The Way of LOVE!

(1Corinthians 13:1) If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

Here is a verse that has much said about it, but when we sift through the “gibberish” (straw) and we look for that which is digestible our Spirits will only ever be nourished when we settle on the verse’s focus, love!

This verse is packed with controversy amongst so many different denominations (religious groupings) and yet it seems as if Paul wants the Corinthian church to move off the topic and onto a greater theme, this is why he ends chapter 12 like this; “And I will show you a still more excellent way.” Everything in our lives must hinge on LOVE, if we are to be effective in Christ and for Christ. I know how some of your minds have now already run off in opposite directions as some resist the possibility of the wrong application with this thought as others welcomes it with a licence (do whatever we like) type of mentality.

Love does not equal compromise to God’s Word nor does it equal legalism in applying the law! What then does it really mean? As we know the love of many will begin to grow cold, this is a factual statement from the Lord Jesus and it will come to fruition: - “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:12)

We must all except that our exposition must spring from common ground if we wish to be beneficiaries in our application to loving one another, false application to love is not true love. Our foundation must be the Word of God; it must be the Lord Jesus Christ himself. If we all agree with this as our starting point I trust we will learn to love God and love one another with a sincerity that may not have been part of our arsenal in times past.

But before we explore this topic which may take many posts, I would like to explain my thinking; or rather what got me thinking about the seriousness of this topic. Besides scripture being full on instruction to love one another, my mind has been taken back to an incident some two thousand years ago, an encounter between Peter and John, both Apostles. Peter the hands on in your face kind of guy, the one who walked on water, it seemed that there was nothing he would not venture to do with the Lord Jesus in his immediate vicinity. He even cut off a centurion’s ear when they came to arrest the Lord. John on the other hand was always around but somewhat in the shadows of Peter, and yet He was known as the beloved discipline, the one whom the Lord loved. In fact he leaned his head on the breast of the Lord Jesus at supper and heard His heartbeat. It was a place reserved for him. He was also the only Apostle never to be martyred, he live out his life on the isle of Patmos. It was there that he wrote the book of Revelation.

Let us set the scene; hope had now diminished as the Lord had been crucified and all the disciples were despondent, they had gone back to the old ways, they had gone back fishing. It was now the third time after the Lord’s resurrection that He now revealed himself to the disciples by way of the sea. They were fishing and had caught nothing and Jesus said to them,” "Children, do you have any fish?" They answered him, "No." He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon (reference to the old man) Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. There Peter launches himself into the water and he is the first to make it to shore to welcome his Saviour. The others arrived in the boat with their haul in tow. The Lord then said, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." And again it is Peter who rushed over to haul in the net; I can picture this burly fisherman needing no help as he heaved in the busting net. A man amongst men! Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. It was now time for Peter’s next lesson as we also should learn from it. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon (his name prior to God’s call on his life), son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." His instruction was to forget those things that we should have all left behind by now and get on with the call of the Lord in our lives. Look how the Lord now emphasis His point; - He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. He then gives Peter an explanation for His instruction; “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) -The Lord was making reference to Peter’s upcoming death that he would have to endure for his faith). - {He was crucified at Rome under Nero and Crucified up-side-down at his request because he did consider himself worthy to be crucified like Jesus.}

And after saying this he said to him, "Follow me." What follows is rather familiar; Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had been reclining at table close to him and had said, "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?" When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man?" Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!"

Why did the Lord not single out John the beloved disciple? Apart from the obvious we can only speculate, and I would not want to venture into any categorical statements speaking on behalf of the Lord as it would not be a wise thing to do. However I will pose some questions. Do you think love had anything to do with it, or the state of the beloved disciple heart? I personally think it did! But be that as it may, Paul shows us a more excellent way, the way of love. What we now need to do is explore this way as it will be to our benefit. Lord willing we will look into the subject over the next few posts, so until then...

Signing off

Tyrone