By Pastor Greg
Two brothers grew up in a small town and were well known for their riotous living. Everyone in town knew of their reputation. When one of the brothers died, the surviving brother offered $5,000.00 to the Church that would be willing to conduct the service, with one very important stipulation. The pastor who performed the service had to say that the deceased brother was a saint. Eventually one pastor did agree to the stipulation, and the whole town came out to hear whether the minister would tell the big lie. As the pastor began the service he said, “Everyone here today knows just what sort of man the deceased was. He was a drunkard, a liar; a vile and malicious man. But, compared to his brother, he was a saint”.
That’s part of the problem with most people. Most people do that very thing. Most people compare themselves to others. Some do this to build themselves up. There are people in this world who feel so poorly about themselves that the only way they can feel good about themselves is to look for the weaknesses in others. And by doing this they convince themselves that they are not really such a bad person after all. It’s a sad game that the world plays; where people hate those who live a good and happy life because it makes them look bad. It’s sad game where people spend more time tearing one another down instead of building one another up/
Perhaps, like me, you’ve seen this attitude and this behavior in the world. I’ve often asked the question why so many people seem to struggle with self-esteem issues. There just seems to be an awful lot of people who desperately need to feel loved. Some look for love in all the wrong places. Others seem to just simply hate everything and everyone. It’s a sad testimony that these people do not know love.
Why do you suppose the world rejoices when a good person fails? Why do you suppose people love to tear down one another? Why would someone look for faults in another person? The people of this world do this not because they hate other people, but because they hate themselves. They cannot love because they do not know love; they do not feel loved.
I tell you these things because this can even happen to Christians. It can happen to a church.
Sadly, even some Christians do not feel loved, even by God. And they end up playing the same games as the world; tearing down one another instead of building up one another. Why do you suppose Paul addressed this behavior to many of the New Testament churches? For example to the Colossian Church he said, “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others” (Colossians 3:13). Why do you suppose the Ephesian Christians need to hear, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29)? It seems that even the early Christians struggled to love one another, and I believe that’s because these Christians did not know love.
If the people of this world tear one another down because they do not feel loved, is it possible that the same is true for Christians; for a Church? Where there is gossip, criticism, distrust, and suspicion; where a divisive spirit is allowed to grow, perhaps you will find a group of Christians who do not feel loved by God. And isn’t it strange that Christians could feel this way? Of all the people on earth, Christians, it seems, should be the ones who know love best; the ones to show love the most. So isn’t it strange that too often we don’t? Why is that?
As we have been learning to fix our eyes on a bigger God, we’ve looked at God the Father and God the Son. Through scripture we’ve been able to gain a higher view of these two persons of the Trinity. For me, this has been a great exercise. But there is yet one more person in the Trinity that I think we need to spend some time studying; we need to gain a higher view of God the Spirit.
Much of what we know about the Holy Spirit comes from Jesus. He tells us what the Spirit will do when He comes (Read John 15:26-16:15).
As I have been thinking about knowing love, a couple of verses really stand out. Look closely at John 16:8-11. Most of us understand the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, and I’ll testify that He certainly does. If we will let Him, God the Spirit will convict us about sin and about behaviors that diminish our holiness. The Spirit pricks our hearts about things that need to be cut away from our lives. But did you know that the Spirit also convicts us of God’s love. If we will let Him, the Spirit regenerates our hearts, washing through us from the top of our heads to the bottom of our feet. But not stopping there, the Spirit will also testify that we have been forgiven by the Father because of the Blood of the Son. “And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love” (Romans 5:5). Unfortunately too many Christians don’t seem to believe this. Too many Christians never allow the Holy Spirit to complete His work in their lives. Too many Christians have allowed the Spirit to convict of sin, but are never convicted of the Father’s love.
“We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19), writes John the Apostle. So the road to loving one another begins first with learning that we are loved by God, unconditionally. And this is one of the things the Spirit does for us; convincing us that we are indeed loved by the Father. And once we feel loved, I mean really loved for who we are, maybe then we might know how to love one another.
The two greatest commandments are to love God and to love others as you love yourself (Matthew 22:38-39). But how can we love others if we don’t first love ourselves? I tell you that it is hate for ourselves that breeds hate for one another. And I think Jesus knew this. That’s why he said “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:35). This is God’s gift to those who believe; God the Spirit reaches into our hearts testifying that we are indeed loved. And when we finally feel loved by the Father we will finally be able to love one another.
Tell me, when is the last time you have felt loved in spite of your weaknesses and failures? Did you not know that God has loved you all along? His love does not begin after you confess your sin. He has loved you even though you sin and fail and stumble and fall. By the Spirit we all are convicted of sin. We all take that sin to the cross of Jesus, and by His blood all our sin is forgiven. But it is not then that we are loved by God. God has loved us through the whole process, even before convicting us of sin.
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