A Surprising Lesson
1 Thessalonians 4:9,10
A Surprising Lesson
Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.
The story is related that in his latter years the aged Apostle of Love, John, was incapable of walking and was thus carried into the assembly of the saints in Ephesus. The elderly saint was no longer capable of speaking as he once had. Standing on the brink of transition to the world of light his message would of necessity be pared to the bare essentials. What message did this great disciple have for the people? Stripped to the essence of the Faith, what message would grip the heart of the great man of God and what would He say to the saints whom He loved so dearly? The message John delivered was simply this: Little children, love one another.
I confess that I never cease to marvel at the commands for Christians to love one another which are repeated throughout the Word of God. You would suppose that those who have received the love of God in Christ, of all people, ought to be the very ones who are characterised by love. Their transformed natures would predispose them to love. Nevertheless, despite any particular bias in the matter, we find repeated commands to love one another written throughout the whole of the Word.
Dear friends, let us love one another, was the command delivered by the aged Apostle of Love, the disciple John. Love the brotherhood of believers, commands Peter [1 Peter 2:17]. The author of Hebrews commands, Keep on loving each other as brothers [Hebrews 13:1]. How frequently does Paul command a similar devotion! Consider as one example the words found in Romans 12:10: Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Clearly the need to love weighs on the heart of the Spirit and likewise burdens His spokesmen.
Our text today, 1 Thessalonians 4:9,10, likewise contains a command to love. However, the text presents a command based upon the supposition that the believers are already fulfilling such a command. Listen to the words again. Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more. Paul’s concern in these verses is focused on the demonstration of brotherly love among the saints in Thessalonica. Such concern should be a straightforward issue for most of us I should suppose; but I find that I struggle, as you also struggle, against the world system in which we live.
The Apostle has warned in another place: Do not permit the age in which you live force you into its scheme of thinking and behaviour [my own translation of Romans 12:2a]. Thus, I discover that we Christians are prone to read the instructions of Scripture, interpreting what we read through our own peculiar cultural glasses. For instance, when we encounter in the Word the command to love one another, we tend to have a saccharine view reflecting more of the mind of the age in which we live than a view reflecting the mind of God. We require instruction in biblical love so that we can fulfil the will of God. God giving us grace, that is our goal as a congregation today – to learn the will of God and to be instructed how to apply that will in a practical manner.
The Source of Our Instruction — You yourselves have been taught by God. Certain truths are inherent to our position as children of God. Because we are born from above and into the Family of God, we reflect the nature of our Father. A Christian is not a little god, as some contemporary cults teach, but a Christian does possess the nature of God. It is impossible for a Christian not to reveal the Divine nature … at least in a measure.
Christians are not ignorant of God’s instruction concerning the responsibility to love one another, but Christians are often ill equipped to implement that same instruction. For so long we have been taught that love is an emotion. This is, of course, an idea which is reinforced through virtually every imaginable avenue in contemporary culture. Thus we have become convinced that anything less than a warm feeling cannot be love. The Thessalonians were, and by implication all Christians are, qeodivdaktoiv God-taught. On this basis, elementary written instruction should not be necessary.
I encourage you to consider that elemental truth which is inherent to our relationship with God. In his first epistle John states that believers have a spiritual anointing which renders unnecessary instruction in recognition of errant doctrine. This is neither a denial of the need for teachers nor a denial of the need for warnings against error; it is rather an affirmation that the child of God is sufficiently sensitive to the presence of error and is thus capable of recognising error when it first presents itself. Errant teaching imparts a distinct sense of uneasiness to the children of God. Perhaps the child of God cannot identify precisely what is wrong with the errant teaching at first, but they will experience a sense of caution when error is first encountered.
Perhaps a Christian cannot claim to be capable of recognising the differences between the Athanasian and Arian systems of theology, but there will be an uneasiness whenever anyone begins to teach or even hint that Jesus Christ is not fully God. For the child of God, this sense of uneasiness will persist in demonstration of the veracity of Jesus’ words recorded in John 10:5, 14: [My sheep] will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognise a stranger’s voice… I am the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me. Jesus also taught that disciples would know the truth and that they would be freed by that same truth. If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free [John 8:31, 32].
