The Law of Love
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, [even]
in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself. (Gal. 5:14)
Good works for a believer are to be like FRUIT.
We are IN CHRIST – He is the Vine and we are the branches – and His life
in us will produce good works. Our
love for God will motivate us to OBEY HIM.
Relationship with God must be based upon faith in Christ and the love of God.
But if I am under the law I am not living by faith – and therefore my
relationship with God is upon the wrong basis.
There are some Christian teachers who claim that if I live by faith – if I am
under grace – that this will empower me to keep the law.
They are, in effect, saying that the law IS of faith.
But they are wrong. The
grace of God does not empower us to keep the law – being under grace does not
put us back under law. Rather, the
grace of God is LIFE IN CHRIST. The
life that emerges does not walk according to law.
It walks according to Christ.
Suppose you get married. You take
marriage vows. But do you love your
spouse and live like you love your spouse -- only because you took those vows?
Do you keep those vows on a piece of paper in your pocket and reference
them each day? No.
You keep those vows without referencing them in the letter because you
LOVE your spouse. The legal document isn't
the marriage; the ceremony isn't marriage. The union and life lived is
marriage. Love produces those works and love produces those
attitudes of a right marriage.
Suppose you walk into a house of a relative or friend and they need to leave the
room. You see a hundred dollar bill
lying on the table. Why don’t you
steal it? Is it merely because
there is commandment that says, “Thou shalt not steal?”
Is that why? Or is it
because stealing is incompatible with your walk with Christ – and there is
nothing in you that can steal?
We can be a thief without stealing.
We can be a murderer without murdering.
We can have all manner of sin IN US – but not act upon it because we are
GOVERNED BY LAW. Being under the
law can keep us out of trouble. It
can make us appear holy – even to ourselves.
It can deceive us into thinking that God commends us for not sinning.
It can deceive us into thinking we are righteous.
But this kind of life is not a relationship by faith with Jesus Christ.
It is actually a relationship with LAW – or if you will – a relationship
with God THROUGH law. It is a false
Christianity.
Our relationship with Jesus Christ must not be based upon anything about
ourselves. It must not be based
upon whether we are successful in keeping the law – ANY law – inward or outward.
It must be based upon Christ: “Yet not I, but Christ.”
We are told in scripture that, “the law is a shadow,” of the real.
It is that at best. But how
can we live in a relationship with a shadow of Christ?
There would be no communion – no relationship that is living.
In the end, it would be deception.
Love that is freely received freely gives.
That is because the love that is freely received changes the one who
receives so that they can freely give back to the giver.
“We love Him, because He first loved us.”
(I John 4:19)
Love, grace, Truth, and faith:
These are all voluntary. They are
the outcome of experiencing Jesus Christ.
They are woven into the very fabric of our resurrection union with
Christ. They will result in actions
and works. But you cannot create these by works.
May God show us the difference.
We are married to Jesus Christ. He
has given Himself to us. If we
realize this it will change us. And
then we will give ourselves freely back to Him – and we will freely obey and
serve Him. Because of His grace
toward us, we can then live and move in His grace.
The Christian Life
The Christianity of many of us is based in FEAR – based in being afraid of God.
We may not think we are motivated by fear – because maybe we don’t feel
afraid – but many obey God out of fear.
If I am under the law, I am living under fear.
It is fear of losing out on what I must earn.
It is the fear of not being on God’s, “good side.”
If I am blind to the grace of God I will be blind to the love of God.
I will be blind to God Himself.
It will be impossible for me to walk, “by grace through faith,” which is
to walk in LOVE.
This is not true Christianity.
Christianity is, “faith working through love.”
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision;
but faith which worketh by love.
(Gal. 5:6)
“Faith working through love,” is not a thing unto itself. It is not a state of mind, an emotional condition, or intellectual assent. It is not a sentimental feeling. “Faith working through love,” can only be the result of KNOWING Jesus Christ and belonging to Him. I can have no faith and no love unless Jesus Christ has me.
Christianity is Christ in us – and a growing inward realization of Him that will
renew our minds and bring us into the reality of grace and Truth that is of Him.
