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Message Title

Practical Love in Church

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There is no one in the body of Christ that doesn`t know that love is the most fundamental commandment in scriptures and that it is the epitome of Christianity, but yet it is rarely preached in the pulpits; and even when it is preached, it is presented with a lack of understanding - in a diluted and unclear definition of what God`s love is all about, which makes it all the harder for Christians to walk in it. In some cases, people have thought that love is all about giving alms or doing something good, and others have thought of it as just thinking positively towards others but as we go on in this message, we will find out that love is far more than what it has been watered down to be in the body of Christ.

The major problem of the Church at this time is not provision, false teachers or false doctrines but the fact that true love is not been practiced in it. If the issue of love is addressed in the body of Christ I believe every other problem in the Church will automatically be resolved or brought to the barest minimum: because if the ministers are walking in love, they will not be judgmental about each other neither will they be envious nor striving for vainglory but rather they will be striving for the same goal of spreading the truth of the gospel which will promote the unity of the body. The fact that a minister does not preach the way another minister preaches or the fact that he is not a member of your ministry, does not mean he should be treated like a stranger or an outcast. There was a time that a man that was not part of the circle of 12 disciples was using the name of Jesus Christ to cast out demons but John rebuked him not to because he was not a member of their little circle; but Jesus rebuke John saying the fact that he was not with them physically doesn`t mean he is an enemy. Many ministers (true ministers) only relate with those in their small circle and not other ministers but that is sedition. Mark 9:38-39 says “John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me”.

The issue of false doctrine will also not be an issue in the Church when love is actively present in the body of Christ because men will preach the truth for the sake of helping others and not for self-gain because all false doctrine arise for selfish reasons; the issue of false teachers will also be dealt with because the Church will be seeking unity and thus will easily be able to identify false teachers; and likewise there will be an availability of provision in the Church because if love is actively being practiced in the Church today, they will take care of their own first as we can see in the early Church that some believers sold what they had and gave it to the Church to distribute to others according to their needs, which made none of them to lack (Acts 4:34-35).

The early Church was closely knitted in love and thus were able to overcome all this issues that today`s Church is facing and even more, and that is why love is what today`s Church needs: the true undiluted love of God. If the Church cannot practice love amongst themselves - amongst those they call brethren then, how can they show love to a dying world who needs God`s love as well?

“He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.” - 1 John 2:10

Moreover, it is an absence of practical love in the Church that has given the devil his advantage over many people in the body of Christ today: the devil is an already defended foe but he tricks Christians not to walk in love that he might have advantage over them because you can`t defeat him with his methods but only by God`s: You can not lie more than the devil neither can you overcome him in his game of hatred because you cannot overcome evil with evil but with good, and that is why we must understand that the Church`s greatest weapon against the devil is love. If we get offended and choose to recompense evil for evil, we will only fall into the devil`s trap and in that way we are overcomed of him. Romans 12:21 says "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good".

"And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?" - Luke 9:54

Jesus wanted to go into the town of Samaria before going to Jerusalem but the people in that town didn`t allow Him enter in; Then his disciples said they were going to call down fire to consume them like Elijah did in the Old Testament to the priests of Baal but Jesus "turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of" (Luke 9:54).

The disciples were trying to reward evil for evil not knowing the kind of spirit that they possessed as believers in Christ. Once a man is born again, he is a new creature with a new spirit that is made up of love and not hatred. Love is the natural character encoded in a believer`s spiritual DNA in which when they are walking uprightly or in the spirit will be the root and fruit of all their actions. 2 Timothy 1:7 says "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind".

"He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.” - 1 John 2:9-10

So when Christians are not walking in love, they are not only disobeying God`s commandment but are also not walking in their true nature and therefore can never walk in their full potential as children of the living God (1 John 2:9-10). If the world must see an awesome display of the power of God in the Church today, the Church must first walk in the perfect love of God because love is the foundation of everything in the kingdom of God. A Christian that is not walking in the love of God is no different from a person that is not born again, if not worse because a Christian cannot be using the world`s system to live in this world and be fruitful due to the fact that they have been translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God (Colossians 1:13).

This is why the Church must shift its attention from seeking material things and religious activities to seek after actions based on true love because many activities that are taking place in many Churches today are just based on vainglory and “a just lets get busy” kind of mindset: full of activities which are all empty of love and thus are like fruits without seeds, big boxes containing nothing in the sight of the living God.

“And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” - Luke 10:25

Before I go on, let me reestablish from scriptures a well known truth why love is so important and in fact why it is the only thing that matters to God in all our actions; let me refer to what a lawyer asked Jesus Christ when tempting Him; he asked “What should I do to inherit eternal life” (Luke 10:25)? In another reference of this particular story in scriptures it was said that the lawyer asked Jesus “What is the great commandment in the law” (Matthew 22:36)? Jesus didn`t say pray 5 times daily, speak eloquently or keep a set of rules repetitively but He certainly made him know Love is the greatest commandment: loving God and loving others, which He said if we keep we will live because you can do several good things and they may be empty of love (Luke 10:28). Luke 10:27 says “And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself”.

