Faith, Hope, and Love in the Church: Love

Faith, Hope, and Love in the Church

The Direction of Our Love

Colossians 1:4

 1:3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4. since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; 5. because of the hope laid up for you in heaven…

As we saw in our first look into this section of Scripture, these verses talk about the object of the Colossian’s faith—Christ Jesus, the direction of their love—toward all the saints, and the place of their hope—which is in heaven.  The purpose for Paul writing this epistle, which we see in 4:12 and 2:1-3, and it is so that the Colossians would stand fully assured in their faith.  When working with someone to build up their confidence, you start with commending them on what they are already doing well or right.  We see Paul doing just that in these verses as he commends the Colossians on the exercise of their faith, love, and hope.  We have looked at the object of their faith, Christ Jesus, so now I want to talk about the direction of their love, which is toward all the saints; and as it was for the church at Colossae, it should be for the church today. 

So as we consider the direction of their love and therefore the direction of our love in the church today we want to look at 4 things.

1. What is this love they have?
2. Where does this love originate?
3. Why is this love directed towards the saints?
4. How is this love manifested?

What is this love they have?  Well, the Greek word for love used here is agape.  It is one of the four words the Greeks used for love.  These four words for love are storge, eros, phileo, and agape.  Storge means natural affection, like you would have for a pet, or the natural affection a parent has for their child.  It is not used in the NT except twice in its negative sense in Romans 1:31 and II Timothy 3:3 to describe how far man falls without God.  Eros, is a passionate, sensual, physical love.  It is a love based on infatuation and sensual attraction.  It is often used to describe romantic love.  This is the kind of love we see portrayed in movies, television programs, romance novels, and sung about in our music.  Interestingly, it is never used in the Scriptures.  Then there is phileo, brotherly love.  It is a warm and tender affection.  It can be deep and intense. It is used to describe the love for those near and dear to one’s heart.  It is a love that cherishes. It is a love that is reciprocal in nature and a love that is shared.  It is used throughout the NT.  Finally, there is agape, the predominant word used for love in the NT.  It is a love of the will and the mind.  It is a love of choice and commitment.  It is not devoid of emotion, but overrules and overrides emotion.  It acts in spite of how one feels.  It is a selfless love, an unselfish love, a sacrificial love.  It is not motivated by the self, but by others.  It loves even if the person who is the object of the love is undeserving, unworthy, and unloving in return.  It puts what is best for the other person first and foremost.  It is a love which compels one to action.  In the NT it is used to describe the love of God, the love of Christ, and how we are to love.  This type of love was thought unattainable by the Greeks and is only used in secular Greek writings two or three times.  The picture of love which this word paints for us in the Scriptures is not “being in love” but the act of loving. 

Where does this love originate?  As you can see the Greeks were right in thinking the agape type of love was unattainable, from a human perspective.  The heights this love operates in are unassailable for us mere mortals.  So where do we go to find this love, where are the headwaters of this love?  I John 4:7-8, 16 As we see in these verses, God is love.  Note that it does not say that God has love, or that God is a loving being, but that God is love.  By saying that God is love John is saying that love is intrinsic to who God is, it is part of His nature, and is inseparable from who He is, and, therefore, inseparable from His actions.  It is as much a part of Him as your eye color is of you.  This love that is part and parcel of who God is, is agape.  God is agape.  This love of the will, of choice and commitment, this love that compels to action, this love that is selfless, unselfish, and sacrificial, this love that loves despite the unloveliness of the object loved, that loves despite of its unworthiness, that loves in spite of its hatefulness in return, this love that comes from a predetermined state of mind that exists because it is part of core of His being, this is the love that God is. This is the love that is described in I Corinthians 13 as patient, kind, never jealous, never bragging, never arrogant, never acts unbecomingly, is never self seeking, is not provoked, never takes into account a wrong suffered, it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things and it never fails.

