Love in the Model Church

1. Introduction.

We have talked about the faith in a model church. We have talked about the testimony of a model church. We have talked about the boldness of a model church. We have talked about the faithfulness of a model church, and we have talked the biblical truth that is taught and preached in the model church. All of these are made possible by love in the model church.

1 Thessalonians 3:11–13 “Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.”

2. Paul’s Great Prayer.

1 Thessalonians 3:11 “Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you.”

This may seem insignificant, but it is really powerful, and we are going to talk about it Sunday during our sunrise service.

In this little short prayer, Paul reveals who Jesus is.

Paul begins his prayer by praying to God Himself. God is the Supreme being of the universe. He is the Creator and Maker of all things.

However, God is not a distant being.

It is God who is active in the affairs of men.

Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

As Paul says, God is our Father. He is intimately involved in our lives.

Some of the greatest conversations, personally for me, occurred between my dad and me and between Colin and me. Those were just great times of intimacy where bonding took place between the father and the child. Well, God wants us to approach Him in the same way.

Paul approached God as His Father to ask for certain things, and everyone of us here knows that there are certain things that you can only ask your father for. God is our Father. He wants to have an intimate relationship with us.

Paul then prays to our Lord Jesus Christ. I am not going to say too much about this tonight because I am going to talk about it Sunday, but the Lord Jesus Christ has existed forever, but He loved us so much that He stepped out of heaven to be the Christ.

God Himself is the Father. Jesus Christ Himself is Lord. Both are God. Both are one. They have never been separated except for a few hours in the darkness of Calvary. Paul asked God and Jesus to direct and guide his way to the Thessalonians. It was like asking dad to borrow the truck. Paul wanted the door opened to him so he could return to the Thessalonians, and he knew for that to happen that God had to make it happen.

There are certain things in your life that are not going to happen apart from God allowing it to happen, and that is why He wants you to talk to Him as your Father.

3. Love in the Model Church.

1 Thessalonians 3:12 “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you,”

The number one supreme need for every believer is love.

It is love that makes forgiveness possible.

Ephesians 4:32 “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

Colossians 3:13 “bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

Even as Christ forgave, so you also must do. What do you think about? Do you find that hard to do? Do you know why you have trouble forgiving as Christ forgave you? You do not love as you should.

In verse 12, Paul says, “may the Lord make you increase and abound in love.”

The word increase in that verse means to multiply over and over again. The word abound in that verse means to excel. It is only God who can multiply our love until it is an excellent love.

Now, we are limited in our understanding of God’s concept of love because of grammatical barriers. In the English language, I can love baseball. I can love banana pudding and chocolate pie. I can love Hope, and I can love to relax. In that context, surely I do not mean that I love banana pudding like I do Hope. The love mentioned in verse 12 is not the love that the world thinks of.

The love Paul is talking about is a godly love. It is a love made possible by God, and it is a love that we must have toward all men not just one another.

I am not going to ask you if you have that kind of love toward all mankind, but if you do not, you are going to find it hard to forgive as Christ forgave you.

This is important.

The source of the love Christians are to have is the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is through Jesus Christ that a Christian can love all men.

Let me go back to our grammatical concept of love.

In English, there is one word for love, and that word is love, but in the language of the New Testament, Greek, there were four words for love.

Passionate love (eros). This type of love is the physical love between the sexes. It is the love that arises from inward passions. Eros is never used in the New Testament.

Affectionate love (storge). This type of love is the love that exists between a parent and child, between loyal citizens and a trustworthy ruler. Storge is also not used in the New Testament.

Enduring love (phileo). This type of love is the love of a husband and wife for each other. It is the love of siblings toward one another. It is love that cherishes.

Selfless love (agape). This type of love that goes so far as to love someone even though he or she, in the eyes of the world, does not deserve to be loved. It is the love of God. It is the love demonstrated on Calvary. It is the love for the ungodly.

Romans 5:6 “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Selfless love is the love of unworthy sinners.

