September_30

SHARING BREAD

¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.

John 15:17 (NIV)

In our verse for today our Lord states a renewed exhortation towards brotherly love.  This is His second time to command us in a mere five verses regarding what is closest to His heart – the mutual love of the brethren – our standard being His perfect example of a humble and loving sacrificial service:

¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.   John 15:12 (NIV)

 

It would do us all well to remember that the weary, the hungry, the downtrodden, the thirsty, the guilty, the worthless, the vilest, the boring, the annoying, the loudmouth, the insecure, the overbearing, the self-sufficient and anyone else that lacks perfection (which would include us all) – out of love – are invited to come and believe in the Lord Jesus – no exceptions.  He came to save sinners who could not save themselves and has assured us in His Word that He will never turn anyone away who comes to Him.  

 

“Amazing grace!  How sweet the sound!  That saved a wretch like me!  I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see.”   John Newton  

 

Indeed, the apostle Paul writes to us of love’s preeminence in 1 Corinthians – love being the most excellent way:

 

 ⁸ Love never fails.   1 Cor 13:8 (NIV)

 

 ¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.  1 Cor 13:13 (NIV)

Christian love must certainly be such a rarity as to have the constant reminder of it by sweet Jesus – love being in stark contrast to the hatred and discord of the world which flows so naturally and freely between vessels of flesh. Brotherly love was an extremely important grace of which Christ constantly spoke.  It remains His utmost mantra.  Indeed, when posed the question as to the greatest commandment, His answer pointed to this high calling of love:

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matt 22:36-40 (NIV)

 

“Love one another that it may at last be said of Christians as it was at first:  ‘Behold how they love one another.’”   Ralph Venning

 

Taking the ten and summing them all up in two:  Love God – Love others.  There is no other Christian duty so emphatically urged or persistently impressed upon believers than brotherly love.  Certainly one of the reasons our Lord Jesus puts such an emphasis on this is that it is so unnatural for flesh.  Intense passionate love – “Erao”, natural familial love – “Storge”, personal affection and fondness between friends – “Phileo”, all come rather easy for us as they are very often self gratifying.  “Agapao”, the love Jesus speaks of in our verse for today, is not naturally found in earthen vessels.  It is a selfless love that is rooted in the mind and the will of the subject and it is to prize, esteem, treat as precious and to be devoted to.  It is to treat one with value and respect.  It is doing what is best for the object of the love.  Divine love was demonstrated at Calvary when the sinless Lamb bled and died for sinful, undeserving humanity.

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.   Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)

Christ’s actions were the highest expression of love and devotion.  Mere human kindness would fail in the wake of such harsh treatment – dying at the hands of those He came to save.  It is the love straight from heaven and quite impossible without the indwelling of the Spirit’s power.  Our fleshly ardor, sympathy and human kindness will be cooled by the indifference and ingratitude often met by other’s unlovely expressions and reactions.  Human love will always be found wanting.   

¹⁷ “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”   Zeph 3:17 (NIV)

What I glean from this:

• I am commanded to love God and to love others.
• I am to love like Jesus loved through the power of the Holy Spirit.
• My human love and kindness will fail me – they will always be found wanting.

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September_28

SHARING BREAD

¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit–fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

John 15:16 (NIV)

Our verse for today is reminiscent of the Great Commission found in Matthew is it not?  One of the Lord Jesus’ last Words to His disciples prior to His ascension was to “Go”.  This Word is meant for modern day believers as well. We, like they, are to go forth in all of His authority and power producing eternal fruit for His glory and for our ultimate good: 

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matt 28:18-20 (NIV)

 

The Lord Jesus has placed a commission on all of His followers.  He has divinely appointed all believers to bear fruit that will endure.  We are not to dwell in idleness and mere self indulgence.  We are not to be foolish rather we are to make the most of every opportunity for, Scripture says, “the days are evil”:

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.  Eph 5:15-17 (NIV)

 

Furthermore, those who Christ appoints, through His power, do not labor in vain.  Whatever “errand”- “mission” – “bidding” – we are sent on – which, I might add, are all of our encounters – even those we consider the most mundane or inconsequential – heaven is there to help.  Whenever we come to the Father in prayer, in the mighty name of Jesus, we may obtain everything needful for our work. He has given us His Word. We will ever receive a constant supply of grace and help in our time of need through prayer.  If our request is a denial, it is for a far greater yes – we can be sure of it – His denials being but disguised blessings.  Like Daniel – highly esteemed by God – the moment we begin to earnestly pray, help is on the way:

