This is part one of a message I
delivered to those at a 55+ community where I minister each week. You can find part two at this link)
And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test,
saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And He said to him,
“What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered
correctly; do
this and you will live.” (Luke 10:25ff)
Let’s stop here a
moment. It’s important that we recognize the religious lawyer KNEW the
Scriptures. That was not his problem. LIVING them was his problem. And so the story continues:
But wishing to justify himself, he said to
Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” To which, the Lord answered
with the well-known story of the Good Samaritan:
“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho,
and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away
leaving him half dead. And by chance a priest [a category of religious leaders] was going
down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise
a Levite [another category of religious leaders] also, when he came to
the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan [considered unredeemable sinners by Jews],
who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and
came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he
put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. On
the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said,
‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay
you.’
Then the Lord asked the lawyer: Which of
these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the
robbers’ hands?” And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus
said to him, “Go and do the same.”
(Luke 10:25-37)
It is that question of inheriting eternal life, and of love for God and others, which the Holy Spirit addresses repeatedly throughout Scripture. We focus today only on this parable as it dovetails with the 13th chapter of Paul’s letter to the Christians at Corinth – often called the Love Chapter of the New Testament.
If I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a
clanging cymbal. If I
have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I
have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to
feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love,
it profits me nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not
brag and is not arrogant, does
not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take
into account a wrong suffered, does
not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be
done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it
will be done away. For
we know in part and we prophesy in part; but
when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When
I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a
child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then
face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also
have been fully known. But
now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
The Greek language has three different words for ‘love.’ The first, eros, from which we get the word
‘erotic,’ is a self-pleasing love. That word, by the way, does not appear in the New
Testament. Another Greek word for love is the word philia. That word
describes an affection, or a camaraderie and closeness people feel in
friendships. Philia describes a two-way relationship, of which David and
Jonathan are good examples. You’ll find their story in 1 Samuel 18.The last of the three Greek words used for love is agape (ah-gah-pay). This love seeks the highest good for another, regardless of the personal consequences or sacrifices. Jesus talks about this kind of love in John 15:13 when He says: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Agape love is more a
decision than a feeling. It’s more a commitment than a relationship. It is love
without condition -- like the love of a parent for a child.
John 3:16, of course,
illustrates the ultimate expression of God's agape love – love for a humanity
shaking its collective fist in His face: “God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.” Romans 5:8 also comes to mind: “God
demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us.”
The Holy Spirit is not
impressed by our religious activities or our spiritual gifts. That’s why He
guided St. Paul to write: "If I speak with the tongues of men and of
angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if
I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am
nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender
my body to be burned [as a martyr], but do not have love, it profits me
nothing."
Without agape love,
the most enthusiastic religious activities and the most ostentatious spiritual
gifts are like the irritating gonging of a bell or a cacophonous clanging of a
cymbal.
No wonder the Lord
Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you
have love for one another.” (John 13:35) Agape love for one another. A
self-sacrificing love. A ‘willing-to-lay-down-my-life-for-you’ kind of love.
How do others know I
am a disciple of Jesus? How do they know YOU are a disciple?
Let’s look at that in part two of this message.
No comments:
Post a Comment