by Apostles William & Monique Zook
God's Will and Our Response Revealed Through Loving Someone:
2 John 1:6...And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
Romans 8:27-28...And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Our love for God and His love for us is "in accordance with God's Will". You will see as we go on that love (God's and ours') is the summary of all aspects of His Will.
Deuteronomy 10:12-13...And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
In these two verses we again see the relationship of love and God's Will. We are told to "fear the Lord your God" (honor and reverence), "walk in all His ways" (God's Will), and "love him" (LOVE). If you and I could do this without wavering, without looking back at the world, God's Will would overtake and surrounds us.
Love is commanded by God and is one area in which He gives specific reasons for His command:
John 13:34-35..."A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Disciples, students of Jesus--hopefully you and me--are recognized by the love they show. In this day of glitz and razzle-dazzle, any love we show as evidence of our relationship with Jesus had better be pure and true. The Pharisees of today, the phonies of all days, have perverted love in every way imaginable. If you can't offer love as Jesus would (remember, we must walk as He did), then your actions and attitudes will betray you. Then, my friend, you've caused more harm than good, especially to Jesus.
John 15:9-12...As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
God would have us love each other just as He has loved us so: (1) His joy may be in us, and (2) that our joy might be complete. Those who would portray Christianity as the abode of suffering people, poor wretches who have no place else to turn, need to read those words again. God wants us to love one another with His kind of love so we can be joyful. Are you joyful today? Perhaps you need to look at the condition of your "love buds".
God sees love as the culmination of everything:
Romans 13:8-10...Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
How many times have you heard it said, "oh, I'm just missing out on life!"? Well, if those who are missing the joys of life would discover God's Will about love, they would be living a fulfilled life, missing nothing.
Love, and the capacity to love or be loved, is obviously a gift from God for us:
1 Thessalonians 3:12...May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.
God will give you love, or make you loving, as you give it to others. Walk like Jesus walked, love like Jesus loved, and you will have love overflowing. You won't be able to run dry!
Love is taught by Jesus and is God's provision for us:
2 Thessalonians 3:5...May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.
Jesus will teach our hearts, if we allow Him. We can go to school with Jesus, if we want Him. Love won't come out of a text book from Jesus, but it will come out of His life. We also see in this verse the need for perseverance in our dealings with love. Anyone who has ever loved anyone else knows the truth of that...just ask any wife!
1 Peter 4:8...Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
The result of our love for each other is the commotion it causes in the heavenlies. When true, honest-to-goodness love is shared by us, heaven goes crazy with joy as more sins are erased from our book. I don't know about you, but I can use a lot of that.
Love is the essence of life:
1 John 3:14...We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.
How lonely is life without love? It is death.
Love is so much a part of life, that it is life itself...life in Jesus, that is. And, life with Jesus is a passage, a road we travel. Is love just an emotion, something we feel?
1 John 4:7-11...Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
What is love? Is it just a feeling? "Love at first sight" is possible if you're looking on Jesus. If you're looking elsewhere, then like it or not, it's "lust at first sight". It's not a "thing" either. "I've fallen out of love for you" is only possible if you no longer love Jesus. You cannot find or lose love. You cannot hold it or break it. GOD IS LOVE...LOVE IS GOD.
Who do we love?
Matthew 5:41-47...If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
Love everyone, even the not so lovable, even yourself. But, your love must be an unbiased love, a servant's love.
Luke 10:30-37...In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
This is "Jesus Love." There is no reimbursement expected, no return on your time and expense. Just pure love given without concern for receiving. We need the same kind of love for God. How can you possibly show love or do anything for God that matches what he has done for you?
Matthew 25:34-40...Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Show "Jesus Love" to the poor and needy, and you show love to God. Do I need to say it? That's God's Will.
Love brings us together with God and it binds us together:
Colossians 3:12-14...Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
God's Will is for unity, not for division (even in the church). Love through Jesus is the only way to achieve that.
Most people when discussing love will quote in part or total the "love chapter", 1 Corinthians 13. I'm going to do the same thing, but as I do, I will lead us through a correlation I believe greatly typifies "Jesus Love". You will recognize the love that is God's Will, and maybe the true story I share with you. The morning turned cold and dreary on this icy dawn of February 3, 1943. The S.S. Dorchester, an old ship being used as a troop transport, was pushing through the treacherous waters of the North Atlantic with 900 men aboard. She was bound for Greenland. As she neared her destination, the escort convoy left her. But, they left too soon, and she never reached Greenland. A Nazi submarine had been stalking the convoy for some time, and now moved in for the kill. A launched torpedo struck the S.S. Dorchester amid-ship and exploded in the boiler room.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3...If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
At the instant of explosion many died in the immediate area. Others were trapped below deck. With confusion reigning and terror in every walk way, sleepy soldiers and sailors jolted from their sleep scampered to reach the deck of the dying ship.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5...Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
On deck the men found more confusion and terror. They also found four United States Army Chaplains moving about calming the frightened and helping the injured. The Chaplains directed soldiers to life boats and distributed life jackets with calm precision. The supply of life jackets was soon exhausted, and yet four young men stood, frightened, waiting for jackets. Without hesitation the Chaplains removed their life jackets and forced them on the young soldiers. The four men of God forfeited their only chances for survival.
1 Corinthians 13:6-7...Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
The Chaplains were of different faith, but shared a "Jesus Love" that surmounted any theological differences. Clark C. Pulling and George L. Fox were Protestant ministers. John P. Washington was a Roman Catholic priest, and Alexander Goody was a Jewish rabbi. Yet in that moment of decision none of them asked of the young soldiers, "Are you Protestant? Are you Catholic? Are you Jewish?" It simply didn't matter. Before them stood four human beings in need, and their commitment to serve the Will of God as Jesus would.
1 Corinthians 13:8-10...Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
Men rowing safely away in life boats saw the four Chaplains clinging to each other on the rapidly slanting deck of the old ship. Their arms were linked together and their heads were bowed. They were praying to the only God whom each of them loved and served.
.1 Corinthians 13:11-12...When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known
These four men of God: a country boy from Vermont, a city boy from Washington, a slum kid from Newark, and a preacher's son from New York City, met on the deck of the dying ship. They met with God during the cold winter's dawn on the icy sea, and joined together with voices of love: "Our Father...which art in Heaven..."
1 Corinthians 13:13...And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
The S.S. Dorchester sank beneath the icy waters of the North Atlantic, and with 600 brave souls, the four heroic Chaplains were buried in their watery graves in February, 1943.
John 3:16...For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
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