 

²⁰ While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the LORD my God for his holy hill– ²¹ while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. ²² He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. ²³ As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.”   Dan 9:20-23 (NIV)

 

“God wants us to trust Him, no matter what He does.  There is a heavenly carelessness that leaves it all with Jesus and doesn’t become upset when He does things contrary to what we expected.”   Vance Havner

 

“And so I thank Him from my heart, for what His love denies.”   Fanny Crosby

 

 Regarding our powerful Lord, the Jewish scholar Alfred Edersheim writes:

 

“He alone has exhibited a life in which absolutely no fault could be found; and promulgated a teaching to which absolutely no exception can be taken.  Admittedly He is the One perfect Man – the ideal of humanity, His doctrine the one absolute teaching.  The world has known none other, none equal.”   

 

Interestingly, some of us may be called to witness in the bowels of an unknown land bringing the arms and hands and feet of Jesus to those who do not yet know Him.  Some of us may be called to minister to the little ones God has place in our care – teaching them Truth and enabling them to grow as oaks of righteousness for the display of His splendor.  Still others may be called in the workplace to flesh out our Lord to a needy and hurting world offering hope.  The opportunities are as vast and as numerous as the stars in the sky – we need only to pray to have eyes to see and ears to hear and a will that desires obedience to walk in His ways.  Humanity without Jesus and without hope is hurting.  This is the essence of eternal fruit.  Paul writes of every man’s condition that is separate from Christ in Ephesians:

 

¹² Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace.”   Eph 2:12-14 (NIV)

 

¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”   Romans 10:14-15 (NIV)

 

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”   Isaiah 52:7 (NIV)

 

What I glean from this:

 

• Jesus’ commission to me is to “Go” forth and produce fruit which is eternal.
• Jesus promises to help me – I can trust Him.
• His denials to me are always for a greater yes.

 

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September_26

SHARING BREAD

¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

John 15:15 (NIV)

“What were we made for? To know God.  What aim should we set ourselves in life?  To know God.  What is the eternal life that Jesus gives?  Knowledge of God.  What is the best thing in life, bringing more joy, delight, and contentment, than anything else?  Knowledge of God.  What, of all the states God ever sees man in, gives Him most pleasure?  Knowledge of Himself.”   J.I. Packer 

 

“In Christ the heart of the Father is revealed, and higher comfort there cannot be than to rest in the Father’s heart.”   Andrew Murray

 

“Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.”   Deut 33:12 (NIV)

When the Word speaks, He proclaims the Divine – we would all do well to have ears to hear.  Truth and Wisdom are our Lord’s native tongue and Truth and Wisdom do not disappoint both being beneficial and desirable to the soul.  We find in Proverbs:

¹ My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, ² turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, ³ and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, ⁴ and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, ⁵ then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. ⁶ For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.   Prov 2:1-6 (NIV)

 

¹⁴ Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.   Prov 24:14 (NIV)

 

Wisdom applied will keep us from dark ways and crooked paths helping us remain in the narrow way.  This is how the psalmist tells us we can keep are ways pure:

⁹ How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. ¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. ¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.   Psalms 119:9-11 (NIV)

“The message of the Bible is addressed primarily to the mind, to the understanding.”   Martyn Lloyd-Jones

 

Not too dissimilar, Paul tells us in Romans that as we renew our minds through the Truth of God’s Word, we will become discerners of God’s good and pleasing and perfect will – which, by the way, we do not want to miss:

¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. ² Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.     Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

“Have you ever felt the magnitude of God’s encounter with you?  Have you so sensed His eternal purpose through you that you have radically and thoroughly released your will to His will, and your heart to His Heart?   Have you been progressively experiencing God’s shaping your character to match His assignment in your life?….Every Christian is….called by God to be on a mission with Him in His world.”   Henry Blackaby

Jesus stated earlier in John that His Words were reliable and were straight from the Father – He could be trusted – yet some of His hearers remained clueless – some things never seem to change:

