0108 - Without Love We Are Nothing

As we consider more of the basic essentials of Christianity we soon are confronted by the Scriptures of the absolute importance of the love of Jesus in our lives for everything. Our love for God has to be more than our love for others (John 21:15-19); yet we really only love God as much as we love people; and in this message we look at the importance of love in Christian ministry. 1 Corinthians 13 makes it very clear that LOVE is the only motivation for true Christian ministry. It is not about theology, how much training we may or may not have done, how many credentials we have, how gifted we are, how greatly we flow in spiritual gifts, how much faith we have, how many miracles we can do; or even giving our body to be burned. It is all to no avail if we do not have LOVE! It might be good at this point to ask, “What does the word ‘LOVE’ mean?” It means “the love which springs from admiration and veneration (“a feeling or expression of awe or reverence” – Collins Dictionary), and which chooses its object with decision of will, and devotes a self-denying and compassionate devotion to it. Love in its fullest conceivable form . . . to cherish with reverence” (Bullinger’s); “to have a great attachment to and affection for . . . an intense emotion of affection, warmth, fondness, and regard towards a person” (Collins) . . . and 1 Corinthians 13 spells out the character of love. It is all very challenging, and a challenge we need to face up to and win. “Love never fails!”

So, why do we hear so little about the Biblical priorities of love today? Is it because we, generally speaking, are not good at loving? One of the main reasons why there are so many hurting and wounded Christians is the fact that love has not been evident in the dealings with these “wounded warriors”! We certainly need to do better than we have done in the past in this regard!

LOVE is the only acceptable motivation for Christian ministry ~ even our faith has to work through love (Galatians 5:6). Without LOVE the Bible makes it very clear that we are nothing. Nothing!It does not say we will become nothing, but that we already are nothing. And nothing produces nothing! My testimony is that God had to tip my life upside down after I had been a preacher for 16 years. He spoke into my life and said, “I am going to teach you how to love people.” I re-acted, believing that I did love people. But I very quickly found out that I did not have the love which would cause me to “lay down my life for others” (John 15:13). God took me on a “learning course” that would eventually see me living with three death contracts on my life for five years. Love was tested during that time, and it was so exhilarating to know that “perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment” (1 John 4:18-21). We were fearless during that time, and have lived to tell the story! One of the tests of knowing how much love is at work within us is by the amount of fear that we battle with. While there is still fear within us there is a lack of God’s love permeating our being.

Love enables us to minister “the Jesus way” so much more than by any natural means. But love does not “just happen” for us. We have to work on it. We have to consciously work at breaking down any barriers between us and other people. It must go beyond just the love we have for our immediate friends. For if we do not learn to love others more, we will not be able to minister and to impact people through the powerful love of Jesus. When we minister without true love we actually are causing damage to people and the Kingdom of God. But when we minister out of a pure love motivation, then the compassion of Christ will flow through and out of us to touch people in very powerful ways. Love enhances our giftings and releases us more in our ministries. Let LOVE be the all-important motivation of our lives ~ Rodney W. Francis.

 Bible  Readings:  1 John 3  1 John 4 John 15; 1 Corinthians 13 John 13:34-35

Please Pray This Prayer:

“Dear God, I come to You in the name of Jesus Christ, and I ask You to teach me how to love people more than I do. Help me to keep short accounts with others, to practice forgiveness, and to be motivated powerfully by Your great love, and to serve You faithfully day by day. I sincerely ask You to help me more and more to minister to others in the motivation of Your love; to see people as You see people. Help me to conquer all my fears in Your love. In Jesus' name, I pray these things. Amen."

 

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