"
nd what do you do?" "Tell us about yourself." In
answer to this type of question, we tend to identify ourselves by various
traits: employment, family position, ethnic background, or geography. Others
seek to set themselves apart by "unique" hairstyles, clothing, language, or
bumperstickers. In our small town, I get blank stares unless I introduce myself
as the father of those twin girls down the street.
Scripture, too, concerns itself with various identifying marks. In the Old Covenant, the Lord marked and set apart His people by circumcision, Passover, and various dietary and ceremonial laws. Similarly, in the New Covenant, He distinguishes His people from the world by, among other means, baptism and the Lord's Supper. But from the beginning, and especially in the New Covenant, the Lord has determined to create a people distinguished from everyone else by means of godly lives, lives clearly distinguished by faith, hope, and love.
Priority of Love
In fact, the New Testament is so clear in regard to the priority of the godly love in our lives that even amidst all the important doctrinal, heretical, and cultic divisions through the centuries, we don't find much open dispute about our obligation to love one another from the heart. We don't find councils paining through careful exegesis to prove the priority of love. We don't find vast traditions of "Anti-Love" parties or defenses of the "inferiority of love."
And how could such opposition arise with such teaching as the following? "And above all things have fervent love for one another" (1 Pet. 4:8). Paul tells us that even if we are superior theologians, have faith to move mountains, sacrifice our goods for the poor, and die a martyr's death, it all "profits nothing" without love (1 Cor. 13:3). Not "profits a little" or "surely does some good." It profits nothing. As such, of all the central biblical virtues, the "greatest of these is love" (1 Cor. 13:13).
Christ Himself tells us not just to love one another as we see fit but to "love one another as I have loved you" (Jn. 15:12). John later repeats the same command in several ways (1 Jn. 2:3-5:3; 2 Jn. 5ff.). Our love is a debt (Rom.13:8), it can grow (1 Thess. 3:12), it ought to be affectionate (Rom. 12:10), sacrificial (Gal. 5:13), patient (Eph. 4:2), kind, unenvious, unselfish (1 Cor. 13:4,5), and genuine (1 Jn. 3:18).
By the time we worked through all the Old and New Testament exhortations on the centrality of love, we would better understand Paul's statement that "concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write" (1 Thess. 4:9). It should be so obvious!
Notice that Christ and the apostles not only teach us the priority of love, they also explicitly declare that love should be the mark that clearly sets Christian lives apart from all others: "By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn. 13:35), and "He who does not love, does not know God. . . . If we love one another, God abides in us" (1 Jn. 4:8,12).
We hear these texts so often that we become numb to their radical requirements. Though our distinguishing marks of employment, family position, and geography have their places, and the Lord Himself distinguishes His people by baptism and the Lord's Supper, Christ tells us that the most distinguishing mark of His people is love.
We all know how easy it is to identify the distinguishing dress of certain religious groups. Those are Amish folks. Those are Hasidim. In a similar way, the Christian community as a whole ought to stand in sharp relief by its fervent and genuine love. Can you imagine the transforming affect such a mark would have on our culture? And we wonder why revival tarries. Who is sufficient for such a task?
Nonetheless, we need to start somewhere. Before we expect our Christian communities to distinguish themselves by genuine love, we can begin with ourselves as individuals and with our families. We can follow Scripture's direction for developing lives and habits of love, and we can train our children. If we can be faithful in this for many generations, then we won't need special church "love" programs to reach that goal. By God's grace, that mark of love will distinguish God's people ever more clearly.
Developing Habits of Love
The New Testament exhortations to "love one another" all assume that such love must be a long-term characteristic of our lives. Christ's people couldn't distinguish themselves by a sporadic love, sometimes genuine, sometimes not. In fact, we would describe part-time love as plain hypocrisy. So, the virtue of love that we are called to must be a general characteristic, a life-style: "he who abides in love abides in God" (I Jn. 4:16).
How do we get a life-style characterized by genuine love? Many of us think that God automatically makes us loving servants when He saves us and makes us new creatures. Though many of us quickly find out how false that is, others assume that since God cleanses us, we have no need to actively pursue godliness. Though we are saved by grace alone and turn from sin only by God's Spirit, the Lord Himself directs us to actively pursue godliness. "Exercise yourself toward godliness" (1 Tim. 4:7), and "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12). Change won't just happen on its own. We must exercise ourselves under God's direction.