This is the love that the Colossians had for all the saints, and, as such, this is the love that we are to direct toward all the saints. So how do we get this love?  Let’s look again at I John 4:7.  We are to love (agape) one another, for love (agape) is from God and everyone who loves (agapes) is born of God and knows God.  So we see that agape is from God and only those that are born of God (born again) and know God have this kind of love.  So this love, this agape, is not something that an unregenerate person, an unsaved person, or someone whom the Bible calls the natural man possesses.  This love, agape, is unique to the believer.  Now let’s look at Romans 5:5.  Here we see that the love of God (not just any love, but God’s love, agape) has been poured out within our heart through His Holy Spirit who was given to us.  Poured out is in the perfect tense here, which means that it is a completed event with continuing results or effects.  So we see that God has given us His love, His agape, in our heart through His Holy Spirit who indwells us, and we received this love, all of this love, the minute the Holy Spirit came and took up residence in our heart, and this love never goes away.  Now look at Ephesians 3:17.  This verse tells us that we are rooted and grounded in this love, this agape.  What a beautiful picture these words paint of our secure position in and reservoir of, the love, the agape of God. We are fixed into and draw from the infinite love (agape) of God. This is where this love we are to have for all the saints originates and how we have come to possess it.

Why is this love directed toward the saints?  Most of us who have been Christians for any length of time are familiar with the two greatest commandments in all of Scripture.  The greatest is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind; and the second is like it, it is to love your neighbor as yourself.  We all know that when Jesus came He fulfilled all of the law, so He fulfilled these two commandments.  But what He also did was to raise the bar.  John 13:34-35.  Here Jesus gives a new command, and this command is to love (agapao) one another, which would be fellow believers (the saints), not as ourselves, but as He has loved us.  This is what John is referring back to in I John 4:7 when he says “Beloved let us love one another, for love is from God.”  So we are to have the same love toward all the saints that Christ Jesus has for us.  This is why Paul is commending the Colossian saints, for following the command of Christ to love one another as He has loved us.  According to John 13:35 this love for all the saints will prove to all men that we are His disciples, His followers.  If you think about what we have seen about agape, you can understand how this would be a witness to all men that we are disciples of Christ, His followers; because only Christ or someone who has Christ living within can love like this.  We also see that this is a particular love; it is Christ’s love, and His love for his own, His saints, being lived out through His saints for one another.  This is a powerful witness to all men, both saved and unsaved, of the reality of the power and love of Christ.  And when we follow His command to love one another we prove our love for Him as He said in John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments,” and we see the saints at Colossae doing just that.  Isn’t it wonderful that the love of Christ has already been poured out within our hearts so that His command to love one another as He has loved us is not burdensome, but a joy.  Christ Jesus wants us to love one another as He loved us. He wants us, His own, to continually share and experience His love for us with and through each other.  Oh, what a glorious thing this ought to be in the church, to never be without the love of Christ.  What a wonderful provision He has given us to never be without His love.  This is the reason behind the gifts and the gifted given to the church in Ephesians chapter 4,  to attain to the stature of the fullness of Christ, and in doing so the church will build itself up in love, agape, Christ’s love.

How is this love manifested?  When something is manifested it means that it is revealed.  As believers we reveal the love of Christ in how we live it out, and from the context here in Colossians it is lived out in relation to other believers.  Let’s look at some practical examples from the Scriptures. 

We are to be angry and yet, not sin.

We are to let no unwholesome word proceed from our mouth, but only that which edifies.

We are to let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander be put away from us.

We are to be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other.

We are to bear one another’s burdens.

We are to bear one another’s weaknesses.

We are to be on the alert and pray for one another with all prayer and petition.

We are not to be arrogant toward one another.

We are not to be partial.

We are to treat each other the way we would want to be treated.

We are to please others instead of ourselves.

We are to defer to others by considering one another as more important than ourselves.

We are to do no wrong to one another. 

We are to accept one another.

We are to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.

We are not to be provoked.

We are not to act unbecomingly toward one another.

We are to speak the truth to one another in love

We are to be patient with one another.

We are not to gossip about one another.

We are to consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

We are to provide for one another’s needs.

