Faith Works by Love
Gal.2:20 - ,I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Gal.5:6 - For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
Gal.5:22 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Eph.1:15 - Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
Eph.3:17 - That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Col.1:4 - Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,
I Thess.5:8 - But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
I Tim.1:14 - And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
I Thess. 1:3 - Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
I Tim.6:10 - For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
II Tim.1:13 - Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus
Phile.1:5 - Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints;
There can be no authentic faith without authentic love. Love is the foundation, the activator of our faith and that which showcases spiritual faith itself. It is difficult to define this love much less practice it. The church has so lost touch with the love of God that it is the most miniscule of issues. How many watchman speak correction to the church about our love quotient? The subject of love is not only overlooked, it has been comfortably redefined so we all can feel good about it and move on. Keeping yourselves in the love of God, says the brother of our Lord. What does that mean?
Does it mean we can love God and His Word with all our hearts and let the chips fall where they may as far as any exhibition of “love”, whatever that is, concerning our brethren in Christ and indeed the lost brethren in Adam? Look at all the verses I listed, and there are more, and see how intertwined faith and love are. It could not be more obvious that our Lord, the God who is love, is telling us something in no uncertain terms. Let us be honest, there is more Scriptural documentation for love than there is for the Trinity, male only pastors, and a host of other issues that we all stand aggressively firm about. So why does love get such a back seat?
Again, why does love get a back seat? Listen carefully, I am convinced it is much easier, infinitely easier, to espouse certain doctrinal issues that require no behavioral substantiation than something like love that is far greater than just words. Anyone can believe in the Trinity, it takes no life actions. The same for a menu of doctrines that are basic and Biblical but are limited to the defense of the faith, but there is no greater doctrine than love, both loving God, the first commandment, and loving everyone else, the second which Christ said is tethered to the first. And yet love is scarcely dealt with doctrinally much less pervasively and much less accurately exhibited.
Let’s examine the second commandment to love our neighbors in greater detail. Look out, now, there may be some turbulence ahead and the pilot has turned on the “no pride” sign. What does it mean to love our neighbor as ourselves, and how does that translate into actions in our lives. I guess the first step comes from within. We can never really know, much less show, God’s love to others until we first really…uh…well…love them. Wow, what a revelation! The only way I can love people is to first love them in my heart. Who knew? But this is not easy because we are an unloving people at heart and we spread our love very thinly, usually only among those who love us or those to whom our love comes naturally.
Love is not a truth we believe, it’s something that must be done. No one says “I believe in breathing” and never breathes, that is death. And we cannot say, “Oh yes, I am Biblically fundamental, I believe in love. Go ahead, ask me any questions about it and I’ll tell you what I believe”. That is as hollow as it gets, something akin to exhibiting jumping through words. Love is doing, but of course doing isn’t always love, but the two are one.
So as we filet our inner man wide open we might notice that he believes in the fundamental doctrines of the faith as prescribed by the church, but…oh my…where is the love? I am not speaking of loving someone’s soul and hating their guts, no, that isn’t Christ’s love. The love we are looking for is that sacrificial love, unconditional love, love that does not draw its strength from the object but from the source. And if we feel the pain of honest inventory, the next question is how do we rectify that woeful situation? OK, now we are entering thick theological woods that have very few human footprints to follow and no well worn paths. Get out the machete and prepare to bleed.
What would be the first step in the journey to pursue God’s love in our own hearts? I would imagine we would have to define it as God defines it before we can press toward it and that can only come through God’s Word. When we begin to move from our definitions of love and seek to know God’s definition we will become uncomfortable. The “lay down your life” kind of love is not just inconvenient, it goes against every carnal molecule in our bodies of sin. Romans gives us a clear example when Paul says that “Christ died for the ungodly”. And in fact, the Lord loved His enemies and proved that love in giving His own life for those same enemies. Wow, there’s a novel concept, giving your life for your enemies. That cannot possibly mean what it implies, can it? I mean I should sacrifice my life, my will, my honor, my comfort, and my reputation for my enemies? That not only goes against what I feel it goes against what the church has taught and manifested.
The church has castigated liberal democrats, spoken harshly against Muslims, mocked Bill Clinton, disrespected doctrinal opponents, criticized all types of lost sinners, and used some “conservative” platform as an excuse to drain itself of everything but the most miniscule element of God’s love, just enough to love like the world loves and call it “God’s”. So when we compare God’s love as explained in His Word and lived by the Incarnate Word we see how embarrassingly deficient is our brand of so called “love”. Throw that love away and reach for the love of God, but you may have to reach further than you ever dreamed. This love hurts and is passed through selfless humility.
How do I emulate in human behavior and speech the humble love as expressed in the Incarnation? I am pretty sure we don’t even wish to know which, by Biblical definition, means we operate outside the faith realm. Love and faith - faith and love. Please put a little faith on our plates, Lord, but hold the love…
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