Christian Love and Why It Matters

 

Christian Love is often maligned even by Christians. Many young men think that the God is love mantra of liberal Christianity is just God gone soft and don't want to believe in a liberal God. In the fifth century Augustine introduced Christians to a more Hellenistic styled God. A God who was somewhat sadistic and offhand like Zeus or Moloch for instance.

 

 In the Old Testament God is definitely very straight forward. The way he handled the Fall of Man. Punishing the snake to crawl forever on it's belly. Eve to have pain in child birth, Adam to be cast out of Eden and to have to work hard on the land which was cursed to make life harder.

 

When God delivered Israel from Egypt and brought the plagues on the land of Egypt at the hand of Moses. While at the same time hardening the heart of Pharaoh to glorify the name of God because He was able to deliver Israel despite the might of Pharaoh and his army. Definitely a tough guy God.

 

Subsequently, God's interactions with the people of Israel through Moses in the desert. The bringing of the Law of Moses from the smoking Mountain. The plague of snakes and the people looking on the fiery serpent make of brass set on a pole to live. An angry, judgemental God.

 

The story of Samson and the Spirit of God being upon him empowering him to destroy the Philistines. Uzzah touching the Ark of the Covenant and God striking him dead. Elisha revealing to his young servant the heavenly army protecting them. Daniel and his prayer for the restoration of Israel and Gabriel being sent directly to him to show him what would happen. A God of decisive actions.

 

In the New Testament people look at the gospel and God's love and forgiveness of our sin and equate that to weakness. They wrongly think of God's love as being kind of effeminate. They misunderstand that God has always been the same but under the new covenant He interacts with Christians, through Christ Jesus, and completely on the basis of enduring love and forgiveness. He expects Christians to understand that they have been forgiven much and are expected to love and forgive much in turn.

 

In I Corinthians 13: 4-7 the apostle Paul describes love like this "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." So if the Christian does not show all of these facets of God's love what good are they. If this type of love were to be applied to all of life and all of mankind. Then we would see a transformation of the whole world. And to be honest even in times when it has been applied in part and imperfectly we have seen such transformations.

 

I have often mentioned the Great Generation who lived through World War II. They had  the heck kicked out of them and many of the returned soldiers had PTSD. That’s what I believe in any case. But the New Zealand I grew up in had moral values, and generosity of spirit and even though not all were Christian. Most everyone behaved like Christians. Front doors were never locked. Cars were left on the streets and wallets were on the front seats with the cars windows down. No one would touch them. The only people who broke the law were children and they soon learned to know better. It wasn't perfect but it was a lot better than today. And the biggest difference was that there was a greater sense of community and a huge amount of love shared amongst the people. Even those who didn't know Jesus personally knew of Him.

 

To me God's love is three fold. Jesus was asked which are the greatest commandments. He put it this way in Matthew 22: 36-40 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.  The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’  On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
 

So, the Law of God is based in the Love of God. First, love God himself in Christ Jesus with all of your heart, all of your being. Second, love  your fellow man as you love yourself. I saw much of this as a youngster and a child of the great generation as I mentioned before. The third aspect of God's Love is to live your life in the Spirit not the flesh. The fruit of the Spirit as described in Galatians 5: 22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

 

In the beatitudes of Matthew 5: 1-12. Jesus mentioned several groups of people and the rewards that they would receive. The group I want to focus on here is the meek. Jesus said “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Who are these meek people who are going to inherit the Earth? Well the meek are considered by everyone that Satan has misinformed to be the weak. As you might imagine this is far from the truth. The meek are people who could defend themselves and retaliate against others for perceived wrongs but instead decide to forgo vengeance and obey Jesus in this matter.

 

In Matthew 5: 38-40 Jesus says this "You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’  But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also." Thus the meek are not the weak they are those who obey God and out of love forgive those who seek to harm them. Even unto death.

 

Such is the strength of God's Love that it is the most powerful agent for mercy and change in the Universe. We have no need of an arbitrary and angry God like Zeus or Satan. We have no need of machismo and proud rulers. We need the love of a God who would come as a man called Jesus, take our sins on His sinless life and pay the price of eternal life for us. Through the shed blood of the Son of Man, the Seed of God, Christ Jesus. Our almighty Lord and Saviour.