The key, then, to developing a life characterized by love is to actively develop godly habits of love. We know how difficult it is to break sinful habits. We despise the sin, renounce it, persevere for a while, and fall again. Imagine the reversal of this. Imagine a life where we are so given to godly habits that it would be very difficult to break such a pattern. That's the life of love we should aim for. That's the life we see exemplified in Christ and the apostles, the life of godly habit that becomes so natural as to be easy: "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matt. 11:30).
What sort of habits would encourage us to a life-style of love? In order to answer that, we need to understand Scripture's description of love. Though love involves warm, kind affection (Rom. 12:10), it isn't merely affection. Primarily, Scripture defines love in terms of God's commandments: "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments" (1 Jn. 5:3; cf. 2 Jn. 6). Paul too tells us that, "love is the fulfillment of the law" (Rom. 13:10), because "he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, `You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,' and if there is any other commandment, all are summed up in this saying, `You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Rom. 13:8-9). If we want something of a detailed description of love, we should look to God's commandments in all their fullness. When Paul describes the nature of love in the great love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13, he is also simply expounding God's commandments.
Love, Law, and Self-Denial
In saying that love is explained by God's commands, Scripture teaches us even more about both. Self-denial is central to the Christian life (Matt. 16:24), and love always requires self-denial (1 Cor. 13:5). Similarly, everywhere we examine God's commandments, Old or New Covenant, the Lord directs us to a self-denying love of God and neighbor.
In order to develop habits of love, habits of self-denial, we ought to look into God's commands for instruction. There He directs us to discipline ourselves by means of prayer, study, meditation, fasting, and more. We tend to think of these practices as ends or for special occasions alone, but Scripture points to these practices as means, as regular tools, for growing in genuine godliness. All such disciplines require self-denial, training to look to and depend upon God instead of ourselves. And these disciplines are not man-made devices; Scripture itself directs us to have lives characterized by these practices. It directs us to imitate the apostles, prophets, and especially Christ, all of whom disciplined themselves in these habits of the heart, mind, and body. If we wish to be like Christ, our model of piety, we must imitate His disciplines and obey His commands for the Christian life. Let's briefly review the Scriptural directions for these disciplines.
Prayer
"Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving" (Col. 4:2). But to try to "continue earnestly" and to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17) without disciplined practice, would be like trying to "run without ceasing" without marathon training. How futile. Christ expects his disciples to "pray and not lose heart" (Lk. 18:1), and so in order to be characterized by prayer, we must deny ourselves, overcome our untrained hearts and bodies, and practice prayerful communion with God, imitating Christ's discipline.
Meditation
Psalm 1 declares that the righteous person "meditates day and night" on God's commands. The Lord commanded Joshua to "meditate in it [God's commands] day and night. . . for then you will make your way prosperous" (Josh. 1:8). Here disciplined meditation brings God's blessings. Meditation isn't plain study or emptying your head, but a conscious, devotional contemplation of God's Word for better union and communion with God. It takes practice "day and night" and assumes memorization (Ps. 119:11, 16).
Study
"Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge" (Prov. 23:12); "Wise people store up knowledge" (Prov. 10:14). Without disciplined study, we won't have a faithful framework for our prayer or meditations. Though teachers are God's gift, we are all called upon to understand God's Word, to be "exercised" to discern maturely between good and evil (Heb. 5:14).
Fasting
We tend to consider fasting only on grave occasions. Fasting, however, is also a means discipline for growth in godliness. The person who can habitually subdue the body's craving for physical sustenance (Phil. 3:19; Rom. 16:18) is well equipped to fight off all other temptations. Paul was "in fasting often" (2 Cor. 6:5; 11:27), and he said, "I discipline my body and bring it into subjection" (1 Cor. 9:27). Christ, our prime model, fasted righteously (Matt. 4:2), not like the Pharisees (Matt. 6:16-18), and expected that His disciples would fast as well (Matt. 9:15).
Such disciplines and others are the tools the Lord has given us for developing the godly habits of the whole person. If we pursue them as disciplines, tools, and not just ends, then we can develop a life-style of godly habits. If we pursue them in a godly manner, then we can better live the life of love, self-denial, to which Christ calls us. We, our children, and our culture may be His disciples indeed.