We are to reconcile with one another.

We are to gently restore those who sin. 

We are to be subject to one another.

Our love is to cover a multitude of sins against us and still keep on loving.

No matter how much and how well we love we are to excel still more.

This is the essence of love, God’s own love, Christ’s own love, that has been given to us so it can be given out to our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the love in which we are rooted and by which we are grounded. 

You know, we hear so often today that we are to love ourselves or that we must learn to love ourselves.  This is the mantra behind all the self-help books and seminars, many of the twelve step programs, and unfortunately is what is being taught in so many churches.  This is the eternal lie.  It is what Satan was really telling Eve to do in the garden.  It is what Satan was tempting Christ to do in the wilderness.  Isn’t it interesting that there is no place in Scripture that says God loves Himself.  What Scripture says is that God loves us, that God loves His Son, that God so loved us that He gave His Son, His only Son whom He loved, for us, that we might have eternal life with Him and enjoy His presence forever.  In addition, we are not commanded in Scripture to love ourselves, but to love God, to love our neighbor as we love ourselves and to love one another as He has loved us.  In fact, there is no place in the Scriptures where self love is commended or commanded.  The focus of our love is to be on God and therefore on His saints, our brother and sisters in Christ.  My friends don’t fall prey to the siren song of self love, but follow the command of Christ, the example of Christ, to love one another as He has loved us.  Greater love has no man than this than that He would lay down His life for His friends.    My friends, my fellow saints, let us love like this today.

The Importance of Faith, Hope, and Love

In that well known verse at the end of I Corinthians 13 Paul gives us the three eternal Divine qualities, the three Divine distinctives that are to be present in the life of one who truly believes.  And to the extent these are present in the lives of believers, they will be present in the life of the church of which they are a member.

These three Divine distinctives can be manifested in various ways, and we see them manifested in the life of two churches that Paul wrote to.  First, it was the Thessalonians.  In I Thessalonians 1:3 we see the activity of faith (work), the unction of love (labor), and the steady enduring of hope (waiting for Christ).  We also see them manifested in the church at Colossae.  In Colossians 1:3-5a we see the object of faith (Jesus Christ), the direction of love (toward all the saints), and the place of hope (heaven).  In two different churches we see the same qualities, but how they are manifested in each church was different....just as they are in the lives of individuals.

It is no accident that in both letters we see Paul commending the church, and rejoicing in thanksgiving for these two churches in his prayer for them.  Why?  Because a spiritually healthy church, a spiritually balanced church will be manifesting these eternal qualities, just as a spiritually healthy and spiritually balanced individual will be manifesting them.  Paul knew that these churches were spiritually healthy and robust, and therefore would be effective.  This is why he wrote what he did to the Colossians, so that they would stand fully assured in their faith (2:1-3, 4:12) and not be derailed by the false teachers; and why he wrote to the Thessalonians to not only keep doing what they were doing, but to excel in it still more.  In both of these letters you can see Paul wanting these churches to continue to grow in their faith, their hope, and their love.

Another example is the letter to the Hebrews, written with the goal of exhortation Hebrews 13:22 (speaking to the need of the moment).  These believers needed to be encouraged and strengthened in their faith, love, and hope.  In this epistle the author of Hebrews talks about the obedience of faith and the endurance of faith.  He talks about the confidence and assurance that hope brings, and how it is the anchor of our soul.  He talks about the encouragement in love that comes from gathering together, and how we should be stimulating one another (being a catalyst) to love and good deeds.

In I Timothy 1:5 Paul writes, "But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience (which is directly connected to the assurance of hope) and a sincere faith."

So, fellow pastors, what is the goal of our instruction, our exhortation?  Should it not be in developing faith, love, and hope in the people under our care.  Should not the things we do, the prayers we pray, the activities that we engage in be to developing these eternal qualities in our people?  I sincerely believe that is why the Philippians were Paul's joy and crown, not just because of their aid to him, but because of the manifestation of faith, hope, and love he witnessed in them.  May the faith, hope, and love of our people be to us a great and glorious crown and the cause of our rejoicing in that day!

