an immature look at love
Hebrews 61-2
Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
elementary doctrine ie “the basics”
repentance – saved by grace through faith
washings – rituals and/or baptism
laying on of hands
resurrection – eternal life
eternal judgment – hell
leaving these…
I Corinthians 1313 faith, hope, love…the greatest is love.
Repentance faith
Washings
Laying on of hands
Resurrection hope
Eternal judgment
Love is built on the foundation of faith and hope. This leads to Ephesians 432 - Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
And John 1513 - Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
John 1335 - By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
Ephesians 319 - and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
I John 316 - By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
I don’t know of many who have gone beyond these basics. I personally am often sucked into conversations and lead others into conversations where our only content discussed is the nature of predestination. But here in Hebrews (at the top) I am told to grow up and stop dwelling on these childish lessons. It’s interesting to me how what is considered a basic lesson (love) is actually mature and what is considered a mature lesson (eschatology, religiosity, faith, security) is actually immature.
Christ tells us in John 1335 not that wooing others with our jargon and intelligence and bumper stickers and ball caps will they know we are his, but by our love. – not by our faith, not by our hope, not by our Ichthus fish, but by our love for each other. It seems so simple and yet rarely do we encounter someone who exudes Christ’s love in such a way that we just know they’re a Christian. I know that I am not that person.
We start with faith. I believe in my heart and confess with my heart that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead (Rom 109) then I can know that I am saved (I John513).
We build on faith hope…that whoever believes will have eternal life (John316) and Christ will return for his bride (I Thessalonians 416-17).
But pervasive to the entire Bible (not just the Gospels or the Epistles but also the Law and the Prophets) is the message of love. God is love (I john 416) and if we are to emulate God we must emulate love. For Christ is the example, that we should do just as he has done (John 1315).
2 Peter 15-7 - For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
I don’t know if this passage is a literal stepping blocks of first this, then that; but it is interesting to note that we start with faith and end with love. Love is the goal lesson.
We knew through faith God to be the I Am. We knew through hope God to be trustworthy and faithful. But it required an additional demonstration to show his love to us. Love is the key.
The conclusion is the action of love.
But what does this look like? We can point to what is not love. We can remember Bible stories about Samaritans who showed love. We can remember the cross. But how do I, how do you show love?
I don’t really know. But I’ll take a stab at it –
We have to learn to do good (Isaiah 117). For this lesson we need a most excellent teacher. What did he do? He, being the greater, took the lower position and washed his disciples’ feet. How do I emulate? Do I wash feet? Maybe. But I think the point is to get dirty with love. More than just physically dirty, get emotionally dirty and mentally dirty. What does this look like? For me, it means apologizing for my lesser offense knowing that I will never receive an apology for their greater offense. Also for me, it means admitting my faults to people who will only take advantage of the admitting.
Further application for myself would be to not hold my money so tightly. It was always so highly emphasized growing up that I find it difficult to be generous. The reason behind it is no excuse.
