2015.08.16_Love the Lord

One that experiences God’s gracious favor, remembers His grace and loves God

Christians are the ones who received God’s love. Nothing is more precious than receiving the love of God who is the Father of all things and the Creator. Anyone would give up the world if they could receive God’s love, for to have received God’s love means to receive something that goes beyond man’s dreams. One thing we have to understand is that God’s love poured on us through Jesus Christ is forever unchanging. Within the love God has given us is His determination to love us forever.

The sad thing is that there are people who, despite their faith lives, fail to experience God’s love. The reason for this is they don’t remember the love God had given them through Jesus Christ. But those who remember God’s love will love God all the days of their life in response to His love, and in result they would receive much of God’s help. On the contrary, those that forget, ignore, or doubt God’s love will not respond to His love, and thus cannot draw closer to God and live as though they are forsaken by God.

God’s love can be categorized largely into the first love and second love. The first love can be described as grace which we received by believing and accepting Jesus Christ, whereas the second love can be called favor which we receive through our response to His love.

Even if we don’t react to the first love, God’s love given us through Jesus Christ isn’t nullified. Nevertheless we can’t rest easy. If we don’t love the Lord, we’ll slowly become unsure of His first love and eventually, have a doubtful attitude before God. When that happens, we will lose our spiritual viewpoint and try to lead our faith lives with just our mental viewpoint. Moreover, we won’t be able to escape feeling like we’re in the dark though we might be busily engaged with our faith lives. If we continue to fail to receive God’s help in this way, then the old way of thinking and habits we had when we were God’s enemies will take over our personality and life.

When we first believed, we were utterly shocked after realizing how Jesus Christ who is the Son of God died on the cross for our sake. We repented of our past unbelief by relying on His merits, and became a new creation through baptism. That’s when we received the grace God imparted on us, by which we came into the church as those who now have the right to receive God’s gracious favor.

Christ Jesus is worthy to receive our love

For all of this to happen, there were many more significant events. Though God’s Son could’ve come out of the Father’s bosom and directly enter Heaven and inherit the throne, instead going into Heaven directly, He came down to this lowly earth. He wanted to come in the form of a servant lower than the angels, taste death and then ascend to the throne at the right hand of God. Though He is equal to God, He lowered Himself to be most humble before the Father. He had planned to first come to the earth and taste death, and after that, be seated on the throne of Heaven.

However God the Father desired His Son to be the Christ for mankind, and thus commissioned with the duty to die for the sake of mankind. It was to bear this duty that Jesus was in agony and prayed more earnestly at Gethsemane (Luke 22:44), and it was also as the Christ that He cried on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt 27:46).

The Son of God becoming the Christ wasn’t His will originally. He was anguished of how man will dishonor God in the process of God saving mankind out of His love for them, and thus He earnestly prayed to the Father at Gethsemane to rethink His plan. Nevertheless, the Father did not hear His Son’s plea. The Son had already humbled Himself and come to the world, but the Father made Him suffer death for mankind. Here lies the love God has for us.

The Son of God who had already given up His glory to humble Himself before the Father had surrender Himself even more, and bear the suffering and curse we deserved upon His own body. He shed His blood and purchased us, and delivered us from death. Hence there is a truth we must remember. Jesus Christ is One who is worthy to receive the love we give with all of our life, and the love which all the redeemed souls together give unto Him.

Do you love me? Do you now understand that love?

After He resurrected, Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” Until then the Lord had never commanded anyone, ‘you must love me!’ And in His question, “Do you love me?” was another question implied which the Lord had in His heart, and that was, “Have you now received God’s love?”

Before Jesus died on the cross, nobody on the earth had ever received love like that Jesus had shown. It wasn’t Jesus who said, “God is love”, but the disciples, who had witnessed His resurrection, and were deeply moved by the great love of God that sent Jesus to the world. If anyone believes Jesus as the Son of God, he would understand the greatness of God’s love as well as the truth, the passion and the agony of that love which was given by sacrificing His own Son.

Therefore when Jesus asked, “Do you love me?” another significant meaning was behind it – Now you realize that I am God’s Son. The Father who dearly loves me, sent me to do His work, and you have now witnessed what He has done for you through me. Finally you have received God’s love!