As an example of the inherent recognition of truth, I relate the account of a young man in my acquaintance who became a Christian through my witness in the laboratory. Richard was well educated in Catholic theology and in modern biochemical science, having studied under the Jesuits. We frequently discussed philosophical aspects of life and the impact of the neo-orthodox doctrine of evolution on modern thought. When Richard became a Christian, trusting Christ together with his wife in the living room of our home, he was changed dramatically into a dynamic believer with a powerful witness.
Richard came to my laboratory the Monday morning following his new birth. Before ever I could initiate a conversation he spoke to me, “You know, Mike, I find the strangest thing has happened. I am not convinced that the first three chapters of Genesis are correct, but I find that I want to believe the Bible is true.”
Richard’s words were nothing less than a verification of the promise of Jesus cited earlier. Richard did not immediately say, “I am convinced by everything that is stated in the Bible,” but he did state that he had the desire to believe. That desire would lead him into investigation of and verification of the truth. He was beginning the journey of life which would lead into ever-greater light; and it began with a change of will.
The conflict experienced in our struggles of faith lies neither in the intellect nor in the emotions, it is a conflict of the will. Jesus said, If anyone chooses to do God’s will, [literally, If anyone wills to do His will], he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on My own [John 7:17]. If you will to test God’s promise of life in Christ you will discover His truth. The intellect can be satisfied and the emotions can be fulfilled when once the will is brought into submission to Him who gives us life.
We also must know that it is impossible for the child of God to deliberately reject the Divine relationship without divine consequences. Because we are related to God, deliberate rebellion invites His discipline. If we rebel and are not disciplined it is mute, though effective, evidence that we have no relationship to the Living God. For if we are related to God by the new birth every presumptuous sin invites swift, certain corrective intervention. If we refuse to listen we soon discover what it is to meet our God.
In the text before us Paul states that an elemental aspect inherent to the Christian’s relationship to God is that we love each other. Love for the brotherhood of believers is not optional, but it is rather integral to our relationship God. John makes this evident in his first epistle when he states, Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light [1 John 2:9, 10]. Again, the aged Apostle of Love states: We know we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers [1 John 3:14]. There can be no question but that love reveals our relationship to God, but to insure there is no question concerning this matter, John once again emphasises the new nature when he commands: Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love [1 John 4:7, 8].
John stressed the supernatural flow of divine love. We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother [1 John 4:19-21]. The must of verse 21 is not imperative but is rather indicative; it is the logical inference of the former affirmation. If we love God, of necessity this is reflected in love for our brother. This brings up the next issue for our consideration: how do we reveal love?
The Evidence that We Are Instructed — In fact, you do love the brothers. Underscore in your mind this one great fact: by nature, Christians make better lovers. Christians love God supremely; they possess an abiding love for one another; and they share with God a deep love for the souls of fallen mankind. Love for God is seen in obedience to His commands just as is stated from earliest verses in the Bible. Consider these verses written long years ago and recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy.
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength [Deuteronomy 6:5]. Now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul [Deuteronomy 10:12]. Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always [Deuteronomy 11:1]. If you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today -- to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul [Deuteronomy 11:13]. Notice that love for God is revealed through obedience, through service, through faithfulness to Him and to His decrees.
A Christian first of all loves God who has shown love toward him, and consequently a Christian loves the souls of lost men and women whom God also loves. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life [John 3:16]. That verse is familiar to each of us, revealing as it does the great heart of God. Likewise, we have no doubt heard so very often Romans 5:8. God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God does love those who are lost and His child can do no less than reveal that same divine love through faithful witness to the lost about them, through steadfast proclamation of the truth of the Word, and through loving and compassionate outreach to those who are perishing. Silence in the face of condemnation does not reveal Christian love; love impels the child of God to speak boldly, warning of the consequence of rejection of Christ and His great salvation. It is love to declare life in Him.
There is a third area which I claim reveals the love of God in a Christian’s life. This additional revelation of love is an area of exceedingly great import – it is love for brother and sister Christians. A Christian demonstrates love for the brotherhood through loving service to the saints. You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love [Galatians 5:13]. A Christian demonstrates love to other believers in compassion and humility toward fellow believers. Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble [1 Peter 3:8]. Again, love for the brothers is revealed through a sacrificial attitude toward the Body. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers [1 John 3:16].
There has been perhaps an unwarranted emphasis from the pulpit concerning the distinction between brotherly love and sacrificial love – between filevw and a*gapavw. I am quick to say that those we love as family are to be loved sacrificially as well. Furthermore, the love Christ demonstrates toward His own is a love described by the former word as well as by the latter. This should give pause in any effort to make undue distinctions in the words. In John 5:20, Jesus is quoted as saying: The Father loves the Son [oJ gaVr pathVr filei' toVn uiJoVn] and shows Him all He does.