²⁵ “Who are you?” they asked.  “Just what I have been claiming all along,” Jesus replied. ²⁶ “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.” ²⁷ They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. ²⁸ So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [the one I claim to be] and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. ²⁹ The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”   John 8:25-29 (NIV)

In our verse for today, the high privilege and standing of the believer is also strikingly taught – we are a friend of Christ as well as a child of the King.  Christ has given us an exalted status indeed.  As long as Christ is in heaven, we need never say we have no friend to turn to.  Christ is the friend who sticks closer than a brother.  He is our Hope, our Comfort, our Guide, our Joy, our Refuge, our Sufficiency and our Strength.  He remains faithful – “the lamb-like Lion…..the lion-like Lamb” (Lael Arrington).

¹⁴ “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. ¹⁵ He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. ¹⁶ With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”    Psalms 91:14-16 (NIV)

What I glean from this:

• Jesus speaks both Truth and Wisdom.
• Jesus has made known the Father to me through His Word.
• Jesus is my friend who lovingly sticks by me.   

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September_23

SHARING BREAD

¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command.

John 15:14 (NIV)

Amazing – what an opportunity held out for mere mortals – the dust of the earth offered friendship with their Creator – Limitlessness friends with vaporous flesh – how unearthly.  In yet another of one of the many “if” – “then” statements found in Scripture, Jesus tells His followers – both then and now – we are His friends if we are obedient to His commands – walk in His ways – follow His lead.  It is our Divine choice to fully live in the present.  We are the big losers if we miss out on this.  Friend of the most High Triune God – friend of the One who spoke creation into being and sustains it with His mighty Word – friend of our great Intercessor who ever pleads our cases sitting at the right hand of God the Father – friend of the One who died for us in order for us to truly live through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit – again, we are the great losers if we forgo this surreal opportunity.  Blameless and faithful Job speaks of his knowledge of our great Intercessor even prior to our Lord’s incarnation – a future foretaste for all fellow followers:

¹⁹ Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. ²⁰ My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; ²¹ on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend.   Job 16:19-21 (NIV)

Further, in speaking of Jesus – the great High Priest – the writer of Hebrews states:

²⁴ but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. ²⁵ Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.   Heb 7:24-25 (NIV)

Jesus tells us we are not to consider ourselves as the Lord’s friend if our choices are to habitually refuse to follow His commands.  That is, quite frankly, a pipe dream destined to simply go up in smoke.  Furthermore, to be his friend carries with it abundant joy and peace.  Our joy lies in our acquiescing to His will and ways – which are always perfect – albeit often difficult – and always lovingly for my good.  It is there where perfect peace is found.  When I stomp my feet and demand my own way I not only forgo friendship and stymie my growth but also my ultimate joy.

“Very striking is it to observe how frequently our Lord returns to this great principal, that obedience is the great test of valid Christianity, and doing the real mark of saving faith.  Men who talk of being “the Lord’s people,” while they live in sin and neglect Christ’s plain commands, are in the broad way that leads to destruction.”   John Charles Ryle

²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does.   James 1:22-25 (NIV)

“The work we do is only our love for Jesus in action.  If we pray the work…if we do it to Jesus, if we do it for Jesus, if we do it with Jesus…that’s what makes us content.”  Mother Teresa

Jesus is the friend Who sticks closer than a brother.  It is He Who will never leave us nor forsake us.  We can trust Him.  In my own personal walk of sanctification – of growing up in Christ – of living the abundant life – or whatever term you may desire to put on it, He has and continues to be a Phenomenon.   As I relinquish more and more control of my life to Him – a narrowing so to speak – a walk of becoming more like Jesus and less like Beth, He has proven faithful to His promises and tenderly loving as a good Shepherd.  When I stubbornly refuse to walk in His way, I stymie my growth and bring upon myself undue burdens and loss.  He is always faithful – I am the one who wanders.  He has been and continues to be the aroma that fills me so that I may leave His fragrance in every encounter.  He has been and continues to be my sufficiency and strength.  He has been and continues to be the grace needed for every trial, pain and experience I walk through.  He has been and continues to be the magnified joy in every mountain top experience I encounter.  He has been and continues to be waves of grace giving way to waves of grace in my life.  He has been and continues to be my All.  Furthermore, it is His desire to pour forth the incomparable riches of His grace to all His friends:

⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.   Eph 2:4-10 (NIV)

 

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.   Eph 3:20-21 (NIV)

 

What I glean from this:

 

• I am Jesus’ friend if I do what He commands.
• Jesus is my great Intercessor.
• Jesus is my All.