Have you ever wondered why God created man in the first place when He had angels that he could command to do anything that He wanted done? It was simply for the reason of love: God created man to love him, so that man could as well love Him back. All God created and His commandments are based on love and nothing else. When God told Adam not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it was for his own good because if Adam obeyed or disobeyed, it wouldn`t cost God anything but his relationship with man; and in a similar way is all of God’s commandments to Christians today: God will still love you if you obey Him or if you don`t but you will only separate yourself from God when you are not willing to obey Him. So for those who think that God is commanding them to do things just because He wants to talk, they better think thrice: God never talks without a good purpose in mind for his creations; he said that the words that leaves his mouth never returns to him empty but always produces results wherever He sends them (Isaiah 55:11).

If we look closely at the Old Testament commandments, even though they were numerous, they were set up to simply to promote the safety, peace and unity of the people of God and not because God wanted to punish them, but just by one commandment - the commandment of love - God dealt with all of the Old Testament laws because love promotes peace and unity as well and does even more. Romans 13:8-9 says “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”.

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” - John 13:34-35

Jesus himself said a new commandment he gives unto us that we should love one another (John 13:34-35), which in other words will mean that the Old Testament is summarized into one commandment. Therefore we don`t have to memorize over 500 commandments or more to fulfill God`s commandment but we just have to simply let all our actions be filtered through love, then we will fulfill or meet all the requirements of God. The Pharisees tried to keep the commandments of God but never did it in love; and that was what Jesus rebuked them for severly. They preferred to keep the Sabbath day over saving a soul on that day; there was an occasion that Jesus wanted to heal a man that had a withered hand but the Pharisees resisted Him and this is what is called plain religion and hypocrisy. A Religious person is not just a name tagged to a person that limits himself to keeping the traditions of men but also when a person removes the love of God from the Word of God he becomes religious, because you can know the truth of God`s Word and not exercise it towards others in love; and that is why when ministers are criticizing others because they feel they have the truth and do it without love, they fall into error which brings more disunity and offenses. The scriptures says “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).

Many people in Church have removed the love of God from the commandments of God and have thus become religious people who claim to be serving God without serving the people God has sent them to appropriately. That is why Christians must understand that love is the foundation of the Christian life without which all the service they render, no matter how numerous they are, are nothing before God. That is why God said many will come at the last day and say, “we healed and prophesied in your name” but will still be rejected by God because their works were not filtered through the love of God (Matthew 7:22).

One of the common problems we will find in the Church today apart from strife is envy, which is a very dangerous poison to have around. The scriptures says worse than anger or wrath is envy. (Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy? - Proverbs 27:4). Envy caused a lot of problem amongst people in the scriptures and it is doing so today in the Church. It is because of envy that the first murder took place on earth: Cain was so envious that Abel`s sacrifice was accepted by God but his own was not and with that he killed his brother; and when we also look at the life of David, we will find out that Saul wanted to kill him (David) because of envy (1 Samuel 18:8-9); and it is the same reason the Jews crucified Jesus Christ (Matthew 27:18). Envy is caused when a person feels another is better than Him or has something he desires to have as we see in the examples I gave from scriptures but this is due to the absence of love. We can escape the cancer of envy, if we choose to give our best in serving God as God advised Cain which he didn`t do (Genesis 4). Self-contentment is found when a man is in the center of the will of God for his life. 1 John 3:11-12 says “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother`s righteous”.

“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” - Colossians 3:13-14

It is certain that we are all born with different characters and are in different stages of Christian maturity, and thus there will be differences in understanding that can lead to offenses but with love present we can forbear one another and remain united (Colossians 3:13-14). 1 Peter 4:8 says “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins”.

In fact, you must understand that the depth of spiritual maturity is measured by our love. If we look at 2 Peter 1:5-10 which says that we should add to our faith after getting born again, virtue, knowledge, temperance, and it went on and on till it ended at Charity, which is love. In order words, Spiritual maturity is revealed by your manifestation of God`s love and that is why 1 Timothy 1:5 says “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned”.

Moreover love is contagious and that is why it is important that leaders must be matured in love for them to lead properly because if they themselves are not matured in love, how can they be examples to others; it is simply the fact that two immature Christians are not walking in love that leads to disunity because if one was walking in love, it will reduce or eliminate disunity. Ephesians 5:1-2 says “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour”.

Moreover walking is love is God`s core commandment to believers because I can say God gave only two basic commandments to all believers before He left; and that is the love commandment (Luke 10:27) and the great commission – to preach the gospel – (Mark 16:15). This is why we must stop looking too far and stop speaking too much of grammar that doesn`t edify people but go back to the basics because everything about Christianity is based on these two commandments. 1 John 3:23 says “ And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment”.

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Linked Message: Love - (the greatest)

Last Updated: Sunday, June 13, 2010

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