The importance of love
Select passages ~ Tom Phillips
December 16, 2018
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NO asl interpretation |
The Importance of Love
I'll try to be relatively quick, though I don't want to be too quick. I want to take the time to consider just a couple things with you. I think I probably mentioned this-- this before, at one time, but I was thinking about it again and so I --this story, anyway. Some of you have read the little book called, They Called Me Mama. And it's about--it's basically an account given by a lady name Margaret Laird, who was a missionary in Africa. If I remember right she went there in the 20’s or 30s’, I believe. I know t was sometime in the Depression era. And, um--and so she tells of her accounts there, but the—in particular what I wanted to start with this morning is; she tells in one chapter, she gives an account that I believe it was after almost 30 years there-- after she had a furlough, she went back to Africa. By that time all of her children had grown up so she was going back by herself. Her husband named, Guy Laird, had already passed away. And so, she was going back by herself. And at that time, she tells the story, that she-- she realized, through a certain event that happened, that she really did not, after 30 years, that she really had not loved these people, as she ought. And so, she shares this in this chapter. And of course, I--- if I recall, it was probably a huge thing for her to have to realize that, that-- for after all this time. And as she's talking about this subject, she brings up---you know she talks about her husband, Guy Laird, and she said, you know whenever the natives, the native believers would reminiscence about her husband, because he passed away, she said he was, a--- he was a very good--- he was an engineer--- he was a trained engineer, and he had done a lot of things there to help them, but she said you know they really didn't talk about that, that much--- about his engineering skills and the projects he had done. And she said he was also very good Bible teacher. And, she said, when they talked about him, as thy reminiscence, she goes, they did not talk about that aspect that much either, okay. She said, what they talked about was how much he had loved them, And it made me cry when I read it, makes me cry when I think about it again, after all these years. And she said---and she went on to say, that they would recount, as the natives, the native believers reminisced about it, they would recount all the little ways that her husband had demonstrated that he loved them. That’s the thing they remembered most, as they thought about him. And of course, she was telling this, because she had come to realize that her own love had been pretty, pretty weak. And we’ve thought about this on different occasions. I think it was after we'd been in Mongolia just about 10 years, I remember this---just thinking about this again, remembering the story and really started to think--- what about us, you know, in this---in this regard? And, just what is the state of our own love for the people there in Mongolia? That's a question that we have to, we have to, that we need to ask ourselves. And, of course, it's a question that--- the reason I bring it up this morning to talk about with you for a few minutes---because it's a question that all of us in the body of Christ need to examine ourselves concerning which all of us need to examine ourselves.
It was just this past week, I was reading in the word, and it came to a certain portion of God's word, and that's--- it just jumped out at me again, this whole matter of love. And so, this morning, what I would like to do is just, in a very short time--- because this is what I did that morning that it really hit me--- I just sat there, and started writing down the references and the things that came to my mind, as I started to think, “What does the word of God tell us about love?” And obviously were not going to be exhaustive in just a few minutes, but I just wanted to basically run through some of these things because it was---it was helpful for me. I’m not spending time on any one passage, but it was very helpful for me to just to think about this matter of love.
And the first thing I would like to---two areas basically--the first thing is just to help us to, to remember to some fundamental principles that scripture tells us about love. First principle: These aren’t necessarily in any order, this is just the order they came to mind as I was thinking about it. The first principle is, is that, love is absolutely necessary. and I---I think of 1 Corinthians 13. He says, you know, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and know all things, and all mysteries, but do not have love,” he goes, “I am nothing.” But he goes on to say that, “If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love,” he goes, “it profits me nothing.” Love is absolutely necessary. Without love, okay, we as believers--- without love, we are nothing. All of my gifts and abilities, okay, no matter how well developed, apart from genuine love reduce me spiritually to a big nothing. Paul said, in verse 2 of chapter 13, I’ve these amazing gifts and am able to brilliantly, forcefully, you know, to proclaim God's truth, and “if I have not love, I am nothing,” he said. And in the next verse, verse 3, all of my activities, all of my labors, all the sacrifices that I might make for the kingdom of God, if they are apart from genuine love, then Paul says, they're WORTH absolutely nothing. Think about that, those are some very significant statements that he makes to us in that passage. Love is absolutely necessary.