Growing in Sanctification

Growing in sanctification is growing in personal holiness.  As such it is a practical, progressive, holiness.  It is a growth in holiness that, as Peter puts it in II Peter 1:8, leaves us neither useless nor unfruitful in our knowledge of Him.  So then, growing in holiness is also growing in our practical knowledge of Him.  Conversely, as our practical knowledge of Him grows, so does our holiness; and as our holiness grows, so does our sensitivity to sin.  As such, we will repent more readily and more deeply and more completely.

Additionally, as we grow in sanctification we also grow in our faith; and the heights of holiness we attain are matched by the depth of our faith.  Growth in faith gives us a greater ability to trust His Word, to trust in Him, to entrust ourselves over to Him regardless of the situation.  This depth of faith is really the bedrock of our sanctification and is the rich soil out of which our holiness grows.

Also, growing in sanctification is also growing in love.  It is the enlarging of the heart to love Him more, to love your neighbor more, and to fervently love your fellow Christians.  It becomes the great motivation in your living out your Christian life, the great motivation in growing in your faith, the great motivation in your desire for holiness...the great motivation behind the sacrifice and service of your faith.  It is this love that gives you the desire, indeed the increasing desire, to please the Lord in every respect.  Since all the Law and the prophets are fulfilled in the commands to love God with all our heart, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as our self; then as we grow in our love for God and neighbor we will also be growing in holiness.

Growing in sanctification, therefore, is not an isolated event, but affects the whole of our spiritual life.  There is not an area or aspect of our spiritual life that is not touched.  We are set further and further apart from the person we used to be.  We become less like that old man, and become progressively more like the new man that is being conformed into the image of Christ; and in the daily renewing of our inner man we grow in all aspects into Him

Growing in sanctification, then, is the progressive reality of our salvation.  Friends, I hope this reality is yours.

A Day of Love

Valentines Day is a coming.  What are you going to do to show your spouse, your significant other, your love for them?  What will be the token of your love?  Will it be jewelry, candy, flowers, a quiet dinner out, or some personal item?  Of course it will have to include the appropriate card.  But is any gift, token, or event really adequate to express love?

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propiation for our sins.  (I John 4:10) Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:3) Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

How has God expressed His love for us?  By giving us His Son, His beloved Son, as the sacrifice for our sins.  How has Christ expressed His love for us?  By the offering and sacrifice of Himself to God for our sins. 

Wives be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord.  But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.  (Ephesians 5:22,24)  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.  (Ephesians 5:25)

The context of this section of Scripture is walking in love as Paul is following up the command and example in Ephesians 5:1-2 with how walking in love looks in a Christian's life.  So the question is, "What are we sacrificing, what are we giving up of ourselves, for our spouses?"  Wives love their husbands by taking the initiative in submitting to them.  Husbands love their wives by giving up themselves for them (notice the phrase gave Himself up in vs 5:25 is the same as in vs 5:2) It is in the sacrifice of ourselves that love is most profoundly and most vividly expressed. And the good thing about this is we can do it every day without waiting for an appointed time.  And just as Christ's sacrifice was a fragrant aroma, so our sacrifice of ourselves becomes a fragrant aroma, not only to our Lord, but also to our spouse.  If we make this the habit of our life (walking in love), then we will create an aroma of love that will pervade our homes and our relationship with our spouse.  It will be a potpourri in our relationship that will never have to be replenished, and others will be able to smell its bouquet.

How do we do this?  Glad you asked.  We most effectively do this by being patient, kind, not being jealous, not bragging or being arrogant, not acting unbecomingly, not seeking our own (not being selfish or self-seeking), not being provoked, not taking into account a wrong suffered, not rejoicing in unrighteousness, but rejoicing with the truth; by bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things, and enduring all things. (I Corinthians 13:4-7)  Notice the giving of self, the self-sacrifice, that is involved in living out (walking in) love.  This is the best way to love your spouse; and when we walk in love, then every day is a day of love, and Valentines Day becomes the cherry on top.

