Christ Said to Love

The New Covenant

The Old Covenant as described in the Old Testament, sometimes referred to as the Law, has as it’s centerpiece, the Ten Commandments.  These Commandments tell us how to love.  The first four explain how to love God, the fifth is how to love our parents, the last five is how to love our neighbors (others, fellow man).  Christ came and brought a new covenant.  One that simplified the letter of the Law, and focused on the spirit of the law.  This allowed the heart to drive behavior vs the mind.  God felt this was a better way and replaced the old with the new.  Making the old one obsolete.  The essence of Christ's covenant was that you were free of the burden of each individual sin as long as you were loving your fellow man.  It has forgiveness for honest mistakes.  As long as you are trying too do the right thing.  If your heart is correct your mistakes are forgiven.  But as we will discuss the heart is a tall order in it's limit.  But God felt it was a better arrangement as no man could meet the first one.

Hebrews 8:6 “But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.”  Having declared the new covenant better he also makes the old one obsolete.  Hebrews 8:13 “By calling this covenant new, he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.”  So our way to salvation appears limited to the new covenant.

Our Salvation is only via Christ

After Christ came and died for our sins, shedding his blood to establish a new covenant, our salvation can only be through him.  John 14:6  “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Trying to follow the Old Covenant denies Christ.  Galatians 5:4 "You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace."

Christ’s Covenant

Christ’s Covenant is to follow his commands and he grants us Grace, isolating us from the burden of our sin in exchange for following his commands.  Basically Love and Truth for Peace and Grace.  This is not to say that the other commandments go away they still hold.  Because if nothing else we are to Love God and knowing how he feels is reason under the new covenant to follow the Commandments.

John 3:11 "For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another."

John 4:7" Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 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 them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 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. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister."

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” 

John 15:12 “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

John 15 17 “This is my command: Love each other.”

Matthew 22:37 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.”

Mark 12:30 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Covenant Requirements

We have to remain in his Love to keep the Grace.  So free will does exist.  To remain in his Love we must love one another the way he loves us.  John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love." 

God defines Love in John 3:16 “For God so Loved the world that he Gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” and Romans 5: 8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God gave his son, and Christ gave his life for us.  So by setting this example, it estsablishes the requirement for Grace. To Love the way he Christ loved us is a powerful requirement, as it is defined by giving your life for others. John15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command.  Christ did have free will, he did not have to give his life.  God left it up to him.  John 10:18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.

Let’s summarize.  God gave his only son to die for us.  Christ gave his life for us and states we must “Love one another. As I have Loved you.”   So we must be willing to lay down our lives for one another and Christ.  This is a powerful message.  We must be of a mindset to give our lives for our fellow man.  So in order to be given Grace an individual must be willing to die for another. not just any other but all others!

Understanding Love                                 

We have already seen that Love is defined as Giving ones life, but as we do not face death daily what does Christ mean on normal days. Let's start with what do we think of when we think of Loving our daughters; joy, give, protect, respect, trust, nourish, hope, understand, listen, forgiving.  Scripture gives us:  1 Corinthians 13:6 “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”  

Jesus describes joy received by reining in his love in John 15:11 "… my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”  Joy is the warmth in your heart that you receive by giving Love.  Here Christ states that by doing as he asks and loving one another we receive joy.  Joy is one of the fruits of Love, along with hope, security, faith, forgiveness, and respect.  Grouping these fruits and components of Love in causal groupings, reveals the cause and effect, and reveals a cycle and the core components of Love: 

• Giving time openly communicating  truth leads to more Understanding. 
• Understanding and openly communicating truth leads to more Trust, 
• Trust and openly communication truth leads to the fruits of Love: Joy, Hope, Security, Faith, Forgiveness, Respect. 
• The fruits of Love encourage more Giving and Communicating Openness and Truth.

This cycle gets exercised with each conversation between a couple, or with each prayer with the Lord.  Think of it like a treadmill hooked to a generator.  The more it goes around, the more power it generates.  But this is not a one way street.  It requires two participants. 

At the core of all these steps is Openly Communicating Truth.  This cannot be overstated.  It is the KEY to Love.  Love cannot exist without it and it dictates the heights of the Love within a couple.  So matching up capability in communication, openness, and truthfulness, is key in any relationship.  In our relationship with Christ and God this shows the importance of prayer.