In Philippians chapter 1, Paul, basically, if you look at the passage, in verses 9-11, we’re not going to look at it now, but without love, “I will not be sincere and found sincere and blameless at the day of Christ. Without love. I will not be filled, my life will not be filled with the fruit of righteousness---without it. So, love is absolutely necessary.
Secondly: Love is a, I didn’t know how else to put it, but it’s a litmus test. It reveals, the apostle John tells us in his first epistle, whether or not I have passed out of death into life, chapter 3 verse 14. And earlier in that same chapter, he goes, “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious,” is what he says, “The one who does not love his brother is not of God.”
Three: It’s the distinguishing mark of the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. It’s the if the evidence that this believer’s really growing. And you understand, that if you look at Ephesians chapter 1, you look at Colossians chapter 1, you look at first Thessalonians chapter 1, in each of those epistles, of Paul addresses the believers in those different towns, he says, “We give thanks to you,” why, “since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints.” He’s, when we heard that, you know, we give thanks for you. Because that’s the evidence that God is at work in your midst, you folks are growing, you’re progressing. And later in the second, his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul says virtually the same thing. He says, “The love of every one of you grows ever greater,” and so he goes, “That's why,” he goes, “we ought to be giving thanks for you,” and he goes, “that's why I speak proudly of you,” when I talk about your faith to other believers. So, love is one of the distinguishing marks.
It's also, fourth thing: The distinguishing mark of a disciple or follower of Christ. We all are familiar with the passage in John 13:34 or 35, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” If we’re a follower of Christ, that's the distinguishing mark.
Number five: A little love is not enough. That’s the fifth principle that came to my mind as I thought about Scripture. A little bit a love isn't good enough, it’s not enough. He told the Thessalonian believers, who are doing very well in this category, he said, “May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love,” and the very next chapter, a few verses later he says, you believers, you’re practicing love, but, “we urge you, brethren, excel still more.” You can never have too much love. Whatever I have now is not enough. I need to excel at it. Of Peter, we looked at---Terry talked about first Peter in our first hour, Peter says that we’re to, “fervently love one another,” and he says, we need to keep it fervent, in chapter 4, “Keep fervent in your love for one another.” So, there's---love is--- you can never have enough love.
Number six: Maybe should have been number one, but, It’s the greatest commandment of Scripture. Christ tells us when that lawyer, asked Him, and he shall first of all, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, 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 neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.” In Romans 13, Paul says virtually the same thing in two different verses. If you look at verses 8-10, he's says---once he says---it’s the summation, to love one another is the summation of the law. He also says it’s the fulfillment of the law to love one another. So, it is the greatest commandment we’re told. And it's also, in that line, recently you have been looking through and going through the gospel of John in your Sunday mornings and you probably noticed that in the, the upper room discourse just hours before Christ was arrested, three times in that period of time, it's recorded that he told his disciples to love one another, three times in one evening.
Now those are what I call, just general fundamental principles that come to my mind as we think about what Scripture says. But what about some general characteristics or definitions? If I’m to examine myself as I ought to periodically, you know, how my doing in this? Am I loving people, am I loving the brethren? What are some more specific things by which we can examine ourselves? And I’ll just--- obviously this list is not at all exhaustive, I’ll just try to be as quick as I can.
The first thing: love does not coexist with pride. It can’t. In chapter 13 Paul told the Corinthians, “love does not boast, and it is not arrogant.” It can’t exist with pride. When there's pride in my heart, I'm not loving.
Number two: real closely relate related to this, it does not exist---love cannot exist with self-centeredness. Paul told the Philippians in chapter 2, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit.” And the verse before he had just said, maintain the same love toward one another. And he says, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit,” he goes on to say in verse 4, “Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” So, when I am chiefly concerned about how things are affecting me, and what is comfortable for me, what I think I need, what's convenient for me, when these are the things that are the chief thoughts of my mind, then I'm not loving because love does not coexist with the self-centeredness, that all of us, every one of us tends towards in our flesh. This is a way to examine myself.
