John 15:12-17 - A Devotion

John 15:12-17
"12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 14 "You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15 "No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever * * you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. 17 "This I command you, that you love one another."

This verse's theme is Jesus' command to His disciples to love one another. He states it in verse 