|
By Loren Rosser 2.1.2008
“But
I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your
minds may be corrupted from the
simplicity
that is in Christ.”
2 Corinthians 11:3
About eight years ago that verse became one of my favorite verses in the Bible.
But it’s funny, before that time that verse sounded so negative to me. It was
one of those, “Watch out or the devil’s gonna get you!” verses. When I would
read about the possibility of the devil deceiving us as Eve was deceived I
immediately thought Paul was talking about watching out for all those weird and
crazy doctrines that are out there. You know, Paul was saying he’s afraid that
we’re going to embrace the New Age movement or start listening to all the David
Koreshs’ and Jim Jones’ that are out there. I used to hear preachers use that
verse when they were talking about the anti-christ coming along and deceiving
many.
But eight years
ago I discovered a beautiful and yet so obvious nugget in that verse that for
some reason I had never seen before. Paul wrote that he feared that our minds
may be corrupted from the
simplicity
that is in Christ. The key word there is simplicity. Paul wasn’t worried about
the church running after pagan cults or crazy doctrines. He was concerned that
the church would be corrupted by abandoning the simplicity of Christ. Wow! We
fell for that one hook line and sinker! You don’t have to look far to see just
how complicated we’ve made this simple relationship with Christ. We have heaped
religious duties, rules, regulations, and obligations upon ourselves and
others. And then we wonder why people aren’t running to Jesus. Can they even
see Him?
We
have lost sight of the whole point. God created the human race because he had
so much love to give He longed to share it with us. He created us to be in
relationship with Him. But then that relationship was severed by sin. But God
still so yearned to be in relationship with us that He sent His son to reconcile
us back to Himself. Father’s greatest passion is us! He wants nothing more than
for us to know Him and be in relationship with Him. But somehow a whole heap of
stuff has been added to the gospel and really complicated this simple
relationship with Father. We say, “Christianity is a relationship not a
religion.” But to most people on the outside looking in, it’s pretty much just
another religion.
We’ve piled
numerous requirements on the backs of believers while neglecting this amazing
relationship Father longs to have with us. We have even brushed aside the only
commandment Jesus gave to us.
“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
When I did a search in the New Testament on the word love, I was amazed at how
many passages were all about love. Whether they were speaking about God’s love
for us, our love for Him, or our love for one another, the list was enormous!
Kind of makes you think this whole love thing is really important to Father.
Most folks
reading this are probably thinking “Well duh! Of course love is important!
Every Christian knows that!” I mean our music is full of lyrics about love. The
sermons given preach about it. Christian books talk about it. Sunday School
curriculum focuses on it. And evangelistic tracts center on it. But what I
fear is that through all of the complication we added to following Christ we
have turned love into a “buzz word” rather than a reality. And because we have
lost sight of the simplicity of Christ, love has become just one of many
intellectual topics covered in the Bible we choose from when preparing a
sermon. You know what I’m talking about. That list of Christian words you pick
from when you need a topic to teach on. Words like love, obedience, faith,
hope, joy, self-control, trust, endurance, trials, and so on.
But we have
missed the boat BIG TIME! Love is not this nice little word that looks so sweet
stamped on a “Precious Moments” figurine or a Thomas Kincaid calendar. Love is
the very heart beat of God. It is supposed to be the very thing that defines
us. Love is to be the purpose and motive of everything we do. But the church
has treated love like an elementary principle. It’s something that “mature
believers” move past as they get into the meat of the word. But if that’s the
case, why is the New Testament so saturated with love? Jesus spoke of it
often. His actions showed it even more. Paul, “the great intellectual apostle”
spoke about love constantly. I don’t think the image most people have of Paul
as this “hard nosed mighty apostle” is really in line with who he was when you
look the way love just poured from his pen when he wrote. And then look at John,
talk about a man who was passionate about living a life saturated in the love of
Christ! Almost his entire first letter is all about living in the love of God.
Love is not a
Bible topic. Love is THE topic. Love is why Father created us. Love is why
Jesus went to the cross. Love is why we came to know Him. Love is what He
wants to share with us daily. Love is what we are supposed to have for one
another. Love is the chord that is supposed to keep the church connected to one
another. Love is supposed to be the motive behind all of our actions. But for
so many believers love is just a bunch of head knowledge. We have been so
deceived into thinking that knowledge equals revelation and reality. So we talk
about love but in reality it is missing from much of the western church.