Number three: Love shows preference to others. That same passage in Philippians 2, he says, “with humility of mind,” I didn't quote that part of it, the second part of chapter---of verse 3, “with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself.” I remember--- I was in my early 20s, and we were---I was giving a---it was my turn to give a little devotional at a Wednesday night Bible study, and I was referring to that passage, in Philippians chapter 2, and after I got done, was a short study, one of the men there---he almost started to argue with me about this. It was a time it was a---not a free-for-all, but it was a free time we were sharing with one another, because--- and I understood, I understand where he’s coming from, I mean, that seems virtually impossible, right, to regard another as more important than myself? Paul says the same thing in Romans, “give preference to one another in honor,” Romans 12:10. So this is--- obviously none of us is ever going to be perfect at this, but this is what love is. This is the command that we’re given.
Number four. Love shows forbearance, “forbearing with one another in love,” Ephesians chapter 4. 1 Corinthians 13 again, “Love is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered.” So, am I forgiving? Is there grudging, you know, in my heart? If that so, then I'm not loving. Love shows forbearance. Love does not hold grudges, love forgiveness. That's what Scripture tells us.
Number five: Love serves. Paul told the Galatians in the fifth chapter of his letter, he said, “Serve one another in love,” and that really goes together, when you think about what Christ told his disciples, that said--- if you recall, they were having an argument. He said he called them to Himself and He said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you,” he says, “but whoever wishes to be great among you, let him be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you, let them be your slave.” So, this is characteristic of love. That’s what Christ commands, that love serves one another and so again, this is one of the ways we can examine ourselves.
Another thing, another characteristic: Love does not assume the worst of others. Love gives the benefit of the doubt. Again, 1 Corinthians 13, “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Love does not assume that when that person didn't talk to me or when they said that thing. Love does not assume the worst of that person. If I do that, and that’s all our tendency, but when I do that, that's not love, he tells us.
The Seventh thing: Steve Nofsinger and I were talking about this just little bit yesterday morning, is that, love is a command, meaning it's an act of the will. Now, so often our world around us portrays love as an emotion. You either have it or you don't, and there's nothing you can do about it. You know, I fell out of love with my wife, so I divorced her. I just don't have it anymore. That's how the world portrays love a lot of the time. But scriptural--- scripture portrays love is an act of the will. Now it's an act of the will that's in conscious submission to and complete dependence upon the Spirit of God, because we can't work this up on her own, it’s the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians chapter 5. Love is an act of the will, and we need to remember that when I I'm really having problems with this one person you know, and no matter how hearts---how hard it seems, there is a way to love if I'm really dependent upon the Spirit of God. It’s an act of the will.
The eighth thing is: what is the standard? What is the standard of love, to which we’re to aspire, to which we are to be working, to which we’re to be aiming? And this is found all throughout, so many times, when Christ first told his disciples in the upper room discourse, He said, “even as I have loved you.” That’s the standard. And of course that’s a self-sacrificing love. He said that in chapter 13, He said that in chapter 15, “even as I have loved you.” When Paul talked to the husband's in Ephesians chapter 5, “husbands, love your wives,” how? “even as Christ loved the church.” So that's the--- that's the goal---the line.
Number nine: Love is to be in deed and in truth, the apostle John tells us, and again in the third chapter. In other words, love acts. Love does not just speak on behalf of itself. Certainly, love does that, but love acts. And if you recall the example that John gives, I’ll just read it to you real quick, “But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need, and closes his heart against him,” in other words he doesn't help them physically with them in need, “how does the love of God abide in him?” Love acts. Just like faith, James chapter 2, “faith works” it’s the same, “love acts.” And also, you notice he says, “in deed and in truth.” Love is genuine, it’s not hypocritical. There's no hypocrisy in genuine love. It's genuine.