A Simple Faith

I don't know how other Christians feel but I have always tended to take on definite opinions about bible theology. With that has come an aggressive approach to defending biblical truth as I perceive it. Some Christians say that aggressive debate over biblical issues is fine often stating that iron sharpens iron. It t doesn't seem that way to me and I am determined to stop arguing over theology it in future.

I have decided that I am going to leave the in depth theology to the experts. I am going to focus on developing a simple faith. I guess it starts with John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”  Such that I believe the God so loved me that he gave Christ Jesus that when I believe on Him, I will not perish but inherit eternal life.

In Matthew 11: 28-30 Jesus said “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” God promises to make His yoke light. Therefore it seems to me that being a Christian shouldn’t be defined by what I believe about theology but rather the way I conduct myself and the earnestness of my faith as I serve Jesus. It should be a natural progression of my relationship with Christ Jesus.

It is so easy as a man to get caught up in the traditions of men. We can have an invisible list of our beliefs by which we cast judgement on others. We can have a catechism and consign it to memory so that we always have a trite answer to any question. However, if these convenient caches of knowledge pervert our walk in Christ and our vision of the bible and who God is then they are nothing but a mill stone.

We have the Holy Spirit to guide us and enlighten us in the person of Jesus Christ. We have no other need of any other knowledge even if it sounds good and makes us seem to be wise in the sight of others. We are no use to God if we behave like the Pharisees and judge everyone else to be inferior in their walk with Jesus. We need to be humble and meek and as the children of God. Our purpose is to be close to God. Justified by the shed blood of the Saviour, sanctified by the on going work of Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds. Called to be the children of God, sanctified to be the temple of the Most High God. We are the living Bride of Christ.

Simple Faith and Bible Doctrines

 

The Bible is an interesting text. From it we can draw conclusions about the nature of God and His goals for mankind and the Earth. Unfortunately folks can draw false conclusions and the soldiers of the other side can take scripture and bend it to construct some unduly harsh doctrines that don't paint God in the most flattering light.

 

Having said that the bible is also honest almost to a fault. It includes both sides of the story on many occasions and includes facts that can only leave the reader wondering at the nature of God and the seeming unpredictability ingrained into his character. The story of the death of Uzzah in Second Samuel is a case in point. Uzzah and those helping him to shift the Arc of the Covenant made some mistakes in the way they set about shifting the Ark. For a start the put it on a cart drawn by animals when it was to be carried by men holding polls passed through rings on the side of the Ark. Then Uzzah put a hand on the Ark to steady it and God struck him dead. I think most people in the world we live in would think that God was unduly harsh in that situation.

 

God had laid out how the Ark was to be transported as a part of his revelation of the Law. These guys and Uzzah should have known that and be aware of the consequences of disobeying the Law in this case. Apparently not and no mercy was forthcoming. We are very fortunate in our time to be under Grace of Christ Jesus. When we sin God sees His son Jesus Christ and we are hidden in God with Christ (Colossians 3:3). Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

 

So, I thought I'd share my opinions of which are my favourite biblical doctrines. Some of the doctrines that I like are actually also inaccurate or may be false but in many ways if they were true would present the nature of God in a much more pleasant light.

 

My favourite doctrine is the Adventist doctrine of Eternal Fire. Adventists don't believe in the eternal damnation of the wicked. They believe that the second death is not eternal in the sense of the human soul living on forever in eternal torment and suffering in Hell Fire. Rather they believe that as the wicked in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were purged with eternal fire which utterly consumed them and the cities in which they lived.

