Simplifying The Complicated, part six - Love Each Other In This Same Manner

This is the last blog on my short series on uncomplicating the things of our Father. He has made it simple and we have complicated it by adding our ideas and traditions. So far we have considered the simplicity of loving Yahweh, of loving ourselves, of loving others and of valuing everyone. These are straightforward commands that are only empowered by love. The last thing I want to consider is Jesus' final command that we, in the Body of Christ, must love each other as the Lord has loved us.

Jesus loved us in simplicity and largeness. Maybe the theology behind it can be complicated by the tremendous depth of it when we examine it from beginning to end, but the application is simple. Jesus loved the Father to the point of laying down his life in obedience. This huge act of love also carried the message that Dad loves us so much he was willing to sacrifice everything. It is simple, straightforward and uncomplicated. While we were still enemies of God Jesus sacrificially paid the only price demanded so that we could be redeemed from our rebellion into life with Father. Nothing is asked of us except to believe.

This is how love is defined. This is the measuring rod. Simple.

Now Jesus turns around and says even before he gave us the measuring rod, love each other in the same manner I have loved you. No lesser definition of love will do other than the sacrificial love that is willing to go the distance:

"For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends." John 15:13 TPT

So I ask the question, how do we define love, because in our current season we are not going the distance. The division in the Body is growing among believers over the silliest things. "Should we wear a mask or not?" "Should we trust our government?" "What is the origin of COVID-19?" I kid you not, this type of thing has Christians at each other's throats. It is like we do not even consider the prayer of our King that we would be united, at one with each other as he is with the Father.

In Kingdom reality, it doesn't matter how wrong we think a brother of sister's opinion is, it does not give us the right to change the standard of measurement of love that has been given to us by our King. We can be wrong and we can do wrong but don't try to cover it by changing the measurement and coming up with excuses. We are to confess when we get it wrong, change our thinking according to the conviction of the Spirit, seek forgiveness and keep moving forward.

I get it wrong all the time. I have had to apologize more often than I can remember. I sometimes work myself up in defending an opinion so much that I forget there is a real person on the other end of that opinion who I am under obligation to love to the point of laying down my life. Here I am fighting over opinion (some would consider them facts) and failing to walk in obedience to my King. Praise him though that he said love would empower me to obey his commandments. This is dear to my heart so when the Spirit speaks I am quick to listen and to act.

If a brother tells you that Jesus was not raised from the dead you may defend the faith in love. But if a brother argues that COVID is a conspiracy for a one world government, you do not have the right to destroy your relationship with them over an opinion. If you think they are lacking discernment and are falling for a lie, your responsibility is to tolerate them, pray and trust that they Spirit will teach them, if they need to be corrected. Love does not mean we act the part of the Spirit, it means we sacrifice our right to prove ourselves right. Paul told us to do our best to be friends with everyone.

Love is and always has been the key. Not just any love but Jesus' perfect love that empowers us to obey. It's simple. There are no gray areas. Love God. Love your enemy. Love your neighbour. Love your fellow believers. Love is sacrificial. Love requires us to put other people first. It requires us to consider their needs along with our own. It requires us to lay down our life. There is no lesser standard.

I am going to end this thought with a passage from Romans 12. This is not some ideal. This is what a transformed heart looks like. This is what the Spirit is growing us into. This leaves us with no excuses and with a wonderful measuring rod for measuring our attitude and actions. Consider the simplicity of the Lord's ways and thus the simplicity of the Lord himself. This is what our life has been designed to look like.