Number 10 real quickly: love is to be continuously employed. It is to energize our every word and activity. Paul told the Corinthians,” Let ALL that you do be done in love.” I am to do nothing, nothing that I cannot do in love. If love is not motivating and energizing it, then I'm not to be doing it, is what we’re told.
Number 11: Love is not discriminatory. Notice what Paul said to, well we already quoted the verse in Ephesians 1, Colossians 1, First Thessalonians 1, “Your love to ALL the saints.” And---maybe we’ll stop here on this one. In Mongolia one of the things that we've--- it's been a real struggle for us, especially for a number years, was people that they claim to be believers, and I trust that a lot of them were, but, some of them had such different ideas, and such different methods for ministry, different beliefs, and the point is, what I understood---to what I still understand to be in some cases their wrong doctrine--- Okay---I'm not ignoring that wrong doctrine, I need to not ignore and be aware of that, I need to deal with them if I can, but the point is-- I'm to love them and to show them love in spite of the fact that we have some major differences. So, my love is not to be discriminatory. And I know for---I think for us---maybe may be more for me than for Lisa--- I think this has been one of the hardest things is to love in this way.
So, obviously, the list goes on. But this helps me to think through---just to have a quick summary, as it were, that of ---how important love is. And again, I introduce this by telling you that we've recognized this in our ministry in Mongolia, but it's, it's true everywhere. This is what God commands us as believers. This what he expects of us. This is what is to mark us as believers. We didn't look at the fact that love is THE BOND that preserves the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, Ephesians 4, Colossians 3, That's what keeps us together. Love that’s practiced like--- some of the ways we just looked at--- the way, the way that the Bible defines love and describes love. It’s that kind of love that binds us together and holds us together as believers. So, I pray that perhaps as you think about that, the Lord will use that to edify you and as it was and edification to me in just thinking through some of those things. Again, I want to thank all of you for your support of us and again just your fellowship with us and working together in the ministry in Mongolia. If you have some more questions, whenever, please let us know. Thank you.
The Importance of Love
I'll try to be relatively quick, though I don't want to be too quick. I want to take the time to consider just a couple things with you. I think I probably mentioned this-- this before, at one time, but I was thinking about it again and so I --this story, anyway. Some of you have read the little book called, They Called Me Mama. And it's about--it's basically an account given by a lady name Margaret Laird, who was a missionary in Africa. If I remember right she went there in the 20’s or 30s’, I believe. I know t was sometime in the Depression era. And, um--and so she tells of her accounts there, but the—in particular what I wanted to start with this morning is; she tells in one chapter, she gives an account that I believe it was after almost 30 years there-- after she had a furlough, she went back to Africa. By that time all of her children had grown up so she was going back by herself. Her husband named, Guy Laird, had already passed away. And so, she was going back by herself. And at that time, she tells the story, that she-- she realized, through a certain event that happened, that she really did not, after 30 years, that she really had not loved these people, as she ought. And so, she shares this in this chapter. And of course, I--- if I recall, it was probably a huge thing for her to have to realize that, that-- for after all this time. And as she's talking about this subject, she brings up---you know she talks about her husband, Guy Laird, and she said, you know whenever the natives, the native believers would reminiscence about her husband, because he passed away, she said he was, a--- he was a very good--- he was an engineer--- he was a trained engineer, and he had done a lot of things there to help them, but she said you know they really didn't talk about that, that much--- about his engineering skills and the projects he had done. And she said he was also very good Bible teacher. And, she said, when they talked about him, as thy reminiscence, she goes, they did not talk about that aspect that much either, okay. She said, what they talked about was how much he had loved them, And it made me cry when I read it, makes me cry when I think about it again, after all these years. And she said---and she went on to say, that they would recount, as the natives, the native believers reminisced about it, they would recount all the little ways that her husband had demonstrated that he loved them. That’s the thing they remembered most, as they thought about him. And of course, she was telling this, because she had come to realize that her own love had been pretty, pretty weak. And we’ve thought about this on different occasions. I think it was after we'd been in Mongolia just about 10 years, I remember this---just thinking about this again, remembering the story and really started to think--- what about us, you know, in this---in this regard? And, just what is the state of our own love for the people there in Mongolia? That's a question that we have to, we have to, that we need to ask ourselves. And, of course, it's a question that--- the reason I bring it up this morning to talk about with you for a few minutes---because it's a question that all of us in the body of Christ need to examine ourselves concerning which all of us need to examine ourselves.
