Love According to John part 2

7/23/11

Greetings,

                Last week we discussed the premise of John’s writings. When it came to the topic of love he only concerned himself with one type of love—the love of God. This is referred to as agape in the Greek language. As we discussed last week, this love has its origin in the heavenly dimension where God rules. It cannot be artificially generated but must literally be channeled through us. The degree to which we can love others with this love directly correlates to the amount of this love we are continually receiving. The moment we move away from our dependency on God, we shut off the flow.

                This is incredibly important to the topic of unity because unity in the body of Christ should be established in the love of God. However, if we don’t understand love and continue to try and generate it in the flesh we will never advance towards our corporate calling. Our corporate calling involves us coming to a place of unity and maturity. Without the love of God our attempts to advance ourselves towards this corporate calling will undoubtedly seem impossible and frustrating.

Have you ever been frustrated? We all get frustrated. It’s a part of life. Even if we do get to a place of spirituality where frustration is virtually conquered, the fact of the matter is that we weren’t born that way. People are frustrating and sometimes the frustration that others bring us can lead to negative feelings.

                Severe negative feelings can cause us to experience a terrible thing. It’s called hate. Have you ever hated a person? I remember that when I was growing up my mom would never allow me to tell anyone that I hated them. I always had to say “I really dislike them.” What my mom was doing was training me to think a certain way. As a Christian, I wasn’t supposed to give in to hate and go around hating people. Understanding the power of words, she helped me to avoid a negative lifestyle. Did a change in verbal expression really change anything? What if I really did hate the person?

“He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.” (1 John 2:9-11)

God is light. Therefore, when John talks about being in the light He is referring to being found in Christ. This means that we have received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. He goes on and says that people who say they are in the light and hate their brother are actually in the darkness. John describes darkness as separation from God (1 John 1:5). Not only are they in the darkness, but he says that they have always been in the darkness.

How is it possible that if I hate my brother I am disqualified from being in the light? I have personally met many Christians that struggled with feelings of hate towards others. What about the boy who was raped by his step father and all of his step father’s friends at the age of eight? How is it that if he struggles with hate he is not in the light?

                This is undoubtedly a tough question. Is John saying that any hate that remains in us after our salvation experience disqualifies us from actually being saved, regardless of our past circumstances? Isn’t there grace to help us overcome these negative things from our past only after we receive Jesus Christ?

John is writing to us from “another level.”As we discussed last week, John is describing the human condition and the engaging of God from a spiritual angle. Our lives originate from our spirit, and when we receive Jesus Christ we become one spirit with the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). This places the image of God in our spirit. When we are talking about our true nature in spirit, the regeneration of the new birth actually makes it impossible for our true nature to hate. John is actually talking on this level.

                Just because our true nature cannot hate, it does not mean that our soul (mind, will and emotions) ceases to experience things according to the un-regenerated state. Although we might feel like we still hate people, the reality is that it is impossible of our true nature to hate. This is where the enemy trips us up because he will point at our experience of hate and lie to us. He will tell us that because our experience does not line up with our true nature we are hopeless and doomed. He will beat us up with condemnation until we are so deceived we can no longer see the light we are standing in. This happens all too often and is why Peter explains that the salvation of the soul is a process that continues to the end of our faith:

“Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:9)

                Just like there is a deeper revelation regarding hate, there is a deeper revelation regarding love. John says that “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.” This love is agape. This means that those who allow the love of God to flow from God’s dimension through them are abiding in the light. This is the right way to do things.

               

Discussion

1.       What type of love is the Apostle John concerned with addressing?

2.       How does God intend for us to access His love?

3.       Are there people in your life that you hate, and if so what are you going to do about it?

4.       Does our true nature allow us to hate?

5.       What does it mean to be in the light?

Love According to John part 1

7/16/11

Greetings,

                Unity is so important. It releases such spectacular potential that it boggles the imagination. At the same time, it is so hard. I am convinced that it is nearly impossible to truly unify with others that we refuse to care about. On a deeper level, the truest unity comes as a result of love. The apostle John, otherwise known as the apostle of love, gives us some of the deepest teachings on unity through his revelation of love. This week we are going to begin looking at what he had to say.

                When reading the book of 1 John (or any of his other epistles), a foundational understanding must be present; otherwise we’ll miss the whole thing. When John talks about love, he is not discussing human love. Throughout all of his writings the word “love” is translated from either agapao or agape. These are two tenses of the same word and specifically refer to the love of God. There are other Greek words available like eros or phileo that describe human love. This cannot be overstated. The entire collection of John’s writings contain revelation and instruction on the release and application of the most powerful force available from the kingdom of God—the love of God.