Love and Unity

Biblical love is far deeper than a love dependent merely on feelings and emotions.  Rather, it is a love that stems from the very soul and character of the individual.  It comes from the person's decision to love, not from his feelings.  In fact, many times the decision to love will run contrary to the feelings one possesses.  Biblical love  is the love of God that has been poured out into the heart, and then given from that heart to others.

This kind of love is the basis of unity as true unity does not come from a denial of differences, but from a forebearing with one another in spite of the differences.  It is the love that gives, that covers, that bears, that endures, that believes.  This is the love that overwhelmingly conquers.  This love then enables us to be united one with another, not due to a common cause, but because of a common love.

Ephesians 4:1-3

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk

in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,

with all humility and gentleness, showing forebearance to one another

in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Holiness and Love

At first glance these two Christian attributes would not seem to be closely related. In fact, one might be inclined to ask the question, "What does holiness have to do with love?" or vice versa. A proper response would be, "More than you think."

Matthew 22:34-40 gives us some insight into their connection. When asked by a lawyer which is the great commandment in the law, Jesus replied by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind, and called this the great and foremost commandment, as well it should be. Then He goes on to add something to it, the second greatest commandment. He said this commandment was like the first one and it was, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." which is from Leviticus 19:18, but He did not stop there. He then went on to explain why these two commandments are the two greatest in the Scriptures, because upon them depend the whole Law and the Prophets. The Greek word for depend is kremmanumi, and means to hang or suspend, much like a door hangs or is suspended by its hinge. So as a hinge supports the door and allows it to operate properly, so these two commandments support the Scriptures.

The key concept that binds these two commandments together is love, love of God and love of neighbor. We know that the Decalogue's (Ten Commandments) first four commandments deal with our attitude toward and treatment of God, and the last six deal with our attitude toward and treatment of our neighbor, but the principles put forward here also permeate and undergird the rest of the Scriptures. So, in these commandments we see the essence of loving God and loving our neighbor. Paul gives us additional insight and commentary on these verses in Romans 13:10 where he says, "therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."

In talking to His disciples Christ gives us another commandment concerning love. Listen to John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another (refering to the brethren), even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. So now we have three commandments concerning our love. One is to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul, two is to love our neighbor as ourself, and three is to love one another (the brethren, fellow Christians) as Christ loved us. In these three commandments we are not only told who to love, but how to love and the extent to which we are to love. We are to love God with all of our being, with the totality of our person, with all that we are. We are to love our neighbor in the same way we love ourself; and therefore treat our neighbor the same way we would we would treat ourselves by giving him the same care and concern we would give ourselves. Finally, we are to love the brethren with the same love as Christ has loved us. We are to walk in love as Christ Jesus loved us and gave Himself up for us, as an offering and a sacrifice to God, for there is no greater love than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends.

When we are loving God, our neighbor, and each other in this manner then we are fulfilling the Law. The Law is God's standard for righteousness, His measure for holiness. Therefore, when we love as we are supposed to love, we are fulfilling the Law, we are being righteous. So then love is the key to holiness. Understanding this helps us have a more complete understanding of some of Paul's exhortations.

Romans 5:5...the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

I Timothy 1:5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart...

I Corinthians 16:14 Let all that you do be done in love.

I Corinthians 14:1 Pursue love....

Ephesians 5:2 and walk in love...

Philippians 1:9 And this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment.

I Thessalonians 4:9-10 Now as to the love of the brethren.....excel still more.

II Thessalonians 1:3 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethern, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater.

II Corinthians 4:14-15 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

And it explains this verse.

I Corinthians 13:13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

So if you want to live a holy life, you must love. If you want to grow in holiness, you must grow in love, you must love more and better, you must excel still more in love, you must pursue love, love must control you to the point that all that you do is done in love; and then all that you do will be holy...just like the Holy One who called you.

How do you love like this? Well, of course, the answer is in the Scriptures and starts with Romans 5:5. We will cover that in the next post.