The Supremacy of Christian Love
1 Thess 3:6-13 & 4:9-12
On a few
occasions over the years, we have looked at the tendencies of the Apostle Paul
when writing. We looked at A-B-A where he says something then gets off on a
rabbit trail of illustrating it, another related topic, doxology and prayer,
before returning to the main topic. We also noted on a few occasions that Paul
likes lists. He and his companions pile up words to make a point of how grand
and glorious something may be or how wicked sins are. The fruit of the spirit
is the former and the list of sin's effects in Romans 3 is one example of the
latter.
There is
another quirky literary practice that we find especially when the work is
attributed to more than just Paul. That quirk is repetition. Repetition isn't
bad. Most classes that teach men to preach will talk at length about the need
to repeat oneself in different words and ways and perhaps with different
illustrations. Repetition is Pauline
and inspired by the Spirit when found in the scriptures.
I don't
know if you have realized it or not, but there is one theme that is repeated in
the epistle of First Thessalonians more than any other. It is an important idea
that the Apostolic Band keeps going back to time and time again. Even though
there are only so many things one can say about this concept, it is repeated
over and over again.
Much can
be said about it because it is a big topic that is so little understood and
even less practiced--it is the Love of God. The title of this sermon is The
Supremacy of the Love of God.
Something
is supreme when it is better than the rest. The love of God is perhaps one of
his dearest attributes towards his people. His love is something we cherish. It
is because He first loved us that we can love others. In my experience, very
few follow through on loving others as God has loved them. Professing believers
are happy to hear about God's love to them. Very few can bear the realities of
how we are to love others. The subject is talked about by preachers at weddings,
but it may be the most neglected area of practical Christian instruction.
Imitating the love of God ought to be on the forefront of our minds. If the
love of God had its right place in our hearts and minds, we would treat our
spouses differently, we would be better and more godly parents, we would learn
how to be better sons and daughters and one of the most important changes that
would overtake us is that we would become better church members and Christians.
Why is it
that so little Christian love is demonstrated in the context of Christian
churches? I mean that rhetorical,, for the most part. But, Christian love is so
foundational for so many things. People don't mind talking about God's love for
them that brought salvation or even a marriage based on Christ's love--another
area where there is follow-through needed--or how to raise their children in
the Lord--which is often to control them, rather than love them. Both are
possible.
1. The
Supremacy of Christian Love
2. The
Necessity of Christian Love
3. The
Character of Christian Love
4. Some
Effects of Christian Love
5. The
Recovery of Christian Love
1. The
Supremacy of Christian Love, especially in 1 Thess
1 Thess.
teaches us about this supreme love of God, its effects on believers in a
church, the effects of believers in a region and the love for those who taught
them as it teaches us about the manly and godly love of the apostolic band
towards the believers in this particular church.
Not all
churches are alike. We cannot read a book like the one before us and
automatically think the text is talking about us. The Thessalonians were
unique. They didn't need anyone to teach them about Christian love--but, they
teach us a lot about the subject.
I want to
look at this book of 1 Thess. (please turn there) to see how love is its
central theme. And, then, I want to look elsewhere in the New Testament to show
you the content of that love.
Let's read
a couple of sections before looking at the big picture by making some
observations here and elsewhere:
1Thess 3:6 But now that Timothy has
come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that
you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, as we also to see you— 7 therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress we were
comforted concerning you by your faith. 8 For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.
9 For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with
which we rejoice for your sake before our God, 10 night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face and
perfect what is lacking in your faith?
11 Now may our God and Father Himself, and our
Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. 12 And may the
Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, 13 so that He
may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.
4:9 But concerning brotherly love you have no
need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love
one another; 10 and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who
are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and
more; 11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business,
and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 that you may
walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack
nothing.
In Chapter 1, verse 3 we read of a labor of love.
Notice who is doing the work of love--it is the Thessalonians, not the
Apostles. Somehow all that the church did was viewed by the Apostles to be acts
of love, presumably toward God and man. And, as we go through the epistle, we
find their love is directed to churches beyond their own. In a short period of
time, they became examples of Christian love--and remain so for us today.