The moment we came to realize the grace Jesus Christ showed us, we received the biggest shock of our lifetime, and began to love Him from then on. And in order that we may be sure of God’s love, He emphasized how God the Father loved even by sacrificing His Son. He said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn 3:14-16). He also said, “That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here” (Jn 14:31).

The degree to which each person loves Jesus Christ is directly related to the degree of understanding God’s love given through Him. If anyone doesn’t love Jesus Christ, it’s because He either doesn’t understand or has forgotten or is doubtful of God’s love. Even if a person is weak in faith, he will be saved as long as he believes in Jesus Christ the Son of God. However in order to be able to boast of the grace he has received, the shock from God’s love for him should never be erased from his heart.

Whoever doesn’t understand the depth of His love will grow distant from God

For a person who doesn’t have a deep experience of God’s love, faith life itself is very difficult and such people would struggle to even attend worship services. Their hearts feel burdened to give offerings, and when they hear about faithfulness, obedience and so on in the sermon, they start to have a headache. Hence without understanding the depth of God’s love, even a self-professed Christian cannot live as a true Christian. That is because such a person lacks in his strength to love the Lord. Though he worships, he cannot worship in spirit and truth, with thanksgiving and reverence because he doesn’t actually feel God’s presence with him. He cannot partake in giving glory and thanks to God through the worship, let alone contribute in the church worshipping God successfully.

A bigger problem for those who cannot feel God’s love is that they aren’t able to experience the working of the Lord. They themselves believe they are receiving God’s love, when in fact they are not receiving the love God is imparting as gracious favor. As a result, they don’t have any experiences of the Lord, and thus their faith continues to be something notional. As their faith is not secure, sometimes they determine their hearts but are easily shaken in their will, and when trials or temptations or suffering comes, even the little they have done in their faith life comes to naught. We ought to be able to answer the Lord when He asks, “Do you love me?”

If you’ve received love, respond. Love one another.

When Peter answered, “You know that I love you”, Jesus said, “Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep”. He gave the commandment to love and look after the Christians who received God’s love. This command was not only given to Peter but to all who believe in Him. Jesus had already said, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. Did I not lay down my life for you?” (Jn 15:12-14).

Jesus has already given us His gracious love through His death and resurrection, and gave this command to those who received His love: If you love me, then love one another! Loving the Lord itself is easy, for anyone that knows of God’s love will most certainly love the Lord. That is why Jesus didn’t command, “From now on, you must love me”, but instead commanded, “Love one another!”

To love one another is not something that happens naturally between people. It might be a different story if we were as well-disciplined as the Israelites, but until now we’ve lived as we please. And for such people to live together and love one another is contrary to our nature. Nevertheless, to love one another is the Lord’s command. The Lord is saying, “If you have received God’s love, you will surely love me. Then, is it not only right that you respond to that gracious love? The way you can respond is that you love those whom I have saved through my suffering, bloodshed, and perseverance.”

Just because one believes in Jesus doesn’t mean he automatically has the ability to love others. It is natural for one who believes in Jesus to love Jesus, but that love for Jesus doesn’t automatically get transferred to another person. That is why, Jesus commanded, “Do you love me? Then love one another”. Although the Lord is not on the earth in person, He left those He has saved instead. The church is the Lord’s body and each person is the member of His body. The way for us to express our love for the Lord on the earth is actually by loving the church.

It says in 1 John 4: 7-11, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” Then it continues in verse 20 saying, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”

Love the church. Deny yourself.

If anybody loves the Lord, his concern will be for the church. Whoever loves the Lord will serve the church. Caring and serving the church includes the giving of offerings. Offerings are given to God. Jesus was often clashed with people over the subject of offering, and He made a very clear point at each of those times. Once offerings have been given to God, they get used in looking after the church, that is, in caring and loving the souls whom the Lord has left in this world. Offerings are fundamental to our faith life as something that can’t be given to somebody else to bear. It is a very important aspect when it comes to the saints’ service to the church.