This will result in a life lived to God’s glory.
It will result in good works.
True good works are freely given – out of love for God -- without any
expectation of any pay back or reward.
Good works are the outcome of being rightly related to Christ by faith.
If I love God I will obey Him. I
will love others with HIS LOVE. Law
cannot produce this. It can FAKE
it. But only God can produce love
because only God IS love. He wants
to love through His people.
Relationship with God – based upon Christ alone – will result in good works:
Our Savior Jesus Christ;
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify
unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
(Titus 2:13-14)
[This is]
a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that
they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These
things are good and profitable unto men.
(Titus 3:8)
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the
lusts thereof.
Neither yield ye your members
[as]
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those
that are alive from the dead, and your members
[as]
instruments of righteousness unto God.
For
sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under
grace. (Rom. 6:11-14)
As we have noted, good works done under law may look the same as good works done
under grace. But the person doing
them is not the same. And
consequently, they are not from out of Christ – they are not truly good works.
They will carry self-interest.
They will not ultimately glorify God.
Paul said, “The life which I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God.”
(Gal. 2:20) This is the
source of truly good works. They
are an expression of HIS LIFE.
The Love of God
We love him, because he first loved us.
(I John 4:19)
In John 4:19 we are given a great Truth:
We cannot freely love God or others unless we first freely receive God’s
love for ourselves. This is in line
with the words of Jesus that we read earlier: “You have freely received.
Freely give.” (Matt. 10:8)
If we will realize and freely receive God’s love for us personally –
which can manifest in many ways – then we will be changed by that love.
And it is that changes in us – including the renewal of our mind – and
will enable us to love others. In
effect, we can only freely pass on to others what we have freely received from
God.
When I was young, I had a terrible time forgiving and loving others.
I tried and tried to do so – and then I felt condemned because I could
not do so. I knew I was supposed to
love others. Why could I not do so
if I were a Christian?
I did not realize two things.
First, I was trying to love with my emotions.
I was trying to make myself FEEL loving and forgiving in my natural man.
In effect, I had created what amounted to a LAW in myself – and I was
trying to live up to it. I
continually failed. What Paul said
came true for me: The more I tried
to keep my law the more I was shown to be unloving – and the more I felt
condemned. From this there seemed
to be no escape.
We can apply this principle to ANY standard we set up in ourselves.
The law of sin and death takes many forms.
It may be some obvious form of God’s law, or it may be a subtle, inward
law of attitudes, feelings, forgiveness, or love.
But if we are UNDER such a law it will produce death.
Second, I did not realize that I could never love anyone else – not with the
AGAPE of God – until I myself freely received AGAPE from God.
And I could not freely receive the love of God until I was exposed as one
who did not deserve it – I had to be brought to the end of myself and shown the
Truth of grace. Once that began to
happen – and it is a life-long learning of Christ – once that began to happen
all of my efforts to try to love through my natural man were exposed for what
they were: An attempt to make
myself righteous; an attempt to create in myself that which can only be realized
in Christ. I had to confess my folly and repent of that sin of unbelief.
As these convictions began to dawn on me, it became clear that I would never be
able to love or forgive anyone unless I realized how much I needed to freely
receive the love and forgiveness of God for myself.
I had to be reduced down to nothing more than a recipient of His love and
grace.
That sounds so simple and easy. But
what a mess God must plow through in order to reduce us down to where we will
freely receive what He freely gives – so that we can freely give back to God,
and freely pass on to others.
I had already known that the Bible said -- that we can only love God because He
first loved us. I knew that.
But I had not yet experienced it.
There is a huge difference.
It is like this with ALL the Truth in Christ.
We may know the verse and the doctrine.
But now we must experience the reality of it in Jesus Christ.
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments
are not grievous. (I John 5:3)
God’s love can be realized and manifested in many ways.
Perhaps we grasp the forgiveness of God for us.
Maybe we have come to see that we are nothing -- but that God has given
us His grace. All of these
dimensions of our experience in Christ can be gathered up in God’s AGAPE love.
