Love According to John part 3

7/30/11

Greetings,

                For the past two weeks we have been discussing 1 John and the shift in paradigm that his writings force upon us. While we are inclined to look at things from the natural first and then consider the spiritual, his writings look at the spiritual first and then consider the natural. We have also come to understand that in every case that he talks about the topic of love, he is speaking in reference to the love of God—agape. This is a love that can neither be generated nor counterfeited. It has its source in heaven and must enter into the earth through us.

                In order to make the concept of God’s love a little easier to understand, we are going to employ some examples. These examples will help us to conceptualize how we are to interact with and embrace the love of God. We need to understand what we are after and sometimes it is not enough just to hear something.

                Imagine a hamster. Consider its fluffy body, tiny feet and oversized belly. Admit it, despite the fact that it’s a rodent, it’s kind of cute. Of course, it lives in a cage. It takes its water from a bottle. It eats out of a dish. When it needs exercise, it runs in its wheel. The wheel spins and spins. The hamster never considers the implications of going nowhere or the fact that nothing gets produced. As long as it’s running and the wheel is spinning everything seems so right. As long as the wheel keeps spinning, who cares if the hamster actually gets nowhere?

                Some of us are like that hamster. Trying to love others without the love of God makes us no more effective than the hamster. The purpose is not to spin your wheels “trying” to live up to the Bible. We must stop thinking that Christianity needs to be generated by works of the flesh. This is purposeless and backwards. For the past two weeks we have been discussing that agape must be received from the dimension where it originates. Any other comprehension of loving others with the love of God is by definition carnal. This must not be so! Consider what Paul had to say to the carnally minded Corinthians:

                “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:1)

                We’re now going to look at an example that will help us lay down carnal thinking when it comes to the concept of agape. I am going to create a mental picture for how this works. Imagine a gardener. This gardener has a garden that needs to be watered. The garden represents the lives of the people in his sphere of influence. The water represents the love of God that needs to be poured out upon them.

                This gardener understands the basic principle of things. It’s his job to water the garden. If he waters the garden, he’ll bear much fruit! Like it is written

 “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matthew 7:20)

Unfortunately this gardener is not the brightest crayon in the box. Let me explain. He has a water hose attached to his house. This hose represents his connection to the heavenly places, or the dimension where God’s love is generated (Ephesians 2:6, Ephesians 3:17-19). This hose receives water from a reservoir that for all intents and purposes is unlimited. Therefore, instead of going the most logical route, he walks several miles to his nearest grocery store, pays $1.29 and buys a can of Coke®. What is his goal? If you can believe it, he has purposed to water the garden with the coke that his self-effort produced. Why would he do something so ridiculous?

The Coke® represents a counterfeit to God’s love. This is backwards thinking. It is impossible to water an entire garden with this substance and expect it to work. In the same way, it is impossible to love others according to the way God has purposed us to love them if we go about it with the wrong paradigm. The wrong paradigm is self-effort. It’s not our job to develop strategies for generating a counterfeit. It is our job to reveal it from its source. This can only be done by allowing this love to flow through us, which is why we must seek to be continually filled with the Spirit.

“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18)

Many Christians are like the gardener. They then turn around and try to love others as best they can. When the Coke® doesn’t work, they feel like failures. They ask: why does the Bible demand such an impossible standard? How foolish. Here’s the new paradigm: Turn on the hose of God’s love and douse yourself with it until your clothes, hair and shoes are literally dripping. Then turn around and blast the people in your life with the same hose. The love isn’t being generated by your self-effort, so don’t try to live like it is. Just let it flow from its source, and suddenly you’ll find that the proverbial garden is literally drowning from overexposure. It is possible! You can release the love of God upon others! Don’t be like the hamster spinning its wheels. When we get a grasp of this, unity in the body of Christ will become very natural.

               

Discussion

1.       Do you perceive life by looking first to the natural or first to the spiritual?

2.       Considering the example of the hamster, can you remember a time in your life where you felt like this example applied to your situation?

3.       Can you remember a time when you tried to love others out of a wrong paradigm?

4.       How many dimensions does the love of God occupy?

5.       Where does agape come from?

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?