 

          

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September_21

SHARING BREAD

¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13 (NIV)

Certainly, Jesus demonstrated His love for us through His sacrificial death on the cross.  While all remained estranged from Him – wallowing in sin – without strength, powerless, feeble and in enmity with God, Christ died for the world.  Scripture and head knowledge both tell us it is a rarity indeed for someone to die even for a righteous man yet to die for one that is steeped in sin from birth, an enemy and one so totally powerless to save himself – surely is a demonstration of an amazing unearthly love – “Agapao” – self-denying, self-sacrificing love shown at its finest through the life and death of sweet Jesus!

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.   Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)

 

“Every revelation of God is a demand, and the way to knowledge of God is by obedience.”
 William Temple

“Agapao” love is the love for our brothers and sisters in Christ which our Lord calls every true believer to.  Just because something is perhaps difficult for us to flesh out does not negate the fact that we are to do it!  The love He demonstrated us is to be the measure and degree of love we are to have for one another.  It is a self-sacrificial love.

 

“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”   C. T. Studd

Most of us reading this will not be called on to physically lay down our lives – though perhaps some of us may – but we are certainly all called to a self-denying crucified life in the figurative sense of the word.  Is this not what Paul means when he writes the following in Galatians?

 

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.   Gal 2:20 (NIV)

 

Indeed, all the gospels speak of it – the flesh is to be crucified on a daily basis in order that Christ’s love and life may be made manifest in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit:

 

 ²³ Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. ²⁵ What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”   Luke 9:23-25 (NIV)

 

This is not an emotional feeling we are discussing here, rather it is a choice.  It is a determination of the will which is rooted in the mindset of the subject – and a faith that as believes we are called to walk as Jesus walked and love as He loved, and in a manner worthy of the gospel – albeit imperfectly.  It would behoove us to remember – that which our Lord calls us to do He will also empower us to do.  We do not have to muster up anything – just relinquish our rights to ourselves to Him who love us and gave Himself for us.  As we pour out our lives and are filled with the power of the precious Holy Spirit we are able to manifest this love which surpasses knowledge and human wisdom.  This was Paul’s desire for the saints when he prayed for them to know and exhibit the love of Christ:

 

¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.   Eph 3:14-19 (NIV)

Surely the more a believer knows and understands of Christ, the more they stand amazed at His love and tender care for them.  Experiencing God’s love is a catalyst which drives the believer to ardently love one another.    

“Love for God and obedience to God are so completely involved in each other that either one of them implies the other too.”   F. F. Bruce

“He who is filled with love is filled with God Himself.”   Augustine

What I glean from this:

• Jesus demonstrated His great love for me by His death on the cross for my sins.
• I am called to love my brothers and sister in Christ with this same self-sacrificial love.
• The more I know and experience Jesus’ love – a love which surpasses knowledge – is the measure to which I am filled with the fullness of God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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September_19

SHARING BREAD

¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

John 15:12 (NIV)

This, my friends, is quite a command from our Lord’s lips is it not?  I am to love others as He loved me???  Not only that, Jesus even repeats His Words again in this same chapter a mere five verses later!  The frequent repetition of this command teaches us of its vast importance not to mention the great rarity of the manifestation of consistent Christian charity.  We should consider ourselves red flagged regarding its importance:

¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.   John 15:17 (NIV)

 

Seriously, could He have not picked something to command a bit more attainable or perhaps palatable than this?  Surely, it is easy to love Him, but each other – are you kidding me???  The annoying as well as the hateful – the rude as well as the loudmouth (me) – the boring as well as the loquacious – the arrogant as well as the super pious – you get my drift here – all fall under His term “each other”.  Ouch!

 

“If monotony tries me, and I cannot stand drudgery; if stupid people fret me and little ruffles set me on edge; if I make much of the trifles of life, then I know nothing of Calvary’s love.”  Amy Carmichael

 

We better get this straight – friendship with the Lord Jesus involves an obligation of brotherly love towards our brothers (and sisters).  We have a great duty of love toward other Christians – our Lord backs His command with His exemplary behavior.       