Think about it. If love was the
heart beat of the Body of Christ, would we have strayed so far from the
simplicity of Christ? If I love you, am I going to place obligations and
requirements on you? Hmmm, what is the motive behind obligating you to
something? Is that about you or about me? Is laying burdens on you an act of
love? Jesus was quite vocal that it’s not. He even said,
“Take my yoke upon you, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Is taking authority over you an act of love? How is stealing somebody’s freedom
ever an act of love? I read of one who steals in the Bible and he is anything
but love. Do we really want to look and function like him? How about placing
expectations on each other? Is that an act of love? What about expecting you
to support my church or ministry? Is that about you or me? See, we have a heap
load of traditions and practices in the church that are viewed as being
completely normal and yet that have absolutely nothing to do with love.
There are raging
debates about how the church should meet or what it should look like when we
gather. Should we meet in a traditional building, a coffee shop or in a house?
How should we be structured? How should we run things? Who should speak and
when? What about worship? But when you look through the lens of the law of
love, does any of that really matter? Is that even what church is about? It
seems to me the Body of Christ has been majoring in the minors. I think if we
made our relationship with Father and loving one another priority, our motives
and goals would be a whole lot different. I think a whole lot of stuff that we
currently think is important would move to the wayside and eventually
disappear.
“So what should
the church look like?” I’ll tell you exactly what the church should look like:
a people who really love one another. “Yeah, but what about form and
structure? How should we meet and do stuff?” people ask. Well, as soon as I
can find in the Bible where that was a concern Jesus had I’ll let you know. The
interesting thing is Jesus spoke nothing about form and structure. He didn’t
even mention it! I think that’s why some people elevate Paul to the same level
as Christ. (Although they’ll never admit that they view him that way.) You
don’t get a method or formula from the words of Christ, so people go to the
teachings of Paul and twist them to get a formula out of them. But Jesus taught
that life in the Kingdom of God is not about rituals, traditions, methods and
formulas. It is a matter of the heart. That’s why all the debate about how to
DO church is simply ill relevant. It’s deceiving people away from the
simplicity of Christ. It’s not about form. The real issue is where is our
heart? Are we abiding in His love? Are we pursuing a relationship with
Father? Do we love our neighbor as we love our selves? Do we seek to walk in
love with one another? There is no formula or pattern for that. There is only
daily life and relationships with Him and one another.
Jesus was talking to His
disciples about the days to come and He said,
"Because lawlessness is increased, most
people's love will grow cold.” Matthew 12:24.
I wonder if Jesus was just talking about unbelievers when He said that? I was
looking at that word “lawlessness” and had some thoughts. Jesus only gave us
one commandment,
"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.”
John 15:12 Then Paul wrote in Romans 13:10, “Love
does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
So if love is “the
law” we live by, then what would it mean that “lawlessness is increased.” Could
it be that believers stop living by the law of love? They stop loving one
another? When you look at the landscape of Christianity, I don’t think that’s
very far fetched. You hear of all kinds of ludicrous squabbling among
believers. The way “Christian businesses” often treat their clients. The
demands Christian religious groups place upon people. The control some people
who are called “leaders” have over others. The way Christian couples often
treat each other. The condition of many Christian families. The list goes on.
And yet these same people will be very much involved in Christian activities.
The activities have become more important than walking in love. And yet love is
the very mark that we belong to Him!
Now I want to say
something before I go on. Some people reading this may hear me talk about
“walking in love” and they’ll feel like there’s another obligation they have to
fulfill. You know, another thing to add to their complex list of Christian
rules to live by. But love is not something you can grunt out. It is the fruit
of growing in relationship with Father. It is the very mark of knowing Christ.
You can’t force love to grow anymore than you can force a flower to grow. Love
grows in us as we receive Father’s love for us. When we are abiding in His love
loving others just becomes a natural thing to us. This isn’t about “grunt
work.” This is about reconnecting with Jesus, the love of our lives, and
growing in that relationship Him.