 

Thus so eternal fire as the consequence of Judgement and the Second Death will a consuming fire in which the wicked, who as humans have no eternal soul, will be quickly consumed and die for eternity. So with Adventism there is no eternal torment or suffering. I'm not sure that I entirely believe that there is no eternal hell myself. However it is a most pleasant thought to think that the wicked dead simply cease to exist, consumed by eternal fire. The Fires of Hell. https://absg.adventist.org/pdf.php?file=2022:4Q:TE:PDFs:ETQ422_10.pdf

 

Another doctrine that the Adventists put forward is the Doctrine of Soul Sleep. In this doctrine the person who dies waits in the grave to be resurrected. They don't believe that the spirit goes to be with the Lord. There is quite a heated discussion based around this doctrine. Many Christians cite the apostle Paul's statement "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." From <https://biblehub.com/2_corinthians/5-8.htm> 

 

Many Christians hold this to be evidence that the soul leaves the body to be immediately in the presence of Christ Jesus. However, the bible also  explicitly teaches that the dead in Christ will be raised on the last day (John 6:40). I guess the question here is does the body have and immortal soul?

 

The fact is that there are many scriptures that tend to support that man either does or does not have an eternal soul. Ecclesiastes 12:7 "And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. From <https://www.openbible.info/topics/immortal_soul> From this verse one might surmise that the spirit is indeed eternal and therefore after death must go somewhere?

 

A verse against the idea of the eternal spirit is Ecclesiastes 9:5 "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten." From <https://www.openbible.info/topics/is_the_spirit_of_man_immortal> The reality tends to be that neither the concept of the spirit going to be with the Lord nor the concept of the dead person waiting in the grave for the resurrection can be dismissed. At the same time we will simply have to wait on God to find out for ourselves.

 

Of course the doctrines around salvation and election generate quite a lot of rancour as well. For instance the Calvinists believe that God predestines people to salvation or damnation due to the fact that with our fallen natures we cannot make those types of decision for ourselves. There are scriptures which indicate this as John writes of Jesus in John chapter 6: 37-40 "Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day. For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” From <https://biblehub.com/bsb/john/6.htm>

 

So here we see that the Father gives the elect to Jesus and that it appears as though we have no choice in the matter. However, John 3:16 indicates that this might not be entirely the case "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." From <https://biblehub.com/john/3-16.htm> Here it appears that Christ died for all the world, all people, but only those who believe on Him are saved.

 

Wesleyan Christians believe that God's Grace draws people to Christ Jesus through the hearing of the Gospel. That Grace enables the unbeliever to accept or reject Jesus as their saviour. Others believe you can simply believe in Jesus and his redemptive work on the Cross or not and there is nothing supernatural in the process. It largely depends on how depraved you believe man is and what you make of the scriptures involved in the salvation process. In the end only Yahweh knows the real truth of some of the doctrines that men have cobbled together. They are all doctrines of men. God never wrote a doctrine of salvation and handed it to the disciples of Jesus. They took what Jesus told them and recounted it that we might as Christians be edified and grow in the faith. Not so we could stretch the teachings and develop our own take on these important scriptures.

 

Another doctrine that causes a good amount of angst in the Church is the place of good works in the Christians eventual sanctification and ultimate resurrection and reward. Catholics see good works as being central to the believers justification and essential part of the Christians eventual resurrection. Adventists have a doctrine of the Investigative Judgement under which faith in Jesus Christ and good works are required to get the believer into heaven. You can add to this the need to keep the Sabbath as another essential component in the Adventist salvation journey. It also indicates that Adventism might be under the law as they see themselves being spiritual Israel.

 

The reality is that our works are as filthy rags before the Lord and the only saving component in the salvation process is the shed blood of Jesus. Our works cannot do anything but show the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives as he sanctifies us in readiness for the resurrection. Salvation is in the redemptive work of Christ Jesus alone through faith alone. That much the reformers got right.

 

Now the main reason that I have touched on a few of the doctrines that cause debate amongst the various denominations of our Church is because I yearn for a simpler way. An easier way to the truth than all the ruminations and recriminations that so often arise out of debates of theology and soteriology within the true Bride of Christ, the Church.

 

So, what I would say then is that I am a simple man and I only understand simple things. My Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, said this "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Matthew 11:28-29 <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2011%3A28-29&version=KJV> 

 

From this scripture I take that God invites all to believe on Jesus Christ and makes it clear that He will give all who come to him rest unto their souls. Rest from rumination over bible doctrines, worries about salvation, fears and trials that we face in this life. We need to believe on Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, who bore our sins on the Cross. That we might believe on Him and not perish but inherit eternal life.