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Selfless love is the love for our enemies.

Romans 5:10 “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

Matthew 5:43–45 ““You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

It is that kind of love for our enemies that makes God a proud Father if you know what I mean.

Selfless love is a gift from God, and it can only given and experienced if a person knows God personally.

Romans 5:5 “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Now, I am about to say something that is going to be a bold statement, and I am making it based upon the Scripture I just read.

The reason the church is full of people who have to have their way, the reason the church has people who think their opinion should be said the loudest and the most often, the reason why there are grudges in the church, and the reason the church is not sharing the gospel as it should is because because there are many in the church that just simply do not love selflessly.

Dear friend, I am going to say it like this. The church is not a business. It is a living body of believers called together by God. The rules of the business world, the rules of the political world, and the rules of the legal world do not apple. The selfless love of Jesus Christ is what we should apply to every situation.

Christians are to love selflessly, and the reason so many in the church do not makes me question the salvation of some in the universal church. Church membership does not equate salvation.

Jude 4 “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

There are certain people who slipped into the church to make their voices heard. They are not saved, have not ever been saved, and will never be saved because Jude says they were marked for condemnation long ago, and the only people condemned are those who reject Jesus Christ.

I am telling you that loving those we think do not deserve our love, according to Jesus in Matthew Chap 5, is a sure way for us to show that we are sons and daughters of God.

According to Jesus Christ, selfless love is the greatest thing in life.

Mark 12:29–31 “Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.””

If we read this passage in correct rules of grammar, if we do not love God with all of our souls, hearts, and minds, it will be impossible to love our neighbors as ourselves, but if we do love God as we should, loving our neighbors will be possible, and God expects that from all His children.

Selfless love is the love of God that binds all Christians together. Even if I disagree with something that we do as a church, selfless love keeps me from pouting and from getting mad because I did not get my way. Dear friend, I hate to tell you this, but neither you nor I am right all the time. If I was right all the time, I would not need a Savior, and who am I to “sull” up and pout if someone disagrees with me.

4. Selfless love produces results.

1 Thessalonians 3:13 “so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.”

The great result of selfless love is to be presented to God without blemish when Christ returns to earth.

Establish, in this verse, means to support or confirm. It is Jesus Christ who confirms us or establishes us before God.

Heart in verse 13 does not mean the body organ that circulates blood. Heart refers to the whole person and personality of man.

Blameless in verse 13 means to be free from fault. It means to be free from all charges.

Colossians 2:13–15 “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.

And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

Holiness in verse 13 mens to be set apart and separated to God. It is Jesus Christ who makes us holy, but one day He will present us in our righteousness because He will have made us without blemish.

Revelation 19:8 “And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

The glorious presentation to God occurs when Christ returns with His saints at His Second Coming.

At the Rapture, Christ comes to get His bride, and the Second Coming He comes with His bride who will be arrayed in fine linen which is the righteous acts of the saints.

Now, I have talked about this a lot over the last couple of years, but God wants us to be sure of our salvation. He wants us judge ourselves so that we know we are in the faith, but the fruit we produce cannot be denied. If you belong to Christ and you let the Holy Spirit lead your life, this is what will be evident.

Galatians 5:22–23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

But if you are controlled by the flesh which is your old nature, this is what you will produce.

Galatians 5:19–21 “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries,

and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

If you believe the Bible, the message is abundantly clear. If you are saved, you have the selfless love of Christ in you, and you will be marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Even if you disagree with someone, the disagreement will be controlled by the selfless love of Christ.

If you show the works described in Galatians Chap 5 verses 19-21, the Bible says that you will not inherit the kingdom of God. What does that mean? It means that those acts of the flesh, if that is what marks your life, you are not saved.

Dear friend, this is serious stuff we are talking about. When you are saved, there should be a noticeable difference in the way others see you, and if there is not, you have some issues that you need to get straightened out by God beginning with knowing for sure that you are saved.