What’s love got to do with it?
What’s love got to do with it?
“The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable” – Brennan Manning
I’d replace atheism with rejection of the message of our Lord Jesus Christ thus: “The single greatest cause of the message of the rejection of the message of Jesus Christ in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable”
Greetings mighty saints of God.
Exodus 20:7 tells us to “not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain;” . We’ve been taught that this means to not use the name of God in common language as swear words or even expressions. The word vain is shäv in Hebrew. The Blue Letter Bible defines its Biblical usage as:
emptiness, vanity, falsehood
a) emptiness, nothingness, vanity
b) emptiness of speech, lying
c) worthlessness (of conduct)
Without discounting any of the above usages, I believe that passage has more to do with worthlessness of conduct than emptiness of speech, lying etc. We are called to be Ambassador’s of our Lord Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:20), we represent and enforce His Kingdom on Earth. Our conduct has to be worthy of this calling.
Is there a specific order of conduct prescribed by which we can stand without error in our representation of our Lord Jesus? In John 13:34-35 Lord Jesus said ” A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
By this ALL will know that you are My disciples, if you have LOVE for one another
This is a commandment and not a suggestion.
I have three children. When they fight, I get irritated, but God forbid, if I ever find that they have no love for each other, that would break my heart. Our heavenly Father feels no different. A long time ago, He asked Cain about the whereabouts of his brother Abel, to which Cain replied “I know not, am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). Earlier, both Cain and Abel had made an offering to the LORD. He was pleased with Abel’s but not Cain’s. Abel had offered a better sacrifice by faith (Heb 11:4). Then the LORD asked a sulking Cain “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” (Genesis 4:6)
King James Version says “… sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”
I find the similarity between that and the passage in Genesis 3:16 where the LORD says to Eve “… Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” curious.
Coming back to the Cain, we understand that he succumbs to sin and kills his brother. It is when God confronts him that we get the famous reply “I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Let us analyze this 
Cain starts by saying “I know not”. This is the first lie said by a human recorded in the bible. Even when Adam and Eve fell, they did not lie, but just pointed the finger and passed on the blame.
And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
We can say that rather than lying, it can be said that Adam accused Eve and she in turn accuses the serpent of tricking her. This too is an inherited trait of Satan, who is the accuser of the brothers (Revelation 12:10).
In Cain’s case, the LORD had warned him that sin desires to consume him, and it is interesting to note that the KJV personifies sin as him. Once consumed by sin, the first thing that comes out Cain’s mouth is a lie. In John 8:44, Jesus tells us that Satan is the father of lies.
In other words, after declaring to the LORD who he was with now, Cain goes on and asks “Am I my brother’s keeper?”. What he is asking is
- Is this my concern?
- After all, aren’t you and him good buddies now?
- Aren’t you supposed to take care of him?
- What does all this have to do with me?
Sin had turned Cain against Able and God, as a result he neither had love, care or concern for his brother, not had any regard about what his Heavenly father’s concerns for his brother were.
Coming back to our times, do we have a responsibility to watch out and care for our “brethren”? We read earlier that Lord Jesus commanded us to love another, and that the world will know that we are his disciple by seeing the love we have for one another.
Paul writes to the Romans stating that they must owe nothing to no man but love; that love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:18). Love one another fervently, writes Peter in 1 Peter 1:22.
Other than what Jesus said in John 13:35-35, what touched me most was Paul writes to the Corinthians in 1 Cor 13:1-3
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
So it is clear that the Lord Jesus tells us that we MUST be known for our love for each other.
It would be dangerous to stop at that without understanding how He expects us to fulfill this command.
This is no “free love”; the belief in or practice of sexual relations outside of marriage. Jesus was no hippy with a harem.
In the Bible, there are specific instruction given to express this love.
Four commands to “Love”:
- Love your enemies (Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:27,35).
- Love your fellow Christians (John 13:34; John 15:12,17; 1 Peter 2:17; 1 John 3:23; 2 John 1:5; Galatians 5:14).
- Love the brotherhood (1 Peter 2:17).
- Love your brother (1 John 4:21).
Two things not to love:
- The world (1 John 2:15)
- Things in the world (1 John 2:15)
Three ways to love:
- Fervently (1 Peter 2:22)
- With a pure heart (1 Peter 2:22)
- As brethren (1 Peter 3:8)
Ways to show our love to one another.
- be reconciled to one another – Matt 5:24)
- “receive one another” – Rom 15:7
- “edify another” – Rom 14:19
- “serve one another” – Gal 5:13
- “bear one another’s burdens” – Gal 6:1-2
- “forgiving one another” – Eph 4:32
- “submitting to one another” – Eph 5:21
- “exhort one another” – Heb 3:12-13
- “consider one another” – Heb 10:24-25
- “hospitable to one another” – 1 Pet 4:8-10
Remember
- All will know we are disciples of Christ by our love for one another
- This is the fulfillment of the Old Testament
- It is a new commandment (not a suggestion) given by the Lord Jesus
- Without love expressed Biblicaly by faith, we are nothing but a clanging cymbal, or full of hot air
- Without this, we are nothing.
An interesting point to note is that all the 10 ways is addressed to believers, the Church. We are called to be Ambassador’s of our Lord Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:20), we represent and enforce His Kingdom on Earth. Our conduct has to be worthy of this calling. Let us not cause the message of Jesus Christ to be rejected by the world through our denial of Him in our lifestyle.
with love in Jesus
J.S.Kodiyil
Pastor
The Father’s House Church, Cochin & Ooty