"Let the inner movement of your heart always be to love one another, and never play the role of an actor wearing a mask. Despise evil and embrace everything that is good and virtuous.
Be devoted to tenderly loving your fellow believers as members of one family. Try to outdo yourselves in respect and honor of one another.
Be enthusiastic to serve the Lord, keeping your passion toward him boiling hot! Radiate with the glow of the Holy Spirit and let him fill you with excitement as you serve him.
Let this hope burst forth within you, releasing a continual joy. Don’t give up in a time of trouble, but commune with God at all times.
Take a constant interest in the needs of God’s beloved people and respond by helping them. And eagerly welcome people as guests into your home.
Speak blessing, not cursing, over those who reject and persecute you.
Celebrate with those who celebrate, and weep with those who grieve.
Live happily together in a spirit of harmony, and be as mindful of another’s worth as you are your own. Don’t live with a lofty mind-set, thinking you are too important to serve others, but be willing to do menial tasks and identify with those who are humble minded. Don’t be smug or even think for a moment that you know it all.
Never hold a grudge or try to get even, but plan your life around the noblest way to benefit others. Do your best to live as everybody’s friend.
Beloved, don’t be obsessed with taking revenge, but leave that to God’s righteous justice. For the Scriptures say:
“If you don’t take justice in your own hands,
I will release justice for you,” says the Lord.
And:
If your enemy is hungry, buy him lunch!
Win him over with kindness.
For your surprising generosity will awaken his conscience,
and God will reward you with favor.
Never let evil defeat you, but defeat evil with good."

Simple But Not Easy

There is an underlying desire in most of us to have a simplified life. It is a desire that most of us complicate with our daily living and the messed up application of priorities. Those who know me have often heard me state that simple is not easy. I have taken that from many areas of scripture but none is as clear as Solomon's writings recorded in Ecclesiastes. Solomon wrote that Yahweh has made matters simple but we have looked for ways to complicate them.

Ecclesiastes is the writings of a king who had it all and then lost it. Proverbs is the sayings of a young king whose relationship with Yahweh was growing in obedience. Proverbs is filled with great wisdom of the Kingdom of God. Ecclesiastes is filled with confused observations of a heart that had wondered from Yahweh and the struggles of trying to make sense of things without the context of Creator. Yet, in this dark place we find little nuggets of insight, such as Yahweh has designed things to be simple.

The Kingdom of God is founded on the attributes of our King and include the foundational materials of love, respect and honour. We can even see this in the Law of the old covenant. If you examine the purpose of this Law you soon discover that it created a culture of honour, based on love and respect. This was all designed to create an atmosphere of prosperity. The rich would look after the poor so everyone would have plenty. Even the immigrants, the widows and the orphans would finf a culture that honoured them.

It works in simplicity. If I am occupied with you instead of myself, and you are occupied with me instead of yourself, then we move forward together. We move forward because we aren't tripping over the rotten stuff that comes with self-centeredness such as jealousy , envy, pride. We find this same Kingdom culture in the new covenant with greater clarity.

Under the new covenant we are told to honour everyone. We are told that the Kingdom is about considering other people more important than ourselves and, when we consider our own needs to also consider the needs of others. We are told that we celebrate the successes and triumphs of other people because in such an atmosphere it means everyone will also celebrate ours. The seeds of envy, jealousy and pride are never given the opportunity to take root.

Such an atmosphere allows for the attitude of success and prosperity. Instead of running after my self-interest I am occupied with yours. I will do everything I can to make sure you succeed. I can do this safely because I belong to a Kingdom where people are occupied with my success too. I don't have to watch my back while I work for your success because other Kingdom citizens are occupied with watching my back.

This is a simple system of love, respect and honour. But the reason simple is not easy for us is because we find it hard to say no to ourselves. Jesus said to walk in his Kingdom the first step is to say no to ourselves. It is not about trusting other people as much as it is about trusting our King and Father's design. So it is simple and easy for me to honour you because you honour me. Jesus said that this was a given and would not cause treasure to be laid up in heaven because our reward for that is here and now; the treasure of loving relationships. 

The complication comes when I honour you but you don't honour me. Now I am forced to watch my own back which puts us on the defensive and does not allow us to progress forward together. But this does not let me off the hook; I still have to honour you. Jesus says this is when treasure is being laid up in heaven, when we love those who don't love us back. In the well working Kingdom system we get to enjoy reward here but in a broken relationship there is reward but it is a delayed reward. Considering the condition of the world and the Church, many of us should be laying up a great deal of delayed reward.

Father has designed things well and simple. It is for us to discover this simplicity and value it enough to choose it for ourselves. It is the Kingdom system, the Kingdom currency and what allows us to move from a poverty mindset to one of prosperity. But we cannot fully operate in it until we learn to start saying no to ourselves because honour cannot happen until we can put the needs of others ahead of our own.