It was just this past week, I was reading in the word, and it came to a certain portion of God's word, and that's--- it just jumped out at me again, this whole matter of love. And so, this morning, what I would like to do is just, in a very short time--- because this is what I did that morning that it really hit me--- I just sat there, and started writing down the references and the things that came to my mind, as I started to think, “What does the word of God tell us about love?” And obviously were not going to be exhaustive in just a few minutes, but I just wanted to basically run through some of these things because it was---it was helpful for me. I’m not spending time on any one passage, but it was very helpful for me to just to think about this matter of love.
And the first thing I would like to---two areas basically--the first thing is just to help us to, to remember to some fundamental principles that scripture tells us about love. First principle: These aren’t necessarily in any order, this is just the order they came to mind as I was thinking about it. The first principle is, is that, love is absolutely necessary. and I---I think of 1 Corinthians 13. He says, you know, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and know all things, and all mysteries, but do not have love,” he goes, “I am nothing.” But he goes on to say that, “If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love,” he goes, “it profits me nothing.” Love is absolutely necessary. Without love, okay, we as believers--- without love, we are nothing. All of my gifts and abilities, okay, no matter how well developed, apart from genuine love reduce me spiritually to a big nothing. Paul said, in verse 2 of chapter 13, I’ve these amazing gifts and am able to brilliantly, forcefully, you know, to proclaim God's truth, and “if I have not love, I am nothing,” he said. And in the next verse, verse 3, all of my activities, all of my labors, all the sacrifices that I might make for the kingdom of God, if they are apart from genuine love, then Paul says, they're WORTH absolutely nothing. Think about that, those are some very significant statements that he makes to us in that passage. Love is absolutely necessary.
In Philippians chapter 1, Paul, basically, if you look at the passage, in verses 9-11, we’re not going to look at it now, but without love, “I will not be sincere and found sincere and blameless at the day of Christ. Without love. I will not be filled, my life will not be filled with the fruit of righteousness---without it. So, love is absolutely necessary.
Secondly: Love is a, I didn’t know how else to put it, but it’s a litmus test. It reveals, the apostle John tells us in his first epistle, whether or not I have passed out of death into life, chapter 3 verse 14. And earlier in that same chapter, he goes, “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious,” is what he says, “The one who does not love his brother is not of God.”
Three: It’s the distinguishing mark of the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. It’s the if the evidence that this believer’s really growing. And you understand, that if you look at Ephesians chapter 1, you look at Colossians chapter 1, you look at first Thessalonians chapter 1, in each of those epistles, of Paul addresses the believers in those different towns, he says, “We give thanks to you,” why, “since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints.” He’s, when we heard that, you know, we give thanks for you. Because that’s the evidence that God is at work in your midst, you folks are growing, you’re progressing. And later in the second, his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul says virtually the same thing. He says, “The love of every one of you grows ever greater,” and so he goes, “That's why,” he goes, “we ought to be giving thanks for you,” and he goes, “that's why I speak proudly of you,” when I talk about your faith to other believers. So, love is one of the distinguishing marks.
It's also, fourth thing: The distinguishing mark of a disciple or follower of Christ. We all are familiar with the passage in John 13:34 or 35, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” If we’re a follower of Christ, that's the distinguishing mark.