Applying Agape

5/28/11

Greetings,

                Last week we dove into the book of Ephesians and broke down the goals that God has for His people. These goals came from Ephesians 4:13. I informed you that we would be staying in the book of Ephesians and that is exactly what I intend to do. This week we are going to talk about some concepts that will be practical and workable for our lives. Let us begin with this passage:

                “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3)

                Love is hard. Why? It is because people give us every reason not to love them. They fail us. They disappoint us. They don’t listen to us, lose all their money, and then call us asking for a “loan” we know they won’t pay back. However, Jesus gives us two commandments that form the foundation of the new covenant.

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

So there you have it. If we can’t love others we break 50% of everything God told us to do. What a bummer right? Let’s be real about it though. What about that time when we really tried as hard as we could to love someone… to be there for them… to be patient. Then one year, two years, five years went by with no fruit. There must be a point where we give up right!

This is where wisdom comes in. We are not called to love others with our own love. Our own love is limited, and it will fail. In Ephesians 4:2 (which we read in the beginning) Paul exhorts us “forbear one another in love.” The word translated forbear literally means put up with. Go figure. How do we put up with others? With Agape! Agape is the Greek word that is translated as love. Now we are going to dive a bit deeper and understand this sometimes enigmatic “love” the Bible is always talking about.

The Apostle Paul explains to us that we do not naturally have agape. We live in a three-dimensional world. Everything natural to this world and our existence is based on three dimensions. When Paul explains agape he gives us a unique revelation. It has four dimensions! This means that it comes from another dimension because ours cannot naturally produce it. As it is written:

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19)

                Isn’t it interesting that before Paul gets into the chapter declaring God’s goal and destination for the church (Ephesians 4) he explains to us where the love necessary to achieve this comes from (Ephesians 3)? Notice that agape has breadth, length, depth, and height. This is four dimensions. How does it get in us? It comes from heaven, flows through our spirit and comes into our heart.

                This passage says something very interesting. It says that Christ must dwell in our hearts by faith. This has been overlooked because for too long now the spirit and the heart have not been distinguished as separate aspects of our make-up. When we receive salvation (the born-again experience of receiving Jesus) it is a spiritual event. After this happens, it becomes possible for Christ to dwell in our hearts. The heart is our subconscious. The word dwell means to house permanently. This does not happen automatically in our heart, and like the Apostle tells us, this requires faith.

                Not many people have been taught how the invisible aspect of humans works. Without bringing in a boatload of scripture and deep study I’m just going to give you the basics. The human spirit that has received Jesus as Lord and Savior becomes like a pipe with one end in heaven. God puts what is in heaven into this pipe and it flows into the earth. At the other end of this pipe is the heart. The heart is the gateway between the spirit and the soul. It can only let what is coming from heaven through if the soul (mind, will, and emotions) is in agreement with these things. When Christ is dwelling in our heart by faith it becomes possible for the blessings (including agape) that are coming from heaven to have an impact on our lives. You have to believe that it is possible to love others that are seemingly unlovable before you actually do it.

                With this said, I have good news for you! By the grace of God you can do it! God’s grace is His empowerment in our lives to do what is impossible for us. Many of us have run into major problems when it comes to loving others. We frankly want to give up. We want to walk away. We want to lay down the law and cut them off. They deserve it right? However, the Bible says His grace is sufficient for us (2 Corinthians 12:9).

                Unity requires us to put up with each other. Fortunately we are supposed to use God’s love, not our own to do it. This makes the impossible possible. Now I’m going to give you the atomic weapon—so to speak. This is the simple prayer that will empower you to do the impossible—love the jerks! When you read it, you may be confused at how simple it really is. That’s okay, God made it that way. Just keep in mind that it should be prayed regularly for some time. Now for all those people you know you need to love say the following:

                “Father, I thank you that I have access to your throne and your love. By grace I receive your love by faith. I receive your wisdom to apply this love to others in my life. I pray that I would be strengthened with might by your Spirit in my inner man so that Christ can dwell in my heart by faith, making the impossible possible. Thank you in advance for answering my prayer. I say this in Jesus’ name, amen.”

Discussion

1.       What two commandments does Jesus give us?

2.       How does your own life stack up when compared to the standards of the new law Jesus gives us?

3.       Are there people in your life that you have written off as unlovable?

4.       Do you love others with your own love or with God’s love?

5.       How can you practically apply this letter to one relationship in your life?