“Nothing less than His matchless love towards sinners should be the measure and standard of love to one another…How anyone can pretend to Christian hope who is ignorant of Christian love, it is hard to understand.  He that supposes he is right in the sight of God, because his doctrinal views are correct – while he is unloving in his temper, and sharp, cross, snappish, and ill-natured in the use of his tongue, exhibits wretched ignorance of the first principles of Christ’s Gospel.  The crossness, spitefulness, jealousy, maliciousness, and general disagreeableness of many high professors of ‘sound doctrine,’ are a positive scandal to Christianity.  Where there is little love there can be little grace.”  John Charles Ryle

¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command.   John 15:14 (NIV)

Christ came as the embodiment of God’s love so now too believers are to embody Christ’s love to a hurting and needing world – showing ourselves to be His disciplesis HH    .  This is a fundamental law of His kingdom.  Brotherly love is never obsolete or out of date or antiquated in God’s eyes – it is an everlasting command. We are to strengthen one another’s hands through love showing ourselves to be His disciples.  Jesus tells us:

³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”   John 13:34-35 (NIV)

 

Brotherly love is to be the badge of the Lord’s disciples.  It is a distinguishing characteristic of His family (like “cankles” is to mine – I couldn’t resist!).  Brotherly love is what believer’s are to be noted for.  Love was what our Master was famous for – the heart of Christ being very much set on it.  Likewise, Christians are to be known for their affections for one another.  John exhorts believers with the following Truths in 1 John:

 

⁹ Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. ¹⁰ Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. ¹¹ But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.   1 John 2:9-11 (NIV)

 

²¹ Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God ²² and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. ²³ And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.   1 John 3:21-23 (NIV)

“‘God is love; and everyone that loveth is born of God’:  if we love one another as brethren in Christ, and love all saints as saints, not because they are of this or that party; and if we love, not in word only, but in deed, and show the truth of our love by works and labours of love, this is a solid proof to ourselves, and to others, that we are real disciples of Jesus:  it is a clear testimony that we have truly learned Christ, and that we have his Spirit and his love shed abroad in our hearts; that we are of the family and household of faith, and shall enjoy all the family privileges.  This is a better evidence, and more convincing to all around us, of what we are, than all knowledge, gifts, attainments, and outward privileges whatever.  O God of love, cause me to love thee, and all thine; the poor, the weak, and the feeble, as well as the strong:  for all are thine.”     K. H. Von Bogatzky

 

What I glean from this:

 

• Jesus commands me to love my sisters and brothers as He has loved me.  He has made no exception clauses to this. 
• Loving others is the distinguishing mark of a disciple of the Lord Jesus. “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  John 13:34-35. 
• If I hate my brother, I walk in darkness and remain blinded by darkness. 

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September_16

SHARING BREAD

¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

John 15:11 (NIV)

Does anybody out there besides me like the ring of the two words – complete joy?  How simply divine does that sound?   Where or where can the fullness of soul satisfying joy be found?  It is found by constantly looking in the face of Jesus – throwing off the hindrances and continually ridding ourselves of sin, armed with a thankful heart, we can run the joy race with our eyes fixed upon Him.  Isn’t that exactly what the writer of Hebrews tells us?

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ² Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.   Heb 12:1-2 (NIV)

Joy is abundantly wonderful in and of itself, but complete joy is in a league of its own!  Certainly that would be a priceless commodity in our day and age of anxiety ridden gloom and doom!  I don’t know about you, but Jesus’ Words grab my attention!  His purpose in His life exhibited as well as in His teachings was to give us life effervescent not simply a life of joyless existence:

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.   John 10:10 (NIV)

Our Lord desires for our lives to be overflowing not constricted – full of joyful life – and He is clear how we are to go about it – through seeing Him in all things and through fruitful obedience, showing ourselves to be His – as we will always live what we believe.