In order to love the Lord, we must sacrifice much of ourselves. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt 16:24). If one’s aspiration for personal gain exceeds his love for the Lord, his future can only be bleak because it is hardly expected for him to receive God’s favor thereafter.

Ephesians 5:2 says, “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” God is invisible, yet we are experiencing Him, for Jesus Christ is manifesting Himself to us even now. Because He is revealing Himself to us this way, we can be sure even today that God’s love which He showed on the cross is true and everlasting.

Worship is where people who received the deep love of God gather together and confess their gratitude for that love. The church is the Lord’s body, where all members receive God’s love together and express their love for God together. In spite of this, people who haven’t realized God’s love deeply, seek their own interests only like they used to do, even when they’ve come into the church. Such people react very sensitively when it comes to any losses they have to bear, often times show they have a victim mentality towards the church, and only seek their own interests whilst leaving it to others to put love into practice.

We shouldn’t be thinking about how the church is going to satisfy our needs when we come to church on the Lord’s Day. The Lord’s Day is a chance for us to offer something to the Lord. But perhaps those who don’t realize this judge that praising God and praying don’t profit them in any way, for they refuse to participate with their voices. We have already received God’s love and thus we feed and live on God’s love. Now, how pitiful is it if we are busy trying to profit our old self that has already been buried underwater, to live such a weary and miserable life?

Create a virtuous cycle of service, experience and conviction.

Jesus said, “He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him” (Jn 14:21). Whoever loves the Lord will constantly devote himself to loving the church. And to such a person who is responding to the Lord’s grace, the Lord will reveal Himself. Consequently, the one that serves the church will experience more of the Lord’s working, and thus have a deeper conviction to obey the Lord’s commands. The Lord reveals Himself to such people. Giving of service, experience (of the Lord) and conviction will thus create a virtuous cycle, by which the inspiration of God’s love displayed on the cross will remain in our hearts without growing cold.

There are some people who desire God’s help but instead drag God around. They themselves might think they are serving God well when in fact God is being despised by them. They feel frustrated at, even blame the church for their situation because they are unable to receive God’s help. As they cannot experience the Lord manifest Himself to them, over time they grow distant from Him and eventually fall back to a life of wandering in the valley of curse that had once bound them in the past.

There’s a very important meaning behind us gathering as a church. When we form the Lord’s body and care for it, incredible things happen. First, we overcome the enemy, for the church cannot be overcome by the authority of Hades. Second, as all the saints receive God’s gracious favor together as one body, we have an abundant experience of God’s working. If the number of people that constantly experience God’s help are growing in the church, it means there are many souls who love the Lord gathering in the church. If such fervent love for the Lord accumulates, the church will grow, and the power of the Devil will be weaken accordingly. As a result, many families will become prosperous together with the church, overcome sickness and poverty, and restore peace within their families.

Have the Lord reveal Himself.

The Lord is asking us even today: “Do you love me?” This is His greatest interest, and we must answer Him, “Yes, I love you Lord.” Our hearts should confess, “Yes Lord, I have received Your love – Your sincere love that gave Your life to me. I’ve received Your utmost love that gave everything of Yourself.” The Lord will then command us to look after the souls He saved. And as the Holy Spirit leads us, we ought to obey that command and serve the Lord’s church.

The Son of God came to the earth and left. There is one thing He gave us while He was on the earth, and He did not spare any of it but gave it all to us. And that is God’s love. Today, the Lord demands love from us. Whoever doesn’t love, doesn’t know God; for God is love. From now on, we must love the Lord more than ourselves. We must have the Lord reveal Himself through us.

In the church are many workers. Though they might be lacking in many aspects, God has forgiven them their sins and given them new life. Everyone whom God uses including pastors are holy servants who needs to be respected and loved. Volunteers in the church should be comforted, encouraged and cared for. It is because of them that the church can have worship services, and continue running education programs and mission work. They have sacrificed much out of gratitude for God’s love and because of their love for the Lord.

There are many in the church who are struggling, battered by the storms in this world. They are very weak and helpless like a candle before a hurricane. We need to help them overcome the hardships in this world by experiencing God’s love. We must help every member feel the love of God through the church. When we love and care for the church which the Lord has purchased with His blood, the Lord will manifest Himself to us.