s Prayer for Everyman, 289.6Ibid., 328.7H. S. Vigeveno, Climbing Up The Mountain , 170.8The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations, 694.

104BIBLIOGRAPHYSt. Augustine, The City of God, 2.3.Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1966.Campbell, Donald K. “What If The Doomsayers.” Kindred Spirit. Vol. 4, No. 2. Summer 1980.Douglas, Mary and Perry, Edmund F. “Anthropology and Comparative Religion,” 5/29/2006http://theologytoday. ptsem.edu/jan1985/v41-4-article4.htm.Draper, Edythe. Draper’s Book of Quotations for the Christian World. Wheaton: Tyndale HousePublishers, 1992.Inspiring Quotations. Compiled by Albert M. Wells, Jr. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers,1988.Lewis, C. S. The Four Loves. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1960.__________. Mere Christianity. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1952.Milne, Bruce. We Belong Together. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1978.The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations. Compiled by Mark Water. Grand Rapids: BakerBook, 1984.Nygren, Anders. Agape and Eros: A Study of the Christian Idea of Love, Part I, trans. A. G.Hebert. London: SPCK, 1932.Packer, J. I. Knowing God. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1973.Sanders, J. Oswald. Spiritual Leadership. Chicago: Moody Press, 1980.Schaeffer, Francis A. The Mark of the Christian. Downers Grove: InterVarsityPress, 1970.“Suffering at the Sculptor’s Hands”http://unashamedworkman.wordpress.com/2008/08/28/suffering-at-the-sculptors-hands/`5/8/2012.Tertullian, Apology 40.Thomas Watson. Beatitudes. London: Banner of Truth, n. d.“When God Disciplines in Love” http://www.abideinchrist.com/messages/heb12v3-17goddisciplineslove.html 5/8/2012.Wilhelmsson, Lars. Vital Christianity. Torrance, CA: the Martin Press, 1982.

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