Life Marks:  “More than a Virtue”

Because of the amount of time that has elapsed, a quick review about what we have covered so far in looking at love seems not only appropriate, but important.

In Blog #15, we discovered that genuine love is both unconditional and sacrificial, and we spent some time looking at the dialogue between Jesus and Peter on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. In Blog #16, we discovered the price of Love, as illustrated in the fact that Jesus died for our sins because of God’s great love for the world, and because of this love, Jesus demands that we love Him above all other affections. In Blog #17, we discovered that because no one has the capacity to love as God loves, one must first be “born of God,” receiving His life within us. And then, the capacity to love is given to us as a “gift.” And then, in Blog #18, we discovered the reason for us to love Him is because He first loved us by sending His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Now, let’s see what more the Bible has to say about Love.

The Apostle John makes one point absolutely clear, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love (1 Jn. 4:8). In other words, if we don’t love, we simply don’t know God. John then speaks of something that we have covered before, that is, God’s love was demonstrated by sending His Son to become the sacrifice for sins. And then once sins are confessed and forgiven, He gives us new life, and the capacity to love (1 Jn. 4:9-10). And then, John states unequivocally, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another (1 Jn. 4:11).

On one occasion, Jesus had a conversation with a lawyer in which the lawyer actually summarized the entire ethical code by saying that one must, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Lk. 10:27). Quoting from the Old Testament (Deut. 6:5; and Lev. 19:18), he was able to summarize a myriad of laws dealing with personal morality, human relationships, and ceremonial stipulations, and focus on just one commandment, but with two parts – Love God, and love one another. He understood that Love was more than just a “virtue,” it was a command. He got it! Hurray for the lawyer.

But how does that work out in practical application? What sounds like a pretty straightforward commandment, actually showing others that we love them is a bit more complicated. And that’s why Jesus made it really simple for His disciples to understand. He didn’t want them to miss it, so He stated it three times in just nine verses. Here it is, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (Jn. 14:15, 21, 23).

Now you must be saying, “Give me the list of His commandments, and I’ll get to work on them!” I’ve got news for you, keeping His commandments is more of a pattern of life than keeping a list of commands. Love must first come from the heart, and then is worked out in the nuts and bolts of life. Some might suggest that love is simply a warm feeling with no substance, while others suggest that love is like attacking the commandments as if you were running an obstacle course in boot camp. We simply must have both heart and action. That’s what real love is.

Knowing that we human beings have some challenges in most areas of life, Jesus actually gave us commandments that were specifically intended to help us know how to “love one another.” As I was working on my Doctor of Ministry Degree over 20 years ago, I was so intrigued by this issue that I chose to do some research on what I called, “The Master’s Mandate.” The Mandate is taken from Jesus’ own words, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”

And so, I spent a great deal of time working through all four gospels and the rest of the New Testament noting all of the “commandments” that were designed to help us understand what it means to “Love one another.” Jesus and the apostles didn’t want to just “turn us loose” with deciding on our own how to love others, so they gave us guidelines in order to do so. Although Individual situations vary, the commandments help us to put a frame around loving one another in a variety of circumstances. Well, in my research, I found ten major categories of New Testament Commandments, all designed to help us “Love one another.”

We will begin to look at those next week. We won’t take ten weeks to do so, but we will probably take a few. In the end, you will know what it means to “love one another.” Hope to see you next week.