So many of the
rules and regulations religion lays down are meant to keep people from sin. But
those rules just reveal that we are not connecting with the love of God. If I
am in love with Father, am I going to desire to sin against Him? And even beyond
that, you can’t receive the love of God for very long and not be changed. And
receiving His love will change the way we treat others. This doesn’t happen
over night. This walk with Him is a life long journey. But I don’t think
Father is wringing His hands about getting us all cleaned up. He simply wants
us to know Him and to be in relationship with us. Getting “cleaned up” isn’t
the goal, knowing Him is. Sin drops off as a fruit of knowing Him. He knows
that!
So many people
carry guilt and shame because of the sins they wrestle with. But that shame
does nothing to help them find freedom from it. It pushes them away from Father
when they need to be running to Him more than ever. Religion has been the king
of heaping shame on people for centuries. I think that’s why people who are
bound by religion are some the nastiest people around. They are so guilt ridden
that they feel horrible about themselves. But religion just scolds them and
tells them to try harder. So rather than running to Father and receiving His
love they stay miserable. If you’re full of guilt and misery how can you
possibly love others? There is no love in you to give! But the good news is
Jesus bore our guilt and shame on the cross. Father has no desire to put shame
on people. Rather He has removed it and He replaces it with His love, joy and
peace.
As I said before,
the very mark of a person who knows Christ is that they are growing in His
love. But this is so far from modern Christian thought. Many of today’s
believers think that the mark of belonging to Christ is that you go to church.
The sign of growth is that you are part of a ministry or begin to take on more
responsibilities around the church. And if you really know Him, you are in
leadership. But that’s not what Jesus taught. He said,
"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have
love
for one another." John 13:35.
Take a look at Matthew 7:22-23.
"Many will say
to Me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your
name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will
declare to them, `I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE
LAWLESSNESS.'
What’s
interesting is Jesus tells them to depart from Him because He never knew them.
And there’s that word “lawlessness” again. And what is the New Testament law?
Love! So that verse becomes very clear. These people didn’t focus on knowing
Father and as a result their actions weren’t marked by love.
I’m sure you’ve
read the story Jesus told in Matthew 25 about the sheep and the goats. The one
where he said at the end He will divide the nations like a shepherd divides the
sheep from the goats. Then he invites the sheep into His kingdom. He says to
them,
“For I was
hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me
something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you
clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to
Me.' "Then the righteous will answer Him, `Lord, when did we see You hungry, and
feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? `And when did we see You
a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? `When did we see You
sick, or in prison, and come to You?' "The King will answer and say to them,
`Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of
Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me”
Matthew 25:35-40
Then you read in
verses 41 – 46 that he kicks the goats out because they didn’t do these things
unto Him. That passage used to confuse me. The Bible says in several places
that salvation is not by our works but by believing in Him. Well this passage
seemed to be saying the opposite. I would hear it preached that Jesus is saying
we need to get out there and feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit prisoners
and the sick. There was this feeling of doom that if we didn’t get busy and do
these things I would be a goat and be cast into hell. The churches I was a part
of started prison ministries to go into prisons. They had food banks to give
food to the homeless. They had visitation ministries that went into the
hospitals. Why? Because they weren’t going to be goats!
But guess what?
We missed the point! Now those are all good things to do. But Jesus who told
us His burden is light wasn’t cracking the whip to get people doing this stuff.
Once again, the issue is love! The sheep in that passage clearly knew Him.
They bore the mark of love. Their actions reflected it.
In 1Corinthians
13:1-3 Paul wrote:
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.
In that passage
Paul says that these good works done without love profit him…how much? A
little? Get you into heaven? NO! He says they profit him NOTHING! Why not?
Because love is the mark that you are in relationship with Father. John wrote:
Beloved, let us
love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God
and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1John 4:7 & 8
And then John
goes on to say:
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.
1John 4:20
So the issue in
the story Jesus told about the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25 is not “go do a
bunch of good stuff.” It’s that we are characterized by love. And why is
that? Because we know the One who is love. We can’t help but grow in love
because we know Him.
Following Jesus
is simple. He saved us to bring us into relationship with a loving heavenly
Father. It’s just about growing in love with Him and loving one another. But
looking at the modern landscape of Christianity, I’d hate to say it, but
sometimes it feels like it’s about everything BUT that. It is my prayer that
the body of Christ will return to the simplicity of Christ and knowing Father
and walking in love with one another. This is what He commanded, so it must
mean a lot to Him. Can we take a break from all of our “Christian activities”
and get back to what really matters to Him?
Other
Articles by Loren Rosser
Other
Articles |