In Chapter 1, verse 4, The Thessalonians are
called "beloved brethren." It is always nice to hear that or to see
it in action.
In Chapter 2, verses 7 & 8 have words that
describe attributes of love as they are found here and in other places. The
apostles were gentle among them (7) and had affections for them (8). And, they
were not afraid to admit this in a letter to the church. In verse 17, it is
with great desire that the Apostles longed to see them again.
In Chapter 3, verse 6 we hear of the church's
faith and love as it had been reported back by Timothy. In 12, they are told to
abound in love towards one another and to all. To this is added the reminder,
"as we do to you." The activities of going to their city, preaching
the gospel to them, escaping, sending Silas and Timothy back to them, and the
constant praying for the church in Thessalonica among other fellowships, were
some of the ways the Apostles ahd showed Christian love towards them--there are
others--that is not the limits of the love of the apostles in action for this
church. They are the beginning.
In Chapter 4, verse 9 Brotherly love is
mentioned. Fraternal love is expected to be one of the deepest forms of love.
The only kind of love that is deeper is the love of one for another that is
closer than that of a brother. There love was profoundly deep. They had no need
to be taught about love. God had worked this in them by His Spirit. We learn
that in other places. Love in action among Christians in churches is evidence
of the presence of God's Spirit at work. A lack of it is a dangerous thing.
In Chapter 5, 12f, the church is to esteem those
who are over them--And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor
among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,13 and
to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among
yourselves.
In Verse 26, they are to greet one another with a
holy kiss--a token of Christian love and mutual commitment in the Apostolic and
Early Church.
Do you see how love permeates this epistle. This
church shows us what love is.
2. The
Necessity of Christian Love
In John
13:34, A new commandment I give to
you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
Some have called this the eleventh commandment. Elsewhere
love is called the summary of the Law. However, you look at it, love is
absolutely indispensible for Christianity to exist and thrive among people. One
of God's most fundamental characteristics is love. As Christ has loved his
disciples, we are called to love one another.
Do you realize what that means? How did Christ show his love
for you? How does Jesus continue to show his love to you? Do I really need to
answer those questions? You should know that material very well by now. Jesus
came down from heaven, took on human flesh, lived perfectly among men y the
standard of God's Law, that he might give himself as a sacrifice for the sins
of his people. His righteousness is placed on the accounts of those who have
true faith in Him. In giving Himself for His people, he promised to send his
Holy Spirit to work in them sanctifying grace unto true holiness and
righteousness. The entire Triune God is pledged
to work for our good by growing us in grace and in truth, or the knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ. They did that
because in Eternity past (Eph 1:4), the Triune God purposed to save a people
and to give those people as a gift of love from the Father to the Son, so that
in eternity future, the Son might return the gift to the Father out of that
same deep and incomprehensible divine love (Eph 2:7).
The love Christians are to have for each other mirrors this
love. That is, insomuch as it can be understood and practiced by mere human beings.
Amid a great deal of confusion over how to behave at church
meetings, as revealed in 1 Cor 12 & 14, we have a chapter designed to show
believers a better way--the way of love.
If you ever wonder if you are loving another by what you are
saying or doing, turn to this chapter and ask youself at every step, "Is
this my motivation" or "Is this how I am acting?" If so, thank
God for the work of the Spirit in you. If not, repent and ask God to change
your mind about sinful matters and to give you a right understanding in line
with his word. Love is the first and best fruit produced by the Spirit.
I may have become cynical in my old age, but very few
Christians have the degree of humility needed to check their hearts by the
content of scripture because they are too busy going with how they feel about
something. If feeling a certain way makes you sin against God's Word,
especially by making you unloving to your brethren, you blaspheme God when you
use Him to justify your sin. Think about that for a moment. We are told to love
the brethren, when we don't, we sin against the brethren, but more importantly,
people sin against God. Then they defend themselves compounding their sins.
Unless God opens their eyes, they will remain in their delusions and blame God for
their indifference to his word.