In John 16:27 our Lord taught His disciples that the Father Himself loves you [aujtoV" gaVr oJ pathVr filei' uJma'] because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. Another verse in the Word of God identifies John as The one Jesus loved [John 20:2, toVn a[llon maqhthVn o}n ejfivlei oJ jIhsou'].
When concluding his letter to Titus [Titus 3:15] Paul greets Those who love us in the faith [touV" filou'nta" hJma'" ejn pivstei]. Jesus’ final words to the Church recorded in Revelation 3:19 state: Those whom I love [ejgwV o{sou" ejaVn filw' ejlevgcw] I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
I suggest that the love in view in these verses (filevw) is a love which is higher and nobler than many of us may have previously suspected. Never depreciate brotherly love; the term speaks of devotion and tenderness and finds its power therein. It is especially brotherly love which Paul has in view. Brotherly love, filadelfiva, is in view. To love the brothers is to serve sacrificially with compassion and humility those to whom we are divinely related. To love our fellow Christians is to extend to them a loving preference, treating them with the respect and dignity due to a fellow citizen of Heaven and with the trust due a fellow blood-bought believer.
Brotherly love, the demonstration of filadelfiva, is demonstrated as we support the expansion of our church through our prayers and through the contribution of our gifts and our abilities. Brotherly love is revealed through willing service to one another, through ministering with the strength God gives. Brotherly love is the acceptance of one another in love, in love preferring one another. Brotherly love is demonstrated in the exercise of leadership, in the assumption of responsibility for my part in the growth of the Body. Brotherly love encourages others through dependable service, through faithful support of the worship of the Body, through seeking opportunities to build one another in love. Brotherly love is both practical and necessary.
In my estimate the church of this day is dying for lack of this precious commodity of brotherly love. It is not that there is no love in the church of this day; it is rather that the saints are no longer doing that which comes supernaturally as result of their relationship to God. Therefore the need for the final point is incumbent upon all who would be faithful to the Word.
The Need To Continue Applying The Instruction — We urge you, brothers to excel still more in [brotherly love], parakalou'men deV uJma'", ajdelfoiv, perisseuvein ma'llon. Paul urges love beyond the ordinary. The child loves the Father and his love is revealed through loving devotion to the Father’s commands. The Christian loves the lost and that love is seen through active witness to the grace of God. And the Christian loves fellow believers and that love is revealed through sacrificial service to those fellow believers.
In effect, the Apostle is saying that the very thing you are doing because of the new birth is to be continued with even greater vigour. You are lovers! Be greater lovers still. The Thessalonians to whom he addressed this letter were a people with every reason to cease open affirmation of the Faith. Persecuted both by pagans and by Jews, despised by all humanity, suspected by the whole populace and isolated from every support network imaginable, impoverished and needy – if ever a congregation had reason to cease adherence to the Faith it was this congregation. Yet the Apostle affirms that they were God-taught with respect to brotherly love, that in fact they did love all the brothers, that they went out of their way to demonstrate divine love. Now, despite this affirmation he insists that they love the brothers still more.
The Thessalonians did love the Lord. Paul earlier affirmed, The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia — your faith in God has become known everywhere [1 Thessalonians 1:8a]. The Thessalonians did love the lost, for they insured that their faith in God [had] become known everywhere [1 Thessalonians 1:8b]. The Thessalonians did love their fellow believers, for they became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus [1 Thessalonians 2:14a]. Now the Apostle appears concerned that these same saints realise they were not isolated, but that they shared a deep love with other saints, even when those other believers were not experiencing the identical pressures.
May I be bold to speak to you as a people who are characterised by genuine warmth and sincerity? May I speak so as to build you up in the Faith, so as to encourage you in the pursuit of righteousness? Our church is characterised by an enviable openness to outsiders visiting the assembly. We are known for our warm fellowship and for acceptance of one another. Any believer seeking to honour God would readily find a place to serve among us. These things are commendable and admirable and ought not to be neglected. But there is room for improvement.
There is need for us as followers of Christ to deliberately open our hearts to the younger believers among us, inviting them to assume positions of responsibility within the assembly. Those who are younger in the Faith often challenge us, questioning what we do and wondering why we do those things. Their questions can make us ill at ease and uncomfortable as they challenge us to think what we are doing. Perhaps we need these challenges more than we think in order to move us out of our comfort zone.
