The Love Commandment.
Key verse: 2 Timothy 3:16
vs.16. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”
This scripture gives the purposes of preaching and teaching from the Bible.
Recently we have been going through a teaching series on the 7x churches of Revelation by a messianic Rabbi, called Baruch Korman, whose YouTube ministry is called “Love Israel”.
About the same time as we were looking at Rabbi Korman’s teaching on the 1st letter (to the church in Ephesus), Tina happened to read out the beginning of 1 Corinthians 13, verses 1-3 and a sermon was formed, as it was obvious there is a huge overlap and correlation between the concerns and the warnings of Jesus and St Paul in both these passages, and I believe this is a timely warning for us all, in accordance with the well-known scripture of 2 Timothy 3:16 above.
As we read these 2 sections of scripture…
vs.1. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. vs.2. 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, and have not charity, I am nothing. vs.3. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.”
… as believers, we are in danger of having many really great qualities, talents and abilities, but to still fail badly. St Paul’s warning in the first 3 verses of 1 Corinthians 13, repeats twice more (repetition for emphasis) the same message of ‘without charity’ in Greek ‘AGAPE’) and the 3 dire consequences of the lack of such charity.
Jesus, speaking in Revelation 2:1-7.
vs.1. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write.
“These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; 2. I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: 3. And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. 4. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. 6. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. 7. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”
….. while praising the church at Ephesus for their works, patience, perseverance, ability to discern false apostles, and intolerance of evil, you could say their ‘orthodoxy’, yet Yeshua still threatens that unless they repent and recover their ‘first love’ (Protos Agape) he will come and remove their ‘candlestick’.
Jesus clearly states in Revelation 1:20.
vs.20. “The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.”
….. that each of the 7x candlesticks where Yeshua stands amongst, represents a local church, so without repentance they will cease from being a church.
This is such a strong warning from the Lord, and if the issue was important enough for him to wind up a whole church, that it behoves us to take note. The danger is that like the Ephesian church, we can be doctrinally very orthodox in our beliefs, but not living out our faith in our daily lives and practices.
In the times in which we live, with prophetic events unfolding at a phenomenal rate (such as events in the Middle East preparing the ground for the Gog of Magog war of Ezekiel 38 &39);
Digital currency. The rise of the World Economic Forum leading to the One World; Government and Antichrist system; Plus, the Great Deception(s) in their various forms;
……. that Jesus warned us about in his Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24: 4 and 11.
vs 4. And Jesus answered and said unto them, “Take heed that no man deceive you.”
Vs 11. “And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many.”
……. it is easy to spend a lot of time studying these areas. Also, the increasing mysteries found in the Word of God itself are fascinating (Truth is Christ YouTube Channel for example). The point is though that the 2 scriptures mentioned above warn against a pre-occupation with these things to the detriment of brotherly love. To be clear though, I am not decrying studying and being aware of these important areas.
Surely these scriptures and others strongly emphasise the paramount importance of cultivating such love in our lives as believers and since the scriptures and particularly the Revelation letters are applicable to Christians right throughout the ages, they have great relevance to us, particularly as we get close to facing the Bema-seat Judgement Seat of Jesus.
This is mentioned in 2 Corinthians 5:10.
vs.10. “For we must all appear before the Judgement Seat (Bema) of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body; according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad”.
This judgement seat is not about eternal salvation but has to do with rewards.
Last words and final instructions are always important, and among Jesus’ last words to the apostles on the night of his betrayal, recorded in chapter 15 (verses 12 & 17) of John’s gospel.
vs.12. “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”
vs.17. “These things I command you, that ye love one another.”
….. is the commandment to love one another, as Christ himself loved us. Previously the instruction was ‘to love your neighbour as yourself’ in Matthew 19:19 and 22:39.
vs.19. “Honour thy father and thy mother and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
vs.39. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
It is as if Jesus raises this bar even higher for disciples, echoing what Paul writes to husbands in Ephesians 5:25 ……
vs.25. “Husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it”.
It’s also worth noting that as we study through the 7x church letters in Revelation 2 & 3, the only church for which Jesus has no criticism whatsoever is the 6th church mentioned, which was in Philadelphia. I don’t think it is any coincidence that Philadelphia is the name of this church. The very same one word ‘Philadelphia’ is used several times in the original Greek for the English term ‘brotherly love’, as in the following: Romans 12:9-10 states ……
vs.9. “Let love be without dissimulation (hypocrisy). Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love (Philadelphia); in honour preferring one another’”.