Number five: A little love is not enough. That’s the fifth principle that came to my mind as I thought about Scripture. A little bit a love isn't good enough, it’s not enough. He told the Thessalonian believers, who are doing very well in this category, he said, “May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love,” and the very next chapter, a few verses later he says, you believers, you’re practicing love, but, “we urge you, brethren, excel still more.” You can never have too much love. Whatever I have now is not enough. I need to excel at it. Of Peter, we looked at---Terry talked about first Peter in our first hour, Peter says that we’re to, “fervently love one another,” and he says, we need to keep it fervent, in chapter 4, “Keep fervent in your love for one another.” So, there's---love is--- you can never have enough love.
Number six: Maybe should have been number one, but, It’s the greatest commandment of Scripture. Christ tells us when that lawyer, asked Him, and he shall first of all, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, 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 neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.” In Romans 13, Paul says virtually the same thing in two different verses. If you look at verses 8-10, he's says---once he says---it’s the summation, to love one another is the summation of the law. He also says it’s the fulfillment of the law to love one another. So, it is the greatest commandment we’re told. And it's also, in that line, recently you have been looking through and going through the gospel of John in your Sunday mornings and you probably noticed that in the, the upper room discourse just hours before Christ was arrested, three times in that period of time, it's recorded that he told his disciples to love one another, three times in one evening.
Now those are what I call, just general fundamental principles that come to my mind as we think about what Scripture says. But what about some general characteristics or definitions? If I’m to examine myself as I ought to periodically, you know, how my doing in this? Am I loving people, am I loving the brethren? What are some more specific things by which we can examine ourselves? And I’ll just--- obviously this list is not at all exhaustive, I’ll just try to be as quick as I can.
The first thing: love does not coexist with pride. It can’t. In chapter 13 Paul told the Corinthians, “love does not boast, and it is not arrogant.” It can’t exist with pride. When there's pride in my heart, I'm not loving.
Number two: real closely relate related to this, it does not exist---love cannot exist with self-centeredness. Paul told the Philippians in chapter 2, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit.” And the verse before he had just said, maintain the same love toward one another. And he says, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit,” he goes on to say in verse 4, “Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” So, when I am chiefly concerned about how things are affecting me, and what is comfortable for me, what I think I need, what's convenient for me, when these are the things that are the chief thoughts of my mind, then I'm not loving because love does not coexist with the self-centeredness, that all of us, every one of us tends towards in our flesh. This is a way to examine myself.
Number three: Love shows preference to others. That same passage in Philippians 2, he says, “with humility of mind,” I didn't quote that part of it, the second part of chapter---of verse 3, “with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself.” I remember--- I was in my early 20s, and we were---I was giving a---it was my turn to give a little devotional at a Wednesday night Bible study, and I was referring to that passage, in Philippians chapter 2, and after I got done, was a short study, one of the men there---he almost started to argue with me about this. It was a time it was a---not a free-for-all, but it was a free time we were sharing with one another, because--- and I understood, I understand where he’s coming from, I mean, that seems virtually impossible, right, to regard another as more important than myself? Paul says the same thing in Romans, “give preference to one another in honor,” Romans 12:10. So this is--- obviously none of us is ever going to be perfect at this, but this is what love is. This is the command that we’re given.
Number four. Love shows forbearance, “forbearing with one another in love,” Ephesians chapter 4. 1 Corinthians 13 again, “Love is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered.” So, am I forgiving? Is there grudging, you know, in my heart? If that so, then I'm not loving. Love shows forbearance. Love does not hold grudges, love forgiveness. That's what Scripture tells us.
Number five: Love serves. Paul told the Galatians in the fifth chapter of his letter, he said, “Serve one another in love,” and that really goes together, when you think about what Christ told his disciples, that said--- if you recall, they were having an argument. He said he called them to Himself and He said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you,” he says, “but whoever wishes to be great among you, let him be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you, let them be your slave.” So, this is characteristic of love. That’s what Christ commands, that love serves one another and so again, this is one of the ways we can examine ourselves.
Another thing, another characteristic: Love does not assume the worst of others. Love gives the benefit of the doubt. Again, 1 Corinthians 13, “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Love does not assume that when that person didn't talk to me or when they said that thing. Love does not assume the worst of that person. If I do that, and that’s all our tendency, but when I do that, that's not love, he tells us.