“See God in everything, and God will calm and color all that thou doest see!  It may be that the circumstances of our sorrows will not be removed, their condition will remain unchanged; but if Christ, as Lord and Master of our life, is brought into our grief and gloom, ‘He will compass us about with songs of deliverance.’  To see HIM, and to be sure that His wisdom cannot err, His power cannot fail, His love can never change; to know that even His direst dealings with us are for our deepest spiritual gain, is to be able to say, in the midst of bereavement, sorrow, pain, and loss, ‘The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’  Nothing else but seeing God in everything will make us loving and patient with those who annoy and trouble us.  They will be to us then only instruments for accomplishing His tender and wise purposes toward us, and we shall even find ourselves at last inwardly thanking them for the blessing they bring us.  Nothing else will completely put an end to all murmuring or rebelling thoughts.”  Hannah W. Smith  

Prior to our verse for today, Jesus tells us to remain in His love through obeying His Word just as He remained in His Father’s love by obeying His commands – even the most difficult ones.   We are never more like our Savior than when we are obedient in the hard things in life.  It’s really easy to find myriads of excuses to bail.  The world doesn’t care; indeed it seems to even condone poor choices.  When we make a commitment to God – a vow of faithfulness, it would behoove us to be brave enough to let it age and not abort despite the hardship faced.  We are told by the writer of Hebrews that our Lord Jesus faced even His most difficult trial with joy as He looked forward to what the obedience to that trial would produce – both returning to His rightful eternal throne and bringing many sons to glory.  He is our supreme Model:

² Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.   Heb 12:2 (NIV)

 

Jesus’ joy is perfect joy – not lacking anything.  “Complete” in our verse for today is translated from the wonderful Greek word “Pleroo” meaning full, to fill; as a net with fish, as a house with a perfumed smell; to fill completely and fully.”  Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible – New Testament Lexical Aids.    What an inducement from our Lord to make the believer aim at eminent holiness in their lives. When Jesus fills, He overflows.  Fruitful and faithful disciples are the joy of the Lord Jesus as well.  Indeed, we find Him jumping up and down with joy when the seventy-two returned from ministering having “got it” at long last:

²¹ At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”   Luke 10:21 (NIV)    

Surely, fullness of joy is found in Jesus.  I am reminded of John the Baptists words when he was talking about the Savior to his disciples:

²⁷ To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ ²⁹ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. ³⁰ He must become greater; I must become less.”   John 3:27-30 (NIV)

Interesting side note – the root word for “Joy” is the same root word for “Grace” – “Chairo”– “that which causes joy, pleasure, that which creates delight in the recipient; thankfulness, gratitude, favors done without expectation of return.”     

 “All is grace because of Christ alone.”    Ann Voskamp

 

What I glean from this:

 

• Joy is found in Jesus – keeping my eyes fixed upon Him, seeing my life’s experiences through Him – with His eyes, fruitful obedience to Him.
• Jesus must become greater in my life I must become less.
• All is grace because of Jesus.

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September_14

SHARING BREAD

⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”

John 15:9-10 (NIV)

Indescribable love – unchangeable love – He knows us by name, He calls us His friends.  His love is never limited, never conditional, never withdrawn and never uncertain.  It is a vast, wide, deep, immeasurable love which passes knowledge and can never be fully comprehended by mere man.  We are to rest our souls on this love and live under a constant sense of it. 

“Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.”   Deut 33:12 (NIV)

His love is proven.  Our Lord Jesus – the eternal God, before whom angels veil their faces – unwrapped Himself of heaven’s glory cloaking Himself in skin of flesh on a mission of love to save the souls of men – what an amazing Savior – what an amazing love.  His love – Agapao – “is to esteem, cherish, favor, honor, respect, accept, prize, relish, be devoted to; it is a love rooted in the mind and will of the subject and means to value, esteem, prize, treat as precious, to be devoted to.”  Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible – New Testament Lexical Aids.   Biblical love is vastly different from the love we see portrayed by the world.  It is a selfless love and one that desires what is best for the beloved.  It is the greatest and highest love.  Jesus states a few verses later:

¹³ “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”   John 15:13 (NIV)

 

“O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee.  I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths its flow, may richer fuller be.  O light that followest all my way, I yield my flickering torch to Thee.  My heart restores its borrowed ray, that in thy sunshine’s blaze its day, may brighter fairer be.  O joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee.  I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that morn shall tearless be.  O cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from Thee.  I lay in dust life’s glory dead, and from the ground there blossoms red, life that shall endless be.”   George Matheson 

