Perhaps the greatest revelation within the key verses comes next. If you want to show your love to God -- care for other believers! Oh I know this grates against us sometimes. It is easier sometimes to sing about how much we love the Lord than it is to care for fellow believers. Beloved this is serious business for God. Jesus described it when He talked about who would enter heaven. I know we all know these verses but today I ask that you truly consider them:
"Then
the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my
Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation
of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty
and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I
needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in
prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer
him, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you
something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you
in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit
you? "The King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did
for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' -- Matthew 25:
34-40 (NIV)
If you want to show love to Jesus --He is saying you need to show love to the least of His brothers. In another Scripture Jesus outlines that those that do the will of the Father are His brothers. Christianity was not designed by God to be a solo project. We were designed to be a community. A community that loves each other, despite our differences. That we would focus on that which unites us -- the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not a building that unites us. It is not a flashy leader who unites us. It is not a denomination that unites us. There are too many calls for false unity today. Too many who claim the mantle of Christian leadership but show love only to those who blindly obey and ask no questions. Too many others in Christian leadership who show absolutely no love of Christ towards other Christians. I have seen well-intended Christians in leadership positions speak in such condescending manners towards other believers that it made the Spirit inside of me grieve. The one thing Jesus said would differentiate us from people in the world would be our love for one another. But amidst the politics of church and the self-righteous- pseudo piety that passes for genuine faith these days the love is seemingly lost. What we are left with is a caricature of a Christian that the world correctly sees as hypocritical. Love is what binds everything according to the Bible. Yet too often we only love conditionally but Jesus taught us the opposite:
If you love only those who love you, what
reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. -- Matthew
5: 46 (NLT)
It is easy to love the lovable but there is
no reward for that. Singing a praise song is not showing love to God. Serving
in a ministry is not showing love to God. Showing love to the least of His
brothers -- THAT is showing love to Him. That is how we express our love to God.
Building on this great revelation we see the
next thing to consider is that we need to be mindful to not become spiritually
dull and indifferent! How prevalent is this becoming the body of Christ? We
have entire churches that have become spiritually dull and indifferent. Realize
that we are not talking about being indifferent towards the world -- but rather
towards the spirit. Churches that focus more on programs than healings.
Churches that focus more on seeker-friendly, purpose driven numbers than on
genuine salvation and discipleship. But here is the scary key to this portion
of Scripture. It is not just that these churches might choose to focus on the
wrong things. It is that they are so dull or indifferent to the Holy Spirit of
God that they confuse the machinations of church with the movements of God. Emotionalism
replaces the manifestations of the Spirit. Impossible you say? Just look at the
false Holy Laughter movement from the 1990s. Uncontrollable gyrations, barking
like a dog, and rolling on the floor in spasmodic laughter -- all passed off as
moves of the Spirit of God. For years thousands were led astray. Even today you
see so much false emotionalism being passed off for the Spirit of God. An abuse
of the usage of tongues. People shouting out in the middle of services. People
running across the altar of God. All passed off as a "move of the Spirit."
Nonsense. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman and is all about order -- not chaos.
But look in the key verses to see what God
has attached this warning of becoming spiritually dull to. If we wish to avoid
the spiritual indifference that has infected too many believers and too many
churches then we must strive to continue to love other believers as long as we
live. Hmmm, well that seems a bit obvious until you dig a little.
Unfortunately, Christianity can morph into something other than God intended it
to be. God intended Christianity to be about people. About bringing them to the
foot of the cross for salvation and then about lovingly discipling them so they
can go out and love other people to the foot of the cross. But so often these
days Christianity becomes about something other than people. In churches it
becomes about church worship instead of God worship. It becomes overly focused
on money and tithing. Missions and evangelism. Music and the arts. And listen,
these things all have their place in a healthy church. They just cannot be what
the church is about. They cannot become the focus. Oh sure, lip service will be
paid to Jesus as everything that is done is wrapped up in the name of Jesus.
But as the Seven Sons of Sceva learned in the Book of Acts, there is no power
in His name without a proper relationship. In a healthy church the focus needs
to be about love. It needs to be about the love of God towards us -- which is
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It needs to be preached in an uncompromised manner.
It needs to be focused then on genuine discipleship -- making sure that the
enemy doesn't steal back anything the new believer has received as a new born
child of God. This is the heart of love in Christianity. If this is
accomplished correctly then the natural outgrowth will be a church that gives
so tithing doesn't even have to be preached. In a church that loves the Gospel
and loves others the natural outgrowth will be a church that goes out onto the
highways and the byways to bring this great love to the lost. You do not have
to force people or guilt people into supporting missions. Music and the arts
become a natural outgrowth of the love of Jesus Christ that resides in the
hearts of His believers.
So now I am giving you a new commandment:
Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. -- John
13: 34 (NLT)
Lastly, look at what is on the line beloved!
Faith and endurance are the keys to inheriting the promises of God. Joseph was
given a dream at age 16 of what God would bring into his life. That dream must
have seemed so far away when he was rotting away in prison for 13 years. Yet
his faith was matured during those 13 years. He endured and when the work God
was doing in him was complete -- the promises of God were made manifest in his
life.
