IT TAKES ALL THREE: Intellect, Heart, and Will

The great command is that we love God and others with the totality of our being.  It is not enough to merely love with the intellect or the heart, or with intellect and heart.  We must love with the WILL.  It is one thing to know what to do, it is another thing to do it.  We are not what we feel, or think, or wish, but what we WILL.  Galatians 3:3 asks the question, "Are you so foolish?  Having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?"  While we admit that the unbeliever has self at the ceneter of his/her life, we must understand that the regenerate man, the church member, also struggles with the flesh.  This is the curse of sin and is straight from Satan.  He made self his pivot when he attempted to take heaven from its center in God and tried to center it in self.  There is only one solution to our dilemma, we must crucify self (die to self) daily and allow Christ to live through us.  We must constantly put to death the flesh and WILLFULLY allow the Holy Spirit to love through us.  It is not difficult to know whether it is our flesh or God's Spirit who is in control.... just examine what is said, what is done, and the spirit of each.  Does gentleness, forgiveness, and agape love pervade, or do we respond as an unregenerate person would?   It is more than just knowing what to do, or emotionally feeling the proper way---- we must act.  We must do as Jesus would do.

That's the way it is Jack!

The Critical Nature of Love in the Church Family

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

The Apostle Paul wrote these words in a letter to the church located in the ancient Greek city of Corinth.  The Corinthian church needed to hear this inspired lesson on love, because they were really having a hard time loving one another.

In the first three chapters of this same letter, Paul accuses them of acting like immature little children because they are divided into political factions and personality cults. (Read 1 Cor 1:10-12 NKJ)

Later in chapter six, Paul scolds them because some of them were going to court to settle their disputes.  They were actually suing each other rather than seeking biblical remedy for their disagree-ments. This was a church that had very little love going on.

Within the Body of Christ, this extreme love for God and for one another is more important to God than anything else, because, God said this is the one thing that trumps all others in priority.  Remember 1 Corinthians 13 teaches us that love is the supreme value of body of Christ.

A breach in love and community is a more serious crisis in the church, than even a breach in faith or hope.  Because love is the greatest of these three virtues.  If love is indeed the supreme value in the family of God (as the scriptures clearly teach), THEN, what would be among the most serious offenses in the Kingdom? 

ANSWER: Crimes against love! Threats to community!          Breaches in fellowship!  In many churches today, crimes against love are ignored and treated like minor misdemeanors.

- You can get away with slandering other believers.

- You can be a conduit for cruel gossip.

- You can be abrasive and judgmental.

- You can be outspoken and divisive.

- You can harbor grudges for decades.

And chances are, no one is ever going to confront you on it.  These are treated as though they are just minor traffic violations in Body life.

In some churches, you can come away with the idea that crimes against community are mere misdemeanors, felonies, the ones that can get you thrown out of church, are lifestyle misteps.  I fear that many churches in that day, and many today, seem to be looking "in a mirror dimly" (1Cor.13:12) and not seeing Kingdom values very clearly.

Agape Love is the supreme value in the Kingdom, therefore, it only stands to reason that crimes and threats against Authentic Love are the most severe violations of Kingdom law.  Could it be, that in our own way, we are sometimes guilty of "straining out legalistic gnats while swallowing relational camels?" (Matthew 23:24)

If Agape Love is the supreme value in the Kingdom of God, then how big of a deal is it when love breaks down?  How upset does God get?  How upset should we be when relationships are broken?  Where should "fixing" that relationship fall on our scale of priorities?

The scriptures teach us that loving relationships in the Body of Christ are absolutely critical.  And community and fellowship between believers is of highest value in the Kingdom.

Love between Brothers and Sisters in Christ is essential on our scale of priorities, without it all else fails—all else is a zero. Authentic love between believers verifies the legitimacy of our discipleship.  John 13:35, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." 

Contagious, supernatural love for one another is our greatest platform for evangelism. It is our proof that Christ has indeed changed us.  Conversely, when there is a breakdown in relationship within the community of the redeemed, it hamstrings our witness, and communicates to the world that there really is nothing different about us after all!!