 

³ The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”   Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)

It seems almost silly that Jesus would have to add: “Now remain in my love.”  A love so magnificent, so valuable, so high and holy certainly should be a love that everyone would relish, yearn for and cling to.  Yet, so often our desires to go our own way, to disregard what is offered, to not trust in the Truth of His love, to believe the lies of the adversary or of the world – interrupts our walks and our peace.  We find ourselves putting self first, aborting our Lord’s commands – that are always for our good.  If we are not careful, pride and worldliness will overtake peace and contentment in our lives.  We will feel little hope and leave behind little evidence of our faith.  The fault lies within us – not God.  God has linked together holiness (obedience to His commands) and happiness (contentment) – this is the grand equation of both a joyful and fulfilling faith.  Active dependence and loving obedience are proper and peaceful paths for a child of the King.

“Nothing can satisfy the entire man but the Lord’s love and the Lord’s own self.  To embrace our Lord Jesus, to dwell in His love, and be fully assured of union with Him – this is all in all….. They who love God with all their hearts, find that his ways are ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are peace…..We fear not God because of any compulsion; our faith is no fetter, our profession is no bondage, we are not dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty.  No, our piety is our pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight.”  C. H. Spurgeon

¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. ¹⁷ In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. ¹⁹ We love because he first loved us.  1 John 4:16-19 (NIV)

What I glean from this:

• Jesus loves me this I know.
• He desires for me to both remain in His love and rely on His love.
• God has linked together my holiness with my happiness. 

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September_12

SHARING BREAD

⁷ “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

John 15:7-8 (NIV)

Here our Lord sets forth a wonderful Promise which is one of Scriptures many “if” – “then” statements:  The more constant a believer abides in Christ – the more constant their communion with Him – the more constant His Word abides within them – the more effectual will be their prayers.  It is a blessed privilege indeed!  This brings God the Giver much glory.  Remember, He Who gives the power gets the glory and when God is most glorified the believer is most satisfied – it works, go figure!  James, the half brother of our Lord Jesus puts it in a nutshell for us:

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.   James 5:16 (NIV)

 

“Prayer is not an indifferent or a small thing. It is not a sweet little privilege. It is a great prerogative, far-reaching in its effects.”   E.M. Bounds

To abide in Jesus is to develop the habit of having constant communion with Him – leaning on Him, resting in Him, pouring our hearts out to Him, thanking Him, knowing Him through His Word.  He is to be our sufficiency and strength, our constant Chief Companion and best Friend. He loves us and if the prayers of a believer receive from Him a “No” it is always for a far greater “Yes”.  We can trust Him.

His Words and precepts are to be ever before our memories and minds.  This must be intentional for the believer.  One does not just become righteous.  One does not just become holy.  The psalmist writes:

⁹ How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. ¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. ¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.   Psalms 119:9-11 (NIV)

To know God’s Word is to know His heart.  To pray His heart is the essence of effectual prayer.  Believers can know for certain that God cares immensely for the souls of men, the exaltation of His Word and the glory of His great Name.  Our Lord always has eternal purposes in mind in everything allowed in the life of His child. The believer who has a firm grasp of the Word of God affords him the awesome opportunity and responsibility – I might add – to pray the very will of God.  God is always faithful to His Word.  Most Christians simply pray in vain as they ignorantly ask amiss.  Sometimes we find ourselves simply needing our “wanter’s” fixed.  What we always want – whether we realize it or not – is to be in the center of God’s will, mature and fully assured.  This is abundance, this is peace and joy.  James also tells us:

² You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.   James 4:2-3 (NIV)

 

Make no mistake about it; God is not a giant Santa Claus in the sky distributing blessings and gifts at our every whim as some modern day theologies espouse.  This would certainly be for our ruin.  God is God and we are, quite simply, not.  He is the One who knows the end from the beginning, He is the one who knows how we are made and He is the One who knows exactly what we need to increase our faith and to conform us to the image of His dear Son.  He is the giver of every good and perfect gift – gifts used to prosper and not harm, gifts that give us hope and a future. Again James tells us:

¹⁶ Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. ¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.   James 1:16-17 (NIV)

Yet His gifts must be are seen from an eternal – not worldly – perspective, through eyes that are set on things above.  All is grace because of Jesus alone and all that is allowed in the life of those who love Him is promised to work for their good – whether we can understand it or not.  Of this we can be certain, believers are given the grace to meet each need allowed.  Jesus carries us in His hands through every “No”.  To be sure, He walks in the fire with us just as He did with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  He takes us from “strength to strength” as we walk through our valleys. 