                To understand the implications of this statement we must understand that the kingdom of God is the dimension where God is king. It is not found out in space somewhere. The kingdom of God is a dimension that literally overlays the earth, and must be entered into through the heart. This is why Jesus tells us that the kingdom of God is within us.

“Nor will people say, Look! Here [it is]! or, See, [it is] there! For behold, the kingdom of God is within you [in your hearts] and among you [surrounding you].” (Luke 17:21 AMP)

The heart serves as a gateway between the soul (mind, will and emotions) and the spirit (our contact point with God), and is a processor of both natural and spiritual things (Hebrews 4:12). The heart is synonymous with the human subconscious. In order to live a supernatural life our hearts must be programmed by the truth and realities of the kingdom of God. These are explained by the Bible as the exceedingly great promises that we have received (2 Peter 1:4).

Furthermore, to interact with the kingdom of God we must interact with the spirit realm. It is impossible to be Christian and reject spiritual things. The Bible says that God is spirit, and those that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). The dimension where God is King is in the spirit realm and the source of agape or agapao is in this dimension. Thus when we read about the love that John is talking about, we must understand that we are talking about a force that is being sourced from another dimension; a force which is impossible to artificially generate.

When I make a comment like “we need to love others with the love of God,” many Christians will identify with this statement. The reason why is because it sounds familiar to what they have read or heard. Unfortunately, I am presently convinced that a majority of Christians don’t really understand a statement like this. The immediate thought is: I need to be more patient or kinder or more generous. They have no understanding of what is actually being said because the foundation for understanding has never been presented to them.

In order to actually love others with the love of God we need to receive it from its location and allow it to flow through us. The love of God cannot be understood apart from the understanding that it requires an active interaction with His dimension. Any understanding apart from this will lead to inevitable failure because agape is impossible to artificially generate. Let’s look at one example of how John discusses the love of God.

“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.” (1 John 5:1-2)

                Let’s look at what this is really saying. It begins by explaining that when we believe in Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior we are born again. We immediately know that without Jesus, the entirety of everything else John is about to say becomes irrelevant. This is because only through Jesus Christ—who is the only door to the kingdom of God (John 10:9)—can we gain access to the rest of what John is about to say. In other words, it requires the power and works of God. It requires God’s dimension and resources being implemented through us.

                John continues and explains that everyone that loves the Father (Him that begat) loves everyone that has been begotten by Him. It is actually impossible to be Christian and not love other Christians. On this note, it is interesting that I have met plenty of Christians that hate other Christians. In my case, there are plenty of Christians that get as far away from me as possible because I make them “uncomfortable.” Not only have most Christians experienced a lack of caring from other Christians, but many have not come close to experiencing the true, unrestrained love of God through them. Why?

                The love of God is a force that finds its source and origin in heaven. The love itself cannot help but love other Christians, and it becomes a part of us once we receive Jesus. This love is in us because the kingdom of God is in us as a dimension overlapped upon us. Unfortunately, the heart condition of most Christians does not allow for this love to be activated in their lives. The condition of our heart can either be an open door or a filter to this love. In some cases it can even act like a brick wall. We must allow God to change our heart condition by granting us inner healing and changing us until our heart looks like His. Until God transforms our hearts this force loves from deep within, yearning to be loosed from behind the barriers and blockades in our hearts.

                Regardless of whether this love is flowing through us or not, if we are Christian it is present. According to John, it is “By this that we know that we love the children of God.” As we move towards unity we are actually moving towards the embracing of our true identity. Our identity is love, but the enemy deceives us into blocking the flow of this love and then convinces us that it isn’t there. Once we allow the love of God to flow as we engage His dimension, unity will be a natural manifestation of the truth within God’s kingdom. However, it will never be natural to those who refuse to mature in Christ, deal with their heart issues, and purposefully engage the kingdom of God.

Discussion

1.       The Apostle John is also known as the apostle of what?

2.       Where does agape come from?

3.       Can agape be artificially generated?

4.       What is the apostle John really explaining to us through all of his writing on love?

5.       What are some of the heart issues in your life that hinder the flow of the love of God through you?

The Bond of Peace

7/9/11

Greetings,

                It’s amazing to think that we are already more than halfway through the year. We have been discussing the topic of unity in the body of Christ and hitting it from many angles. This week, we are going to discuss unity in the body of Christ in light of peace. As it is written:

“Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3)

There are two types of unity among the people of God described by the Bible. One is the unity of the Spirit and the other is the unity of the faith. There is a difference. The unity of the spirit is automatically true. All Christians, regardless of age, race, nationality, or denomination have the unity of the Spirit. When we receive Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior we receive the Holy Spirit and become one with the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 6:17). Since all Christians are receiving the same Spirit, we have the unity of the Spirit. The unity of the faith will be when we come to a place of doctrinal unity in that we believe the same things that God believes.

