Love the sign of a true disciple.
We have been talking about the Great Commission and Evangelism as basic instructions for a Christian. A follower of Jesus is charged with the responsibility of “reproducing” him or herself.
To make disciples you have to be a disciple. To coin an old expression regarding making disciples, “sheep beget sheep”. You have to be one to make one. Discipleship is also a true sign of maturity in Christ. The good-news or Gospel is too great a message to keep to one’s self. Show More
The New Commandment
What should our motivation be for witnessing, sharing, or proclaiming the Gospel? Is it a required duty? Is it something I must do to belong to the church? No, it really has nothing to do with duty or initiation into a group of believers. Jesus makes it clear what our motivation should be in sharing the Good-News, as a matter of fact, to love is a commandment. In John 13:34-35, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another.” Can you see discipleship is about expressing Jesus’ love by words and deeds? As we do that it will prove we are disciples of Jesus and make our witness believable.
You are nothing without love!
It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a Christian, or what church you belong to, or how much of the Bible you know. Without love, you are nothing! I didn’t make that up, I am just quoting the scripture! The Apostle Paul said in, 1 Corinthians 13 1-3 “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing”. Clearly, you see it is not the gifts, the anointings, and sacrifices that we are so often attracted to that really matter. If one doesn’t love they are nothing!
Believers Are Salt and Light
In Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus is speaking to believers when He says, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven”. So, when Jesus says that we are to be Salt and Light! What is He talking about? How can salt lose its saltiness or light be hidden under a basket? Jesus is using salt and light as a parable for love.
When a Christian does not love, he is a Christian that has lost his flavor or saltiness. When a Christian is unwilling to share the love of God, he is hiding love under a basket.
At this point, you might be feeling defeated because there are people in your life you don’t “love”. There are people who have hurt you and even abused you and you say to yourself, “how can I love them”!
The problem with many Believers is that they interpret Love as an emotional feeling and because they don’t “feel” love they feel like they are letting God down. This leads to guilt and shame and in worse cases moving away from God. The good news is that you can love without feeling the emotion of love. What we need to understand is the kind of love Jesus has for us.
Four words for love
In the new King James Version of the Bible, the word love is used 230 times. What you may not realize is that in the original Greek language there are at least 4 words for love and each is translated as the word love in English. The questions you must ask yourself is,
- What kind of love is Jesus commanding me to show?
- What kind of love was Apostle Paul talking about when he said, “without love I am nothing”!
- What kind of love is like salt or light?
In each one of these three cases, the Greek word AGAPE is used for love. I will have much more to say about Agape in the next post. For now, I want to focus on three other words for love.
I love my wife, Dee. I love my children and my siblings. I love my best friend Frank. Although I use the word love in each case you recognize that I don’t love each of these groups of people in the same way. In other words, the word love has a different meaning depending on the context of the sentence.
Our modern New Testament Bible was originally translated from the Greek language and the Greeks had 4 different words for love. In the English version of the Bible, they are all translated simply as love.
When we think of the word love we often think of romantic love. This is the Greek word EROS. While not found in the New Testament the Old Testament has the corresponding word in Hebrew.
The next Greek word for love is STORGE, which is a family-based love. The love one has for children, siblings, and relatives.
The third type of love is called Phileo. This type of love is reserved for close friendship. The city of Philadelphia gets its name from Phileo, “the city of brotherly love.“