There is another parameter that is important as well to maintain a balanced relationship.  That is the balance between inward and outward focus.  Christ seems to imply that we need to be completely outwardly focused.  Giving your life for anther is about as far to the outwardly focused as you can get.

So that gives an overview of how to love in an ideal sense.  There are some practical considerations.  Trusting comes from understanding and communicating openly over time. One bit of truth is that all men cannot be trusted. That is why we put our trust in the Lord and he protects us so that we can act in trust with those who are not worthy of that trust and know we are not going to be harmed.  Because if we do not trust we are judging.  Also when we are done wrong we need to forgive and respect.  If we have gone through the cycle many times this may be easy. But for those we have not we still need to trust, forgive, and respect.  This does not come naturally and must be cultivated within your character.  It is actually a measure of our humility. 

We need to forgive as we are forgiven, as not to forgive is to Judge. Colossians 3:13 “...Forgive as the Lord forgave you."  Further our forgiveness must be boundless. Matthew 18:21-22 “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”  We need to realize that all men are equal in God's eyes and that we are all sinners and anything other than trust, forgiveness, and respect is a form of judging and is not of love.

What Love is Not

It is often easier to define something by stating what it is not.  Fear is not Love as Fear is the opposite of Trust.   John 4:18 “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.”

To fail to understand someone and make assessments or decisions related to them is to Judge.  Judgement is not of Love as it is not in the spirit of forgiving.   

Love is not controlling, because to seek to control, means one has judged another’s behavior to be wrong and are attempting to curb it to what they have judged as the correct path.  

1 Samual 16:7 “... The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Romans 2:1 “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?”

Christ's Message Applied To Our Country

Deuteronomy 1:30 The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, 31 and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place." 32 In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, 33 who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.

Psalm 56:4 “In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?”

Psalm 91:2 “I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."

Clearly God expects us to put our faith in him, and to rely on him in even times of war.  Anyone who does not is denying him.  

Psalm 37:3 “Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.” 

1 John 4:8 “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

John 4:18 “There is no fear in love. ... The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

Romans 12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

By taking up arms a person is effectively saying they do not trust god will protect them.  God considers this as idolatry, because we are putting oour faith in weapons, not him. Any man who carries a gun has fear in their heart and not Love, so they are alienated from Christ.  So both God (by idolatry) and Christ (by not loving)  have been alienated, regardless of which Covenant you accept as true (i.e. for Jewish or Gentile).  

So the “Israeli” settlers in Gaza today carry guns.  Do you feel they are doing God’s will or rushing ahead.  Do you think those that force people out of their home by bulldozer are doing God’s will?  Do you think God would use the United States as a tool to defeat Palestine? 

This is not a statement against soldiers who are called to defend their country.  They are not the ones making the decisions.

Our second invasion into Iraq seems questionable as Sadaam Hussein was known for being anti-terrorist.  Additionally his nephew had defected following the first invasion under Bush Sr.  He had apparently been in charge of the programs there for weapons of mass destruction and was said to have stated that he personally shut down all programs before he defected.

Death tolls in Iraq were about 120,000 Iraqis, and about 4,000 US.  One thing you can say is we are effective killing machines, 30 to 1.  What did the world gain from that?

Does this seem to be God’s will?  Or could it be sa case of us not trusting in the Lord and going ahead on our journey.

Pray on this and if you feel it is wrong call your congressman.  We are responsible for our own actions and that includes expressing our thoughts to our leaders.

Personally I feel strongly about this as God has made me witness to some things that prove to me that what is going on in the Middle East is wrong.  I know things this country has done that further reinforce the statements made above.  But when your in the vipers den you learn quickly the lessons of God. In particular:

Ephesians 5:11 “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.”

Determining a False Prophet

John 4:5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood

Habakkuk

Habakkuk 1

1 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.

Habakkuk’s Complaint

² How long, Lord, must I call for help,
    but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
    but you do not save?
³ Why do you make me look at injustice?
    Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    there is strife, and conflict abounds.
⁴ Therefore the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice is perverted.

The Lord’s Answer

⁵ “Look at the nations and watch—
    and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
    that you would not believe,
    even if you were told.
⁶ I am raising up the Babylonians,
    that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
    to seize dwellings not their own.
⁷ They are a feared and dreaded people;
    they are a law to themselves
    and promote their own honor.
⁸ Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
    their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
⁹     they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes advance like a desert wind
    and gather prisoners like sand.
¹⁰ They mock kings
    and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
    by building earthen ramps they capture them.
¹¹ Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—
    guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

¹² Lord, are you not from everlasting?
    My God, my Holy One, you will never die.
You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment;
    you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.
¹³ Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
    you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
    Why are you silent while the wicked
    swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
¹⁴ You have made people like the fish in the sea,
    like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
¹⁵ The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks,
    he catches them in his net,
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
    and so he rejoices and is glad.
¹⁶ Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and burns incense to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
    and enjoys the choicest food.
¹⁷ Is he to keep on emptying his net,
    destroying nations without mercy?

