Love

Love is not as easy or pleasant as it sounds. It is effortless to say “I love you” but so hard to demonstrate in real life. The Bible calls Christians to love “not with words or speech but with actions and truth” (1Jn.3:18). It is not that the words are wrong, but they are certainly not enough to qualify as biblical love. And the “actions” aren’t just any benevolent actions that please the giver, they are to be specifically aimed at the well-being and benefit of the recipient. They are actions and truths that build up, encourage, correct, challenge, and meet the need of the recipient. Such actions can be difficult, involve sacrifice and are sometimes downright painful.  Consider Christ’s ultimate demonstration of love. John utilizes its example as the definition of biblical love when he writes, “This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (1Jn.3:16a). But John doesn’t leave it there, he drives home the call for us to do the same: “And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1Jn.3:16b).  While the world turns love into an exercise in self-gratification and sentimentality, may we as God’s people continue to love as Christ did – doing the hard work of giving ourselves for the benefit of others. That is biblical love.

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Real Love

Having spent years walking through Israel with Jesus, having listened to him teach, and having seen him heal the sick and even raise the dead, the Apostle John distilled Christ’s love into this intriguing statement: “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16a). Without reference to any warm feelings or emotions, John elevates the painful sacrifice of Christ’s execution as his defining act of love. While the connection of biblical love with Christ’s tortuous death may sound familiar to experienced churchgoers, I would argue the paradox is often missed in the minds of modern Christians. Maybe we can more readily see it when we read the rest of John’s sentence: “…and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:16b). As we imagine the biblical call to love our fellow Christians, I suspect we envision the joy and camaraderie of spiritual brothers and sisters happily encouraging each other over a meal or after a prayer meeting. I don’t think we visualize the pain of death. Yet, our call to “love” each other is a call to sacrifice our comfort, our freedoms, or our advantages for the good and benefit of others. This “dying” to ourselves and our own agendas comes incrementally when we love in the manner of Christ. But don’t miss the fact that those painful sacrifices are the essence of Christlike love. So don’t hold back today. Go the extra mile, stay the extra hour, or spend the extra dollar for the edification of a brother or sister in Christ.

For more sermons and devotionals on Real Love, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website at www.focalpointministries.org. 

Real Love

When we read the word “love” in the Bible we should always be careful to remind ourselves that it bears little resemblance to what passes for love in today’s world. When the people of our culture speak of “love” they are usually referring to something that impulsively springs from feelings of happiness, warmth, attraction, affection or pleasure. But the Bible uses the word to describe something very deliberate, usually without reference or thought to motives driven by good feelings. On the contrary, in the Bible depth of love is typically measured by the extent to which that love required sacrifice and planning. Consider the Bible’s ultimate description of love. It wasn’t generated by an impulsive attraction to the ones being loved. The Bible says, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Elsewhere we are told that the “love” we are to have for others is based on this template of sacrificial love, which isn’t given because it “feels good,” but rather because it accomplishes good! “Bear with the failings of the weak” we are told, not seeking to “please ourselves,” but instead working to “please our neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself” (Romans 15:1-3). I realize this clarification may seem superfluous to those familiar with the Bible, but I find it is very easy to forget. So let us make sure to remember. And let’s all purpose and plan to love each other as he loved us (Ephesians 5:1-2; 1 John 4:11).

For more sermons and devotionals on Hard Truth, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website at www.focalpointministries.org  

Compartmentalization

It is easy to compartmentalize our lives. While sitting in church we can approvingly nod at the biblical lessons that call Christ’s followers to sacrifice, deny themselves, and leave behind earthly pleasures to store up treasure in heaven. But come Monday morning when self-denial has a quantifiable price tag, nods at ancient principles are often replaced with rationalizations regarding the impracticality of letting go of some very concrete and preferred realities. We must be bold to call ourselves out on our own hypocrisy. We dare not applaud the Abrahams, Daniels, and Stephens of the Bible when we won’t willingly risk our own monetary advantage, or sacrifice something of our social status or corporate “success” for Christ’s glory or the advancement of God’s kingdom. Thinking clearly about how each biblical principle might practically be applied in our everyday lives will make Bible study an entirely different experience and will inject a kind of sobriety that is due the eternal and timeless commands of God’s authoritative word. So let’s go ahead and affirm the truth of every biblical sermon, while always being ready to put it all into practice regardless of what it may cost.

For more sermons and devotionals on following Christ no matter the cost, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website.