His description of Christian character goes on down to verse 21 and seems to flesh out what Peter refers to in his second letter below.
1 Thessalonians 4:9.
vs.9. “But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another”.
Hebrews 13:1.
vs.1. “Let brotherly love (Philadelphia) continue’ (The Mounce translation says ‘brotherly love MUST continue)”.
1 Peter 1:22.
vs.22. “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently”.
In this scripture, the inference is that the evidence of these believers’ obedience to the Holy Spirit is their ‘unfeigned love’ (meaning there is no hypocrisy) to the brethren. Peter picks up this same theme of avoiding hypocrisy as Paul does in Romans 12:9.
2 Peter 1:7. ‘the ladder of perfection’
vs.7. “And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity”.
The apostle James also picks up this theme of very practical brotherly love in James 2:8 &14-16 where he contrasts empty hypocritical words of ‘blessing’ ……. “be warmed and filled”, with the much more costly giving of actual material aid.
The apostle John, writing in his Gospel chapter 21:7,20.
vs.7. “Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea”.
vs.20. “Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?”
…… calls himself ‘the disciple that Jesus loved’ and having experienced this love in such a profound way, obviously led him to become the disciple that speaks of love more than any other.
He has gone from being one of the ‘Sons of Thunder’ (Boanerges was the surname given to him by Jesus in Mark 3:17). This presumably followed from John’s question to Jesus in Luke 9:54, where the brothers James and John ask Jesus whether he wants them to imitate Elijah and call down fire from Heaven on a Samaritan village?
Having lived with Jesus for 3 years and having been filled with the Holy Spirit for many years, it is he who states in 1 John 3: 11 ……
vs.11. “This is the message that you have heard from the beginning; we should love one another”.
He later says twice that ‘God IS love’ (1 John 4:8 &16).
Again, the inference is clear from verse 8; we cannot know God if we don’t love, and conversely the evidence of knowing God is living in love.
John further states in the same chapter 4, verse 20, that someone who says he loves God while hating his brother is actually a liar.
Read excerpt from David Pawson’s book ‘Unlocking the Bible’ (page 1239-40), John was so strong on this theme that his frequent repeating of it even led to him being thought of as senile!
“For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love’” – is the concise statement St Paul makes in Galatians 5:6.
My understanding is that there are 4 Greek words (Agape, Storge, Phileo, and Eros) for love, rather than the generic word ‘love’ in English.
Synonyms for Agape are:
to love; to value; to esteem; to feel or manifest; generous concern for; to be faithful to; to delight in; and to set store upon;
In the Romans 12 scripture above, in verse 10 …….
vs.10. “Love one another with brotherly affection’
…… the word ‘love’ used in the Greek is ‘PHILOSTORGOS’ and for brotherly affection it is ‘PHILADELPHIA’.
It is interesting that in John 21:15-17 where Jesus asked Peter 3x times if he loved Jesus, the first two times according to the Greek translations, he used ‘agape’ and on the third time used ‘phileo’.
Paul tells us in Romans 5:1-5 (verse 5b) that ……
vs.5b “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us”.
….. after we have been justified by faith and experienced the New Birth.
Not surprising then, that the first fruit of the Holy Spirit is love (Galatians 5:22), and in Ephesians 3:14-19 St Paul prays (ironically) for the Ephesians that they would be ……
vs.17. “rooted and grounded in love – and come to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that they might be filled with the fullness of God”
The conclusion of all this is that the more we experience the love of Christ, the more we are freed to love others. There are whole teaching ministries, most notably ‘Freedom in Christ’ who teach believers about their IDENTITY, or who they are in Christ, and these continue to have great success in bringing Christians, who have struggled with past hurts and woundedness into Freedom, which is a very significant goal of the Christian life, as St Paul states in Galatians 5:1 ……..
vs.1. “Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free”.
Graham Kendrick has a song called ‘O Lord Your Tenderness’ which captures these thoughts; these are the lyrics:
“O Lord, your tenderness, melting all my bitterness O Lord, I receive your Love.
O Lord your loveliness, changing all my ugliness, O Lord I receive your Love x3”
Prayer : –
(taken from George Verwer’s book ‘The Revolution of Love’ page 43.)
“Lord, we cry out to You to teach us to love, to break us of self; pride; stubbornness; that the Love of Christ poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit might be operative daily, hourly, moment-by-moment.
We cry to You to teach us to love our enemies; to love our critics; not in word, but in deed also. We cry out to You that we want this life of love, and we want You, for You are LOVE.
Amen.
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