Learning to Love Others Requires Fellowship. The other great commandment: Part 1 We’ve all heard that God is Love. In fact we’ve heard it so much that it has become a cliché that people don’t even pay attention to any longer. Why? Because usually it has been said, by someone who is suppose to be representing Christ, yet they are beating the people up around them with religion. Once they are done verbally beating on them, they throw out a band aid in the form of “God loves you” or “Jesus loves you”, and so do I. That is the main reason that a lot of people don’t want anything to do with the church nowadays. For some reason, we can see throughout the church, when people get saved, it doesn’t take them long, before they get “holier than thou” over other people. What is the deal? We weren’t making it before, why do we think we’ve made it now? We are supposed to be grateful that we were invited through the gate of heaven, and in our gratitude help others find the Gate to heaven also, then we can enjoy the walk with them. Instead, it seems like so many us, think that once we’ve said our little salvation prayer, that we’ve made it, now heaven is full and we need to block the gate. What can we do to destroy that demonic mindset throughout the church? We need to stand arm in arm, side by side, and break this stronghold. It’s not about me at the expense of you… and it’s not about you at the expense of me. Let’s stop being the Pharisee and start acting more like the tax collector. (Luke 18:9-14) We need to work together as the corporate church and purge this virus from the body. It is killing the church. Where is our humility? You see, though the church has made a mockery of the fact. The fact is… God is love (1 Jn. 4:16). The very being of God is wholehearted love. Complete, undiluted love is paramount to Yahwehs personality and is the emphasis of all relationships in His kingdom. From the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation it is filled with God’s love. God gave us laws of Love to live by. Some of these laws are to protect us against crimes so corruptible, that to carry out one of those crimes requires and immediate death sentence. Why… Because it reveals a completely corrupt character. And man has loved to carry out these death sentences. We do it every chance we get. But what is most amazing, is that the creator of these laws can be found over and over again, throughout scripture, not enforcing His own punishment of death upon the very people who deserve it the most! He is gracious and full of love. And deals out mercy at every turn… just for the asking! When will we become imitators of Christ and walk in the same type of love? The Love of God can be found to have at least five distinct expressions that are deeply interrelated. 1. Yahweh’s love for the complete triune Godhead: Each person in the Trinity intensely loves the others with all their heart. It is completeness in and of itself! 2. Yahweh loves His people with all of His heart, mind, and strength. He loves the redeemed with the same intensity that He loves the fellowship of the Trinity. 3. Our love for Yahweh is God’s very own love imparted to His people by His Spirit (Rom. 5:5), if we will only receive it. 4. Our love for ourselves in Yahweh’s love and for His sake shows us the importance of our standing in the kingdom, and how we influence others who watch us. We were bought with a price… that means we were created inherently valuable. (1Cor. 6:20) 5. Our love for others in the overflow of experiencing God’s love (1 Jn. 4:19), and because we are commanded (not requested, we are commanded) to love our selves (that means we must do it on purpose), and then we must learn to love our neighbors with that same type of love. (Mark 12:31) That means we need to do everything we can and use every tool that God has given us, to break every chain that is keeping us from fulfilling His commands! We can do it through Him, because He is the Chain Breaker… the Yoke Destroyer… the Mighty One. And he wants to do it. Believe it or not…Yahweh really loves us with the same intensity that He loves Himself. (Jn. 15:9; 17:23). He wants to teach us how to love ourselves, so we can love Him properly as well. We must learn how to, and then submerge ourselves in the atmosphere of God’s love. It needs to become our habitation. “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love… This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (Jn. 15:9-12) We need to learn to love ourselves, as God loves Himself. That is when we can drop the pride, and anger towards others, and just enjoy life. That is when Yahweh becomes our habitation. King David, found that habitation. He found God’s unconditional love… AND He understood it. David also understood that it wasn’t a nonchalant grace that maintained it. God’s love comes with a price, and there are rules to maintaining our relationship with Him. If you want it… count the price… it will cost you. Then if you still truly want it… chase it! Yahweh has a deep desire to have a family that experiences and shares His love with one another, the result that follows, is that we then demonstrate that love to the world. He has designed our heart for intimacy with Him and others. He created us with a desire to know and be known and to have a sense of belonging. Once we learn to love ourselves, in a way, that conveys that we have value, and are not an accident, not a conceded self centered love, it will be easier to love others without pretention, and purposely. So much of our life goes unnoticed and misunderstood by others. But Yahweh wants to ‘know’ us, on purpose. As ‘God’… He does knows us, because, He ‘knows’ everything… but it is not reciprocal… it must be mutual. In other words, He knows us, but we don’t necessarily know Him. When God says He knows us… that is an extremely intimate term, as lovers would use. We were not created to be alone. “And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone…” (Gen. 2:18) We were created for fellowship and to live life mutually, by sharing joy and sorrows with others and to bear one another’s burdens and to experience one another’s happiness. Part of Gods answer to this longing is to raise up spiritual families committed to the first and second commandments. That is what fellowship is all about… to allow us to heal to go deeper in our love of God and eachother! Jesus is committed to blessing kingdom communities of believers called the local church. “…I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Mt 16:18–19) The early communities of believers were so closely knitted because they