Look at 1 Cor 13:4-7--the church based definition of love in
action:
3. The
Character of Christian Love
Love suffers long and is kind; love does
not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not
behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not
rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all
things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
A list of fifteen items that would be good for
all of us to commit to memory and recall when tempted to act impetuously in
ungodly and hateful ways.
When I was in High School, the church I went to
had a chorus it sang over and over again. I think it was based on the text of
the Living Bible--I squirm when I say that. But, in God's providence, those
words have stuck in my mind and I have sung them often to remind me of the way
of love. And, I have sung them often when I or others have not loved or when I
have heard of other cases when love has been absent when it ought to have been
present. But, people put their hands on their ears metaphorically and don't
want to hear it. Love is the greatest thing. Yet, it is so lacking in our day.
Love is mentioned a lot in 1 John. It is a sign
of God's saving presence with his people. It is an absolutely indispensible
part of Christian Character. It is absolutely necessary. If there is no love,
there is no work of God's Spirit. Love is a serious indicator of what is really
on the inside--love for God and his people or love for self, using the
occasional appearance of love for God and his people to serve their ends.
By this all will know
that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
with all lowliness and
gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
Do you want a pure Soul?
Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the
Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently
with a pure heart,
And let us consider one another in
order to stir up love and good works,
This is a wonderful word
picture. Imagine a pot of stew or something akin to chili cooking on the
hearth. In the ancient world, it would last for days--probably made on the
weekend and its use extending well into the week. Whenever someone puts it back
on the flame, they have to take and stir it up. They take what has settled to
the bottom of the pot and incorporate it with the rest so that it will be
uniform in consistency and temperature. We all have the responsibility to make
a study of each other--to consider them. The purpose of this is that we might
stir each other to love and good works. The love and good works need to be
uniformally found among the brethren to meet all of their needs--especially the
spiritual ones. We pray for one another. We long for news about one another. We
seek to do good for one another. We make ourselves accessible to help one
another. Or, your love may be directed to helping with some aspect of the
building, the grounds or the ministry. As I preach, I hope I'm stirring you up
to consider the importance of Christian love given and received.
4. Some
Effects of Christian Love
By this all will know
that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Be kindly affectionate to one another with
brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;
with all lowliness and
gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
The great
apologetic is that love for the brethren is a sign to unbelievers that God is
among his people. John 17:20-24
[ Love Your
Neighbor ] Owe no one anything except to love one another,
for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.
And above all things
have fervent love for one another, for
“love will cover a multitude of sins.”
5. The
Recovery of Christian Love
1 John
4:7-21
Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of
God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not
know God, for God is love. 9 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. 10 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.11 Beloved, if
God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Seeing God Through Love
1 John 4:12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God
abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By
this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His
Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the
Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.15 Whoever
confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And
we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he
who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
The Consummation of Love
17 Love
has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of
judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There
is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves
torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We
love Him[b]because He first loved us.
Obedience by Faith
20 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[c] he love God whom he has not
seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him:
that he who loves God must love his brother also.
Those are
powerful words. They are expressed in such a way that they are black and white.
Some people should have a crisis of assurance when they consider how little
they have followed-through to love their nearest and dearest neighbors, in the
home, in the church and in the world.
If you
don't love your brothers and sisters in the Lord that you see, how can you love
God who is unseen. It should be easier to love those who are regularly in our
memory--unless familiarity has bred contempt, as it sometimes does among men.
Loving God
and loving the brethren go together. You cannot have one without the other.
They are inseparable graces.
If your
hypocrisy in this area of Christian love has been revealed to you, don't attack
the preacher, but seek a gift from the one who inspired the scriptures that
were read to you. Ask him for the gift of repentance from dead works to life
and ask Him to work in you, that you will understand the importance of Love to
God and to the brethren. Repent and walk in newness of life.
Don't go
running to others to gossip about what has been said. Deal with your own heart.
If repentance is needed go to the Lord Jesus Christ for that ongoing work he
has promised--he continues to forgive. He is a worthy savior, even of unworthy
souls.
AMEN!
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