As you scan John 14,15, and part of 16, you’ll find these chapters laced with conditional clauses. Most are obvious like “if” but some are implied. The central truth could be summed up as: Love and Abiding are essential twins. You can’t have one without the other. Without abiding, you drift. Without love, you won’t abide, therefore you drift. For the 21st century believer, an absence of desire is normal, and even expected. ‘I don’t want to’ used to be said by children balking at obedience, now it’s the theme of the average worker. We have drifted, rather acquiesced into nominally. This is completely stated in one verse: 1 John 5.3— “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” It isn’t a drudgery to follow, serve and obey the one you love. If though, your love has acquiesced, then you should expect a lack of desire to follow, much less followthrough.
I find then, 2 parts. Part A is: Love = Obey = Fellowship = Following.
- If you love, you obey.
- If you obey, you are abiding in His love.
- This is all (relational) Fellowship.
- Following Jesus’ direct examples is obedience.
Remember that Love and Abiding are essential twins. If we obey without love, it gets ugly and frankly it’s annoying and pointless. Paul states such in 1 Corinthians 13.1— “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.”
If an angel were to ever talk to you one day, I’m guessing his speech would be more articulate than anything you’ve ever heard before. I doubt angels stutter, or lose their train of thought. If one of these messengers from God happened to walk in and start talking, nothing that anyone else was saying at the moment would be of any interest to you whatsoever. You would be fixed on his every word. And yet Paul said to the church in Corinth— “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I don’t have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
The large brass cymbals splashing against each other is an awesome sound, in an orchestra. When someone like me just grabs a pair of brass cymbals and goes to banging, it would sound just like that… banging. It is not a pretty sound in the hands of a non-percussion person such as myself. It’s just loud and ugly quick! If I were to grab some tinkling hand cymbals and clicked as loud and often as I could, you would at least ask me to stop, if not worse. Why? It’s annoying! It reminds me of the fidgety person with a click pen… stop them!
The best speech, with the best words, with the best language, with the most beautiful sound, or “even an angel”, is speaking without love, they might as well shut their mouth. There would literally be no point in anything they said, just as verse 2 says: “I am nothing” (pointless).
The number one, standout, single greatest thing that is supposed to characterize a church of Jesus Christ is the unconditional love we have for God, and the unconditional self-sacrificial way we love each other. Without it, we are ugly, annoying, and pointless.
The church in Corinth had a lot of problems, but a lot of things going for it too. They had gifts from God (chap 1 and 12). They had good doctrine (chap 11). They had large outreach potential (chap 10). That sounds like a pretty vibrant and impressive church. But, love in a tangible way, was absent.
Again, the number one, standout, single greatest thing that is supposed to characterize a church of Jesus Christ is the unconditional love we have for God and the unconditional self-sacrificial way we love each other. How can you know if it’s descriptive of you… personally? Let me give you a quick indicator: 1) If you have heard and seen the need in others, and have been emotionally affected. 2) If you have heard and seen the need in others and personally acted on it.
It’s one thing to say you love the lost, but it’s an entirely different thing to invite a homeless person to the worship services. It’s one thing to say you serve, but it’s an entirely different thing to sit and listen to the same story again and again with patience for the persons soul. Compassion, patience, care, genuine brokenness, have to be tangible or it is not genuine.
Our Father did just that— “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). “But God commendeth (demonstrated) his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5.8)
He didn’t just talk about it, pray about it, or think about it… He acted! It reminds me of a story I once read about a woman who put an add in the “San Francisco Examiner”. She said: ‘I don’t want my husband to die in the gas chamber for a crime he did not commit. I will therefore offer my services for 10 years as a cook, maid, or housekeeper to any leading attorney who will defend him and bring about his vindication.’ An attorney, Vincent Hallinan, heard about the ad and contacted Gladys Kidd, who had placed it. Her husband was about to be tried for the slaying of an antique dealer. Kidd’s fingerprints had been found on a bloodstained sword in the dealer’s shop. At trial Hallinan proved that the antique dealer had not been killed by the sword, and that Kidd’s fingerprints were there because Kidd had once toyed with it. After 11 hours the jury found him not guilty. After trial, the attorney refused Gladys Kidd’s offer of 10 years servitude.
If only we would understand the significance of our ransom paid, not only for us, but for all mankind. I want to give Jesus my entire life, not just my Sunday. All I own is His, All I want is what He wants. I want my will to be His will. I am willing to serve to show how appreciative I am. I am willing to love the loveless, in order that they can know true love.
I never want to be a loveless person. I never want to clang like a piece of brass or annoy someone with endless loveless chatter. I want the genuine, acting it out, love of God to flow through me to others. To say I love Him, means I want to obey Him and love others. How about you?