Habakkuk 2 

I will stand at my watch
    and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
    and what answer I am to give to this complaint.^[a]

The Lord’s Answer

² Then the Lord replied:

“Write down the revelation
    and make it plain on tablets
    so that a herald may run with it.
³ For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
    it speaks of the end
    and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
    it will certainly come
    and will not delay.

⁴ “See, the enemy is puffed up;
    his desires are not upright—
    but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness—
⁵ indeed, wine betrays him;
    he is arrogant and never at rest.
Because he is as greedy as the grave
    and like death is never satisfied,
he gathers to himself all the nations
    and takes captive all the peoples.

⁶ “Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying,

“‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods
    and makes himself wealthy by extortion!
    How long must this go on?’
⁷ Will not your creditors suddenly arise?
    Will they not wake up and make you tremble?
    Then you will become their prey.
⁸ Because you have plundered many nations,
    the peoples who are left will plunder you.
For you have shed human blood;
    you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

⁹ “Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain,
    setting his nest on high
    to escape the clutches of ruin!
¹⁰ You have plotted the ruin of many peoples,
    shaming your own house and forfeiting your life.
¹¹ The stones of the wall will cry out,
    and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.

¹² “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed
    and establishes a town by injustice!
¹³ Has not the Lord Almighty determined
    that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire,
    that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?
¹⁴ For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁵ “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors,
    pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk,
    so that he can gaze on their naked bodies!
¹⁶ You will be filled with shame instead of glory.
    Now it is your turn! Drink and let your nakedness be exposed^[e]!
The cup from the Lord’s right hand is coming around to you,
    and disgrace will cover your glory.
¹⁷ The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
    and your destruction of animals will terrify you.
For you have shed human blood;
    you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

¹⁸ “Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman?
    Or an image that teaches lies?
For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation;
    he makes idols that cannot speak.
¹⁹ Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’
    Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’
Can it give guidance?
    It is covered with gold and silver;
    there is no breath in it.”

²⁰ The Lord is in his holy temple;
    let all the earth be silent before him.

Habakkuk 3

Habakkuk’s Prayer

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth.^[a]

² Lord, I have heard of your fame;
    I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day,
    in our time make them known;
    in wrath remember mercy.

³ God came from Teman,
    the Holy One from Mount Paran.^[b]
His glory covered the heavens
    and his praise filled the earth.
⁴ His splendor was like the sunrise;
    rays flashed from his hand,
    where his power was hidden.
⁵ Plague went before him;
    pestilence followed his steps.
⁶ He stood, and shook the earth;
    he looked, and made the nations tremble.
The ancient mountains crumbled
    and the age-old hills collapsed—
    but he marches on forever.
⁷ I saw the tents of Cushan in distress,
    the dwellings of Midian in anguish.

⁸ Were you angry with the rivers, Lord?
    Was your wrath against the streams?
Did you rage against the sea
    when you rode your horses
    and your chariots to victory?
⁹ You uncovered your bow,
    you called for many arrows.
You split the earth with rivers;
¹⁰     the mountains saw you and writhed.
Torrents of water swept by;
    the deep roared
    and lifted its waves on high.

¹¹ Sun and moon stood still in the heavens
    at the glint of your flying arrows,
    at the lightning of your flashing spear.
¹² In wrath you strode through the earth
    and in anger you threshed the nations.
¹³ You came out to deliver your people,
    to save your anointed one.
You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness,
    you stripped him from head to foot.
¹⁴ With his own spear you pierced his head
    when his warriors stormed out to scatter us,
gloating as though about to devour
    the wretched who were in hiding.
¹⁵ You trampled the sea with your horses,
    churning the great waters.

¹⁶ I heard and my heart pounded,
    my lips quivered at the sound;
decay crept into my bones,
    and my legs trembled.
Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity
    to come on the nation invading us.
¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud
    and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
    and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
    and no cattle in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

¹⁹ The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    he enables me to tread on the heights.

For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.