It is why John is able to simply declare:
God IS love. (John 4:8, 16)
Agape – the love of God – is an unconditional commitment to God on the behalf of
the one who is loved, regardless of cost.
It is Christ-centered, with God’s interests and His glory being the goal.
It may carry along some emotions and
intellect. But it is not human
love. Agape carries the TRUTH, and
is redemptive in nature.
Agape suffereth long,
[and]
is kind; Agape envieth not; Agape vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Doth
not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked,
thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
Beareth
all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Agape
never fails. (I Cor. 13:5-8)
In this passage we see not only the outward expressions of AGAPE – but we see
the inward motivation. We see that
AGAPE does not begin and end with emotions.
It is NOT of natural man.
Rather, it is a manifestation of Jesus Christ through an earthen vessel – it is
a FRUIT of the spirit of God in Christ.
We also see that AGAPE is not dependent upon the one who is loved.
It stands unmoved. God does
not love only those who love Him in return, or who do His will.
God IS love. But His love is
redemptive – in other words, God loves the sinner – but His love desires the
sinner to free from sin, be saved, and to come into the knowledge of the Truth.
He gave His own Son to make that possible and is today working unto that
end by His spirit.
As noted, our love for others ought to be same as God’s love for us.
AGAPE is redemptive. This
means that even when others sin against us that we should never toss them in the
trash. No, we should not compromise
with sin – we should tell the Truth about it. But we should desire the
redemption and restoration of the person who has sinned against us – and be
willing to be a vehicle unto that end, even if this is not possible at present.
Agape does not mean we LIKE someone.
It does not require that we allow them access to our personal lives.
It does not mean we trust them.
Rather, AGAPE means that we are committed to God’s highest for them, and
are willing to be a vessel unto that end.
The Motivation of Agape
John is telling us that this is how we will express AGAPE:
We will keep God’s commandments.
God’s commandments, in this case, are not merely the Ten Commandments,
although they are included. God’s
commandments are everything He has spoken and revealed.
As noted, how God loves human beings is how human beings are to love each other.
This is a rule of thumb and must be applied.
For example, how does God treat a sinner?
It is how we ought to treat a sinner.
How does God love His people?
It is how we ought to love His people.
This can be very revealing, for if we treated each other in accordance
with the twisted way in which some teach that God treats us -- it would become
more than obvious – if we are honest – that those pictures of God are horrible
and contrary to Him. What some
attribute to God would be easily recognized as evil if human beings did the same
to each other. This is a call for
discernment.
God’s commands as to how we are to treat each other are expressions of His love
working through us. Thus, instead
of thinking of them as commands under threat of punishment – we need to think of
them as love expressed in attitudes and conduct.
Now, it ought to be obvious that we could mechanically keep the letter of God’s
commands and do it void of love. We
could supposedly keep God’s commands but do so for our own interests – maybe to
gain favor or to look good. Some
people, “keep God’s Word,” but use it to manipulate others; gain a following;
maintain a position. None of that
is AGAPE.
There are others who give the appearance of being filled with the love of God –
they are always talking about the love of God and always telling others about
how much God loves them. That might
seem wonderful, and maybe it is – but so often such folks have never come to
terms with the Truth. It is all on
the surface. They have a bubbly
personality. In their natural man,
they are, “loving.” But beneath it
all they may not truly know Jesus.
They might not have come to the Cross.
Theirs is a human, natural love.
This is not a criticism. It
is simply one of the ways in which we can deceive ourselves.
This is why in order to love others we need to KNOW Jesus Christ.
We need to have personally received God’s love -- and need the spirit of
God to shed His love in our hearts – because only then will we have agape to
pass on to others. But if we have
received the love of God then we will be able to express it towards others.
We will keep all of the commandments of God towards them – as the product
of love.
Agape love is a fruit of the spirit.
It is the product of abiding in the True Vine.
Thus, it is not human love.
It cannot be produced BY works. But
agape certainly
can produce works – and absolutely will.
Agape is redemptive. It is
forgiving. It does not compromise
with the Truth – but is an expression of the Truth in a redemptive way.