We need to encourage these whom God has entrusted to our care, urging them to enter into active ministry and to exercise leadership in the spheres God has equipped them to serve. We do this as each of us assumes responsibility within the sphere God has assigned. No one of us can conduct every ministry. We need each other. Opening ourselves to one another and to the multiplied ministries entrusted to us as a body is a demonstration of our love for one another and a means by which we grow in grace.
In that same vein, may I suggest that it appears that some among us are growing cold in the exercise of our common Faith. For the moment we go mechanically through the motions of worship, but we reveal a growing dullness as we shrink from vigorous pursuit of service. Some of us have ceased to serve and have become idle in the Faith. If younger believers are to enter into responsible service before the Lord, we who have been some time in the Faith need to encourage them through being active in our own service to Christ and to His Church.
Among us must be found a sense of openness and warmth which dares move beyond the moment to see each believer as valuable in the sight of God. We must recognise each believer as having been placed among us in evidence of the Spirit’s confidence in us. Among us must be discovered a sense of commitment to the things of God, of dedication to the work of the Lord, and of devotion to the building of the kingdom of God. This means we must endeavour to demonstrate commitment through open union with the church, through faithful attendance at the services of the congregation, through sacrificial participation in the life of the Body. This means that we must labour to win the lost and to glorify the Lord, but especially does it mean that we must make every effort to the great task of building one another up.
You may recall an earlier Bible study on Wednesday evenings when we studied the Seven Churches of Asia. The first of those churches is the Church in Ephesus. Do you recall what it was that Christ said when He first began to speak of that church? I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. [Revelation 2:2,3] How revealing the Lord’s words to that congregation, I know your deeds [taV e[rga sou], your hard work [toVn kovpon] and your perseverance [thVn uJpomonhvn sou].
It is a good thing for a church to be known as active and aggressive in service. It is a fine compliment to any congregation to be marked out as one which perseveres. This church had deeds; they worked hard; and the people persevered. Nevertheless Christ was displeased. He immediately says, Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love [Revelation 2:4]. Energy and labours and steadfastness become meaningless when our first love ceases to grip our hearts and our imaginations. So Christ warned the people that should they fail to repent, should they fail to correct this dreadful neglect, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place [Revelations 2:5]. The church itself would sink into oblivion, becoming a footnote of history, if they did not repent.
I do not fear that Jasper Park Baptist Church will suddenly cease to have a presence in this community. I do not fear that we will fail to be active in various forms of ministry or that we will precipitously cease to labour. My great fear is that we are slowly sinking into a spiritual stupor, growing content with the status quo and forgetting to grow in love to one another. We are not immune to this deadly invader which dulls the senses and renders the stricken one insensible to their peril. Throughout our land are churches which were once vibrant, alive and great. Now they are as great caskets which however lovely the satin lining them may appear to observers, are designed only for the repose of the dead. With a heart of love which would do you good and not evil I warn you that the feet of them which carried out our sisters stand ready to remove us also.
Can it be that I have spoken to some someone today, startling that someone from a sense of complacency, of contentment, or of apathy? To that someone I draw out my heart urging you to remember what it was like when your love for Christ and for His people was new. I urge you to recall what it was like when your love was white-hot and many warmed in its glow. It can be that way again. The things you are now doing by nature I urge you to begin to do by choice. Be deliberate in seeking how to bring another into the fellowship of the Body. Be deliberate in determining how you can involve one on the fringes in the life of the body. Be deliberate in encouraging another to share his or her gift with the church.
To you who have patiently listened, though you have no relationship to the Lord our God, I speak these closing words. Because I love you with the love of Christ I insist that you heed the warning. Even now you are under condemnation and sentence of death. This need not be, for the Lord our God has made provision for you to live and for you to enter into His joy. Jesus the Son of God died because of your sin. He raised from the dead to demonstrate His power over the grave and to provide you justification before God. All that remains is that you believe this good news.
The message of life becomes real for you the moment you believe this Good News. This is the Word of God. If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:9-13].
Our plea of love is that you, even now and where you sit, receive Christ as Lord. Submit to His reign of your life. You will enter into real life, being born from above and into the Kingdom of God. You will cease to say prayers and begin to fellowship with God the Father because you will be truly alive. Do it now. Amen.