“When my world is shaking, Heaven stands.  When my heart is breaking I never leave Your hands.”   JJ Heller

One day for certain everything will be made clear.  This is why Scripture tells us to set our hearts and minds on things above – not on earthly things:

¹ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.   Col 3:1-4 (NIV)

 

“One thing that Jesus brings to our attention is the importance of living in this world with our eyes fixed upon what is above. A follower of the Lord experiences eternal realities while he lives in a temporal world–he sees things that others do not see; he hears things that others do not hear; he know things that others do not know.  A follower of the Lord walks with his feet upon the ground, while his eyes are fixed upon heaven. He knows that all the things around him are passing away, and that all that is before him will last forever.”   Roy Lessin

What I glean from this:

• As a believer, prayer is both my great privilege and responsibility.
• Knowing and fervently praying God’s Word gives power to my prayers making them effective.
• If I receive a “No” from God it is for a far greater “Yes”.  I can trust Him.

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September_09

SHARING BREAD

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”

John 15:5-6 (NIV)

In our verses for today Jesus is pristinely clear:  abundant fruit is promised to those who choose to remain in Him which is in sheer contrast to the sure ruin of those who choose not to.  The underlying foundation of Christianity is having a personal and passionate devotion to Jesus – attaching ourselves to Him as our sufficiency and strength.  Contentment and peace and joy are discovered in abiding while darkest doom, death and destruction are the results of the withered – those who have willfully chosen to refuse the Life giving Sap.

“You have made us for Yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in You.”    Augustine

Believers who are constant in the exercise of faith in Christ and love for Him are promised to bear much fruit – fruitfulness in this life and everlasting happiness in the life to come.   Yet a branch without life is dead – it is worthless and therefore thrown into the fire and burned.  This is a sobering Truth and one we should not take lightly.

“Faith is the root of works.  A root that produces nothing is dead.”    Thomas Wilson

The church has always had – and will continue to have until Christ returns – false professors of faith.  Those who claim union with Christ but by the fruit of their lives demonstrate anything but being joined to Him.  There must be about a man some appearance of professed faith in Christ or their union is not true rather fictitious.  We are foolish if we do not examine our own lives to see if we are in the faith – we are to test ourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5).   Jesus is clear:

¹⁸ “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”   Matt 7:18-20 (NIV)

Indeed, we should not be surprised at this as one of our Lord’s own was a turncoat – one He had taken into His inner sanctum – one with whom He had shared the bread and cup with – one who had been privy to witness His miraculous works – one with whom He had had sweet communion – yet one who willfully chose for his heart to remain unchanged.  Jesus speaks of the likes of these in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew:

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!’     Matt 7:21-23 (NIV)

 

“A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.”     St. Basil

Is this not what John the Baptist was referring when he sternly repudiated Pharisaic Judaism by warning the Pharisees who approached him for baptism to produce fruit in keeping with repentance?

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹ And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”   Matt 3:7-10 (NIV)

Let’s get this straight, God does not need us.  Indeed, He can raise up stones to do His bidding – even the rocks split when our Lord was crucified.  Our abiding is a demonstration of our eagerness to make our “calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10).  Believers are not to be arrogant or boastful in our positions on the vine – as Gentiles we have been grafted in.  We are not the natural branches as the Jews. This is why Paul states plainly in Romans regarding our attitudes as he writes of his people that he longed to come into the faith:

¹³ I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry ¹⁴ in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ¹⁶ If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. ¹⁷ If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, ¹⁸ do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. ¹⁹ You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” ²⁰ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Romans 11:13-21 (NIV)

You are reasonable people – think about this.

What I glean from this:

• If I remain in Jesus, Jesus remains in me and I will bear much lasting fruit.  I can do nothing eternal apart from the Master.
• A branch that produces no fruit is dead.
• My faith is manifested by my fruit.

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