Greetings!
LOVE ONE ANOTHER
By Dr. Stephen Phinney
A serial killer cut lose on our little community.
Last week our community was shaken by a serial killer who went on a rampage. Not only was this violent act a little too close to home, one of my officer friends was shot four times. During this vicious “cat & mouse” game, our entire community was placed in “lock-down” – requiring its citizens to remain indoors. While waiting to find out if the two officers that “went down” were OK, something very unusual happened. God gave me a deep love for this killer. I was overwhelmed with compassion and began to pray for his salvation before his troubled life was to end. As a police chaplain, I faced the ultimate purpose of my duty. As God would have it, He opened the door to the eternal understanding of this passage,
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
(John 13:34)
As I was in dialogue with some of the citizens
, particularly a fellow officer, I was awakened by the instant reality of the normative hate and judgment that surfaced. While I get the human logic of this demise, I’m reminded of the distinct difference between true Christians vs. Christ-following Christians. Even though this disturbed young man ended his life after killing his father, justice was not served. Not true justice. The killer knew this before he took his OWN life. People tend to have their hidden desires of revenge satisfied when traumas like this end in the death of the killer. As selfish as this is, the problem was not solved. Due to the lack of proper justice, the hatred and judgment of many found no resting place.
What about the eternal destination of the murderous?
Years ago I was called to minister to a serial killer by the name of Ted Bundy. This opportunity became one of my most important tests of
loving one another
. At first, I didn’t want anything to do with this fruitless request. But, as God would have it, I was challenged with the purpose of the Gospel. In my mind, Ted deserved everything the courts were about to throw at him. In God’s mind, Ted needed eternal salvation in Christ -
now!
Then I was faced with a Scriptural reality, and the odds are, there are more murderers in Heaven than pew sitters. With that realization, after many ministerial hours, Ted Bundy received Christ as his Lord and Savior two days before justice was served. In fact, in my files, I have a letter he wrote before he was put to death, stating,
thank you for sharing the Gospel with me when others would not
.
What benefit is there in loving those who love you?
I believe the most excellent proof of being an indwelt Christian is in this.
“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in Heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
(Matthew 5:44-45)
I hope you read the punchline correctly,
so that you may be sons of your Father
. This statement is the living proof of genuinely being in Christ.
The definition of “love” in our contemporary culture is
having a relationship with those who agree with individual positions and conditions of popular movements. If we keep apples with apples and oranges with oranges, we are apt to find the eternal definition of true love.
The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
(1 John 4:8) One of the least understood passages is in John making this statement,
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen
. (1 John 4:20)
Years ago, the Lord showed me a great translation guide.
Since the definition of love IS God, whenever I find the word “love” in the Holy Scriptures, I put in His name. For example, in our passage, it translates in this way.
The one who does not God does not know God, for God is God
. The simple fact is, the one who does not have God living from within through the indwelling of Jesus’s Life, does not know the true God. Secondly, the one who does not have the true God is incapable of loving one another (1 John 4:7). The simple fact is anyone who claims they
love God
is a
liar
unless they have God, through Christ, living within.
There is only one kind of love, just as there is only one God. The gracious act of God taking His love from the external to the internal becomes the most excellent demonstration OF His love.
What is the real test of ‘God is Love?’
The issue is not in the mandate of
loving one another
; it is in the doctrines and Truth of Him loving us - as in,
In this is love,
not that we loved God
, but that
He loved us
and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins
. (1 John 4:10) Humans cannot love in the most authentic meaning presented in the Scriptures. God knew that. This is why He (God) had to send His Son as the perfect atonement (
lid of the Ark, mercy seat),
pay the price of humanity not having the ability to love, become that Love, offer indwelling salvation, in order to mandate the release of the Holy Spirit to
love one another
. Our True reality is this, once having the indwelling, the mandate to
love one another
becomes
God one another
, which changes the focus of love from “mush” to introducing the lost to true Love, God, through salvation in Christ.
Contemporary culture today believes
that love is available to all within their souls. All of this “love first” social gospel rhetoric is not only defiled doctrines, but it also confesses jealousy and strife. This kind of “love” strengthens their cause. It is a madman’s access to the mass of the people. It is an easy & lazy approach to avoid God (true Love) under plausible pretenses. Meanwhile, this replicated love insinuates the ambitious aims or improper criminalization of professing indwelt Christians and their teachers – as in the case of Paul.
Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love (God), knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.
(Philippians 1:15-17)
I have always said that the most violent people in the world are the “peace” demonstrators - all is well until they are fronted with absolute Truth. When that happens,
all Hell breaks loose
, resulting in
thumbs down
!
Can the unsaved ‘love one another?’
No!
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him
. (1 John 4:15-16)
In the real sense, and from Jesus Christ indwelling the heart of man, this mandate will not only prove that a man/woman is an authentic Christian, but it is the prerequisite of verse 16. Verse 16 cannot become the believer’s reality until the evidence of what love is, who abides in love (God) and IF God abides in the one making such a proclamation. I commit to you that this formulated Truth does not mean it is accomplished through mere words, but rather through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit – for with this proper abiding in Truth, it will prove that the individual is indeed an authentic Christian and can
love one another
.
It’s your choice!
You can continue to “love one another” through, what Paul defines as replicated love OR all of us can double-check our abiding position in Christ and release true love (God) to others. Loving one another is NOT accepting the positions and conditions of those around us, but rather in fulfilling the mandate of
loving one another
as evangelism. Nothing should matter more than giving God (love) to a lost & hopeless world.
True love is costly.
Even though Christ Jesus paid the cost of Love’s release, authentic Christians are required to join Him in the earthly/practical demonstration of
God is Love
. Are you prepared to be
well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties
or maybe losing your life for True love? It is a shame if your not. Those of us who ARE prepared is not only testing our salvation but we find, for Christ's sake; for when we are weak, then we are strong. (2 Cor. 12:10)
In Christ,
Stephen
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