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| For the Love of Christ |
The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are
bruised, To preach the
acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18-19)
The
Love of Christ
Let us address a great Miracle of Christ that is not so
specifically designated in Scripture – that is, His immeasurable love for those
who were yet enemies to God.
For
when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For
scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some
would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)
The Love of God is just as INFINITE as every other aspect of His Nature. He
is Omnibenevolent, and all-Loving for that which accords with His Will. He does
hate sin, and He hates prideful natures. But His love for those whom He has
chosen exceeds all understanding. It is not in the nature of man to love an
enemy that has done all in his power to destroy us, yet God knows those whom He
will draw to His heart and He loves them while they are yet enemies. He knows
they will come to Him in the process of time. “For whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might
be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them
he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he
justified, them he also glorified.” (Romans
8:29-30) This great
truth is a countervailing wind to the thoughts of man, but true nonetheless.
Please consider the Love of Christ for us in agreeing to come and pay the
penalty (death) for our sins while we were yet unborn. That is a Love that
sees, not only across every distance, but every measurement of time as well. After
all, He is the Great I AM who knows no limits to distance or time. The kind of
love that will sacrifice all for a friend is definitely a rare form of love.
But what of that Love of Christ who would die for those who are presently
enemies of God?
Love itself is a miracle of God. Whatever miracle of Love we have in our hearts
is a tiny atom of that element imparted by God to us. It is best represented in
the Love that a mother has for a little child, but that is only a small example
of the Love our LORD has for us.
John is the Apostle of Love and for whom Christ harbored a special love. His
Gospel and His Epistle are sown throughout with those tiny seeds of love that
burst forth into a hundredfold harvest of love when sown in our hearts.
The one, powerful verse that somes up all the others is this: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.” (John 3:16) We often miss the amazing love
the Father has for us in giving His only Begotten Son as a ransom for our sins.
But He did, and it was only Love that compelled the Gift. The Apostle John
(that disciple whom the Lord loved) records, in a greater detail the Love of
Christ, than all other of the disciples combined. I believe it is because his
heart responded as an echo to that love which Jesus imparted to him. John was
as a purchaser of fine gems in hearing, particularly, all that Jesus said about
love. “A new commandment I give unto you,
That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love
one another. By this shall all men
know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:34-35) Do we keep this commandment? Do
we truly love one another as Christ loved us and gave His life for us? We love
to quote it, but do we abide by it? If we do, all men will; know that we are
the disciples of Jesus, too. This is a miracle whose powers Jesus imparted to
each of us, but, sadly, the one miracle we least exercise. All others are
pointless without this one miracle of love incorporated in each (1 Cor 13).
“This is my commandment, That ye love one
another, as I have loved you. Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
(John 15:12-13) I have heard men, even ministers, claim that they are SLAVES of
Christ! How far have they missed the meaning of love! Love sets free, yet
compels obedience at the same time. If we obey God out of love for Him, there
is no compulsion, but rather liberty of action, involved. “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant
knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things
that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” (John 15:15) What meaning does the word,
HENCEFORTH, take on when spoken by the Alpha and Omega, and the Great I AM? I
believe, unless I have missed my logic, that it means from this point forward
and forevermore! If we are truly disciples of Christ, we are not SLAVES because
a slave obeys his master out of fear and compulsion; but a friend obeys out of
love and care for the object of his love.
We may believe ourselves good and wise in choosing Christ as our Lord, but
perhaps we may be mistaken about which came first – our choice, or His! “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and
ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit
should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may
give it you. These things I command
you, that ye love one another.”
(John 15:16-17) It was His love that first drew us, and it is His Love that we
may feel for others. That is the love of Christ as exemplified by His life and
His words: “And I have declared unto them thy
name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in
them, and I in them.” (John
17:26)
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent
his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we
ought also to love one another.” (1 John 4:10-11) John has discerned
clearly that the catalyst for our love is first, and foremost, God’s Love for
us. I compared recently the love of God for us to the love a mother feels for
her new-born baby. Many mothers would lay down their lives for that newborn
bundle of troubles and messy leaks. But the newborn baby does not love the
mother yet. It does not even know what a mother is. Yet the gentle love of the
mother for the baby will be felt and reciprocated in the process of time just
as the love of God for us will be felt and reciprocated if we hear His Voice. “We
love him, because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) The mysteries of
God are amazing are they not? I will not use the doctrinal assertions of men such
as Calvin or Arminius to prove God’s Word. I prefer to allow God’s Word to
prove itself. If God did not love us first, we could never know or love
Him. If our Lord did not choose us first, we could never have chosen Him.
“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ,
(by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might
shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ
Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it
is the gift of God.” (Eph 2:4-8) A dead man (one who is physically
alive, yet walking about dead spiritually) cannot do ANYTHING to come to God.
He must be awakened and quickened by the Holy Ghost. It is grace and not our
own merits that saves us. Being dead, our hearts and souls are quickened, just
as was that of Lazarus, to that incomparable Voice of our Lord: “Lazarus, come
forth!” or “Jerry, Betty, Charles, Roy, etc – COME FORTH!” Only that love that
survives all death can beckon to us in such a manner. Love is the strongest
power we can know on earth.
If we are dead to the flesh, we are alive in the Spirit, and, if are alive in
the flesh, we are dead in the Spirit. But the love of Christ calls across the
vast abyss of death to our dead ears and awakens us to newness of life – a life
that is eternal: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day
long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things
we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded,
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39)
Do you have the Miracle of the Love of Christ dwelling in your own heart today,
Reader?