were bucking the system of man, and they bonded together by necessity. The closeness they experienced resulted in people pursuing a common vision and valuing eachother, and they stayed together spiritually. There is a corporate and individual dimension to functioning in Gods family. No amount of time in prayer, bible study, or ministry can be a substitute for a believer’s committed involvement in a local church. Many embrace a “churchless Christianity” which encourages an isolated “anything goes” life. We are told throughout the scriptures that this is not a good lifestyle to be isolated, starting in Genesis! “… not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhort one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Heb. 10:25) “A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment.” (Prov. 18:1) “They (the early believers) continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers… divided them among all, as anyone had need.” (Acts 2:42-45) Fellowship is so much more than spending 45 minutes to an hour and a half, a week playing church. True fellowship is serving and sharing life in the Spirit and the Word with others. It is supposed to be a safe place where we let people expose their weaknesses, without us judging and condemning them, and we also can expose our weaknesses without being judged and condemned. True fellowship requires more than just simple socializing around entertainment and pleasure, while we judge those who are struggling. Transparency between all of us and God is required for true fellowship. “…that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son… If we walk in the light… we have fellowship with one another…” (1 Jn. 1:3-7) Embracing an understanding of Acts 2, can help us learn to live out that type of lifestyle. This lifestyle is essential to us as we learn to truly fellowship with other believers. What happened in Acts 2? People from diverse nationalities and backgrounds fellowshipped together, in agreement with God and His ways, they put their own ideas aside, and let Yahweh be God. Baptisms: Immediately. Not once a month or whenever someone got around to it. Why are we putting something on the backburner that the direct Disciples of Christ counted as paramount to starting our walk in the Kingdom? Breaking bread: True fellowshipping brings us together in a remembrance of our mutual covenant! It also brings us to a place of realigning our hearts to obey God and repairing our common relationships. Prayer: It is easier for many people to embrace corporate prayer at first, then personal prayer. But as we pray corporately, we learn to prayer intimately. We also experience the power of corporate worship and intercede for one another. Church Business: Taking care of each other’s needs. The leaders didn’t get up and beg and manipulate for money for bigger buildings … they found out who in the local church was in need, and the church came together and helped those people… and they endeavored to show you as a person in need, that you weren’t alone, but you were part of a family that cared! They added to their numbers DAILY! First of all, did you notice, that the church met all the time NOT just one day a week! And they met all the time in an un-orchestrated manner, and they didn’t have all the T’s crossed and all the I’s dotted. But they loved learning to fellowship. And because people watched their love in action, they became living examples of what the Kingdom is all about, not just empty words. People watched them live out what they believed and what they were saying with one another! So much so in fact, that people wanted it. When we as the modern church start doing that… that is when we will affect the people around us… but not while we just preach at them! Then fear of the Lord (respect and awe) came upon every soul, and while these new children were being taught and coming to an understanding of the Kingdom, many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. We are called to take the initiative in building strong relationships and to love people. I have in the past been very passive about relationships. I think many of us, face the temptation to passively wait for others to pursue us, to say hi to us, and try to start a friendship with us. Let’s break this pattern, and try something different. Let’s meet them where they are! Do not wait for someone to befriend you. Take the initiative to try and show kindness towards others. Try and learn to listen to people when they are telling you their story without demanding that they hear yours. Many times, when we are listening to others tell of their distress or hardship, we are thinking to ourselves… “Man… that’s nothing”… and we say to ourselves that we have had it a lot harsher than them, and we tend to belittle their trials and tribulations. Refrain from ‘one upping’ them. This might surprise you… but a lot of times the biggest part of ministry is just listening to someone. I’m not a talker. I have the majority of the time, been able to sit in a large or small group of people for hours and have never felt inclined to say a word. That has at times frustrated Abby, in her understanding of me. Because, my Abby is a social butterfly, she will walk in a room and light it up! If there are 20 people in a room, let Abby walk in and give her 5 minutes, and she will have talked at least half of them, even if it was just briefly. And she’ll have most of them grinning from ear to ear! I marvel at how people respond to her. But… Abby wants me to be more outgoing. So… both Abby and I’ve been praying that God would help me change that introverted nature to allow me to become a little more outgoing. Guess what… He is doing just that! I used go to the gym and hop in the hot tub and enjoy my quiet time. 10 people could be in there and I would ignore them and have a very content time not saying a word. Now even if there is only one person in the hot tub… when I get in, I have developed the ability to get them to talk my ears off, and I respond in kind! It is amazing. Prayer works. “Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on…your heart. So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man.” (Prov. 3:3-4) When we give people the freedom to talk, without judging them… they feel appreciated… they actually ‘feel’ loved. They will remember you. And Yahweh, who sees the secret things, knows you have unlocked a Kingdom principle. And you earn rewards from Him… for just being an awesome person to somebody!
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 11:44:48 +0000
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