Until we get to that final state, we are to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The unity of the Spirit isn’t going anywhere. I could yell and scream at my Christian brothers and sisters until I am blue in the face. I could reject them, or chase them away from my house with dogs. It doesn’t matter. The unity of the Spirit remains present at all times and ultimately for all eternity.

                The unity of the Spirit is above our ability to sever. It is a bond that can’t be broken. This is a good thing. Unfortunately, some people don’t see the need to keep this bond in peace. They are cruel and do dastardly things.  What they don’t understand is that this type of activity is akin to punching themselves in the face. Have you ever punched yourself in the face? When this happens, the only one that gets hurt is you.

               

“There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling” (Ephesians 4:4)

According to the very next verse in the book of Ephesians we learn why we should keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It is because we comprise one body. There is only one body of Christ. The idea that there is a Lutheran body, a Baptist body, a Pentecostal body, and so forth is hogwash. Every person that is a partaker of the Holy Spirit becomes a component of this single body.

Imagine this. One day you are walking down the street and you see a man walking backwards. Moreover, he is only taking steps with one leg. The other leg is wrapped in bandages. You go over to him and you ask him some pointed questions. For starters, you ask why his leg is wrapped in bandages. He tells you that his leg has really angered him. He was so angry that he punched, kicked, and stabbed his leg until he had to put it in bandages. Then you ask him why he would do that to his own leg. Of course, he provides an illogical explanation. In his world, his leg isn’t actually a part of his body.

The body of Christ is one body. No matter what we do, we will not be able to destroy the unity of the Spirit. We are brothers and sisters in Christ no matter what. Since we cannot rid ourselves of the unity of the Spirit, it is in our best interest to endeavor to keep this bond in peace. Don’t be guilty of foolishness like the man in our example. It is not in our best interest to try and destroy others in the body of Christ that we don’t like.

Moreover, we have to understand that the peace that we’re supposed to keep isn’t a human or carnal peace. God gives us our peace. The peace that we can keep with others should ultimately come from Him and not from ourselves.

“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)

This verse explains to us that it is not our peace that keeps our hearts and minds. This is good because it means that “guru Sue” isn’t the solution to your problem with your Christian brothers and sisters. Jesus Christ is your solution. God gives us His peace so that we don’t have to come up with our own. What we are supposed to do is receive His. However, we only receive it through Jesus.

Receiving the peace to maintain unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ is most effectively done through the avenue of grace. Grace is what allows us to receive Jesus Christ in the first place. We are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8). Grace is unmerited favor because it is actually God’s ability given to us. God gives us His ability to be saved because we cannot save ourselves. Furthermore, we can use grace to access anything that God has given us whether it is faith, joy, peace, or anything else.

 “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3)

This is how it works. God has already given us all things pertaining to life and godliness. Included among these things is the peace that we are supposed to endeavor to keep with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Since we already have these things, our focus needs to be on access as opposed to acquisition. What is the key that unlocks access? Grace. For this reason I am going to give you a simple prayer that will allow you to receive anything God has already given to you including peace. This is a wonderful tool that will work wonders in your life. All you have to do is fill in the blank.

“Father, I receive your grace to __________________________________. In Jesus name, Amen”

Discussion

1.       How are we supposed to keep the unity of the Spirit?

2.       How well do you do this in your own life?

3.       How many bodies of Christ are there?

4.       What is grace?

5.       What are you planning on using the grace prayer to receive?

The Test of Unity

7/2/11

Greetings,

                One of the most difficult things in life is the reality of failure. Sometimes we fail. Even more painful are the times when others fail us. The frustration of failure can be even more intense when a large degree of expectation is attached to success. Unfortunately, it is usually impossible to attain success if we don’t expect it. Furthermore, as Christians we are supposed to expect to have success. Isn’t that why we have the victory in Christ Jesus?

“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57)

                 I have a mission. Part of it is to promote unity in the body of Christ. Needless to say, by all human standards of analysis I am setting myself up for failure. The only standard that is in my favor is the Word of God, which prophesies a coming day of unprecedented unity and maturity in the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12-15). Although I know that my goal cannot fail because the Word of God cannot fail, it doesn’t mean that I won’t experience failures along the way. How do I process this fact in light of the Word of God?

                It is actually a Biblical fact that although God gives us the victory in Christ, He will take us through valleys of failure anyway. Have you ever been through a valley of failure? Have you ever looked around on every side and watched everything you set your hand to crumble? If you are human, your answers are undoubtedly yes. So what is God doing during these times that may seem to contradict His promises of victory?

                Fear is the enemy of faith. It is impossible for us to walk into the fullness of God’s plan and purpose regarding any realm of activity touching our lives if we have fear. The Bible says faith works by love (Galatians 5:6) and also that perfect love casts out all fear.