The Seventh thing: Steve Nofsinger and I were talking about this just little bit yesterday morning, is that, love is a command, meaning it's an act of the will. Now, so often our world around us portrays love as an emotion. You either have it or you don't, and there's nothing you can do about it. You know, I fell out of love with my wife, so I divorced her. I just don't have it anymore. That's how the world portrays love a lot of the time. But scriptural--- scripture portrays love is an act of the will. Now it's an act of the will that's in conscious submission to and complete dependence upon the Spirit of God, because we can't work this up on her own, it’s the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians chapter 5. Love is an act of the will, and we need to remember that when I I'm really having problems with this one person you know, and no matter how hearts---how hard it seems, there is a way to love if I'm really dependent upon the Spirit of God. It’s an act of the will.
The eighth thing is: what is the standard? What is the standard of love, to which we’re to aspire, to which we are to be working, to which we’re to be aiming? And this is found all throughout, so many times, when Christ first told his disciples in the upper room discourse, He said, “even as I have loved you.” That’s the standard. And of course that’s a self-sacrificing love. He said that in chapter 13, He said that in chapter 15, “even as I have loved you.” When Paul talked to the husband's in Ephesians chapter 5, “husbands, love your wives,” how? “even as Christ loved the church.” So that's the--- that's the goal---the line.
Number nine: Love is to be in deed and in truth, the apostle John tells us, and again in the third chapter. In other words, love acts. Love does not just speak on behalf of itself. Certainly, love does that, but love acts. And if you recall the example that John gives, I’ll just read it to you real quick, “But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need, and closes his heart against him,” in other words he doesn't help them physically with them in need, “how does the love of God abide in him?” Love acts. Just like faith, James chapter 2, “faith works” it’s the same, “love acts.” And also, you notice he says, “in deed and in truth.” Love is genuine, it’s not hypocritical. There's no hypocrisy in genuine love. It's genuine.
Number 10 real quickly: love is to be continuously employed. It is to energize our every word and activity. Paul told the Corinthians,” Let ALL that you do be done in love.” I am to do nothing, nothing that I cannot do in love. If love is not motivating and energizing it, then I'm not to be doing it, is what we’re told.
Number 11: Love is not discriminatory. Notice what Paul said to, well we already quoted the verse in Ephesians 1, Colossians 1, First Thessalonians 1, “Your love to ALL the saints.” And---maybe we’ll stop here on this one. In Mongolia one of the things that we've--- it's been a real struggle for us, especially for a number years, was people that they claim to be believers, and I trust that a lot of them were, but, some of them had such different ideas, and such different methods for ministry, different beliefs, and the point is, what I understood---to what I still understand to be in some cases their wrong doctrine--- Okay---I'm not ignoring that wrong doctrine, I need to not ignore and be aware of that, I need to deal with them if I can, but the point is-- I'm to love them and to show them love in spite of the fact that we have some major differences. So, my love is not to be discriminatory. And I know for---I think for us---maybe may be more for me than for Lisa--- I think this has been one of the hardest things is to love in this way.
So, obviously, the list goes on. But this helps me to think through---just to have a quick summary, as it were, that of ---how important love is. And again, I introduce this by telling you that we've recognized this in our ministry in Mongolia, but it's, it's true everywhere. This is what God commands us as believers. This what he expects of us. This is what is to mark us as believers. We didn't look at the fact that love is THE BOND that preserves the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, Ephesians 4, Colossians 3, That's what keeps us together. Love that’s practiced like--- some of the ways we just looked at--- the way, the way that the Bible defines love and describes love. It’s that kind of love that binds us together and holds us together as believers. So, I pray that perhaps as you think about that, the Lord will use that to edify you and as it was and edification to me in just thinking through some of those things. Again, I want to thank all of you for your support of us and again just your fellowship with us and working together in the ministry in Mongolia. If you have some more questions, whenever, please let us know. Thank you.