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18)

We’re going to illustrate this with what I call our Faith Mobile. In this vehicle, love is our engine, faith is our car, and fear is the gamut of potential mechanical failures. We have to fix the problem of fear in order for our love to work right. Some breakdowns are worse than others. Sometimes we just need a fuse or two replaced. Other situations require an overhaul of the entire engine (like a busted head gasket). Some problems affect our driving, but other problems can render the car useless! It is in the latter situations that we wind up taking a cab or bus. This represents counterfeit transportation. Fear will cause our faith to fail and force us to find other (counterfeit) means of transportation in life.

Our fear must be removed. Since fear represents the gamut of potential mechanical failures, this means that God has to work on our love engine. Once our love engine is working right, our Faith Mobile can get us somewhere. When our love engine is “fine-tuned,” our faith begins to move mountains (Matthew 17:20). If we think we can have mountain moving faith while entertaining fear we kid ourselves. It’s like setting out to drive across the country with a broken head gasket, no oil in the engine, and a cracked steering column. I promise you that you won’t get very far.

Again, God fixes the love engine in our faith mobile by removing the fear. However, the most effective way for God to do this is to make us face our fears and when our worst fears have come upon us, show us the victory He has given us. Often, this involves letting us experience a degree of failure. Let’s look at two examples.

I recently read an article about how people that do the trapeze acts in the circus are trained. What can convince a person to leap from a swinging bar hundreds of feet in the air? The answer is confidence. Their training begins by removing the fear of falling. In order to do this they are trained to fall. The safety net is set up, they are made to swing, and once they swing out they let go and…fall. That’s it. Once they get used to falling, they don’t have to be afraid of it. Once the worst case scenario no longer holds power over them, they have the confidence necessary to do eye boggling stunts in midair.

Our second example of overcoming fear comes from the book of Judges. A man who was a Levite had a concubine that basically cheated on him and then ran away to her father’s house (Judges 19). After some time had passed, the Levite missed her and traveled with a servant to her father’s house to retrieve her. He spent nearly a week with the father because the concubine’s father kept insisting that he stay. Finally, against the father’s best efforts the man left with his concubine. The problem was that they still wound up leaving late.

When it got dark they went into a city of the tribe of Benjamin named Gibeah. An old man saw them sitting in the street and took them into his house. Not too long later, men of the city made violent requests to have the Levite given to them so that they could fulfill their sexual perversions on him. Instead of trying to fight them off or cooperating, they gave the mob the Levite’s concubine. They took her and abused her that night until she was so battered that when they let her go she walked to the old man’s house, collapsed at the door, and died (Judges 19:26-27).

When news spread around Israel regarding what had been done, the Israelites united as one and asked the Benjamites to hand over the culprits of this horrible act. The Benjamites refused and all of the united tribes prepared for war against the tribe of Benjamin in order to bring justice to the situation (Judges 20:1). How exciting! This was the first time in many years that the tribes of Israel had united for a single purpose. Even better, it was for the purpose of executing justice. Isn’t that what God is in agreement with… the execution of justice?

Although God desires justice, He also saw this as an opportunity to build their faith and remove their fear. How did he do it? He let them fail. The story goes on to explain that on two separate accounts the unified tribes asked the Lord for His permission to attack (Judges 20:18, Judges 20:23) and after the Lord gave them the order to attack they failed to attain victory and suffered terrible defeat (Judges 20:21, Judges 20:25). Did they miss God? Not according to the Bible. God personally told them to attack and they failed to gain the victory anyway. What was God doing? He was getting the fear out of their lives by taking them through the worst case scenario.

After two back-to-back losses they again asked God what to do and God told them to attack a third time. Then God said that He was actually going to give those who had committed injustice into their hands. The unified tribes followed through and secured a great victory against injustice. Almost the entire tribe of Benjamin was left dead.

This letter is two-fold in purpose. The first purpose is to explain that sometimes God will let you experience failure in order to get the fear out of your life so He can walk you into your purpose. The second is that God will test our unity after He brings us together. After the tribes unified in the book of Judges, God tested their resolution. Looking forward, we need to expect testing as the body of Christ begins to experience unification. Unity isn’t an end in and of itself. It’s the works that are accomplished as a result of unity that God is waiting for.

Discussion

1.       Have you ever doubted a word from God because of failure?

2.       Have you ever been forced to experience what you would conclude was a worst case scenario while you were actively serving God?

3.       Did you allow God to remove the fear from you during this circumstance or did you abort His purpose out of impatience and rebellion?

4.       When considering the parable of the faith mobile, would you say your engine needs just a few tweaks or a major overhaul? Why?

5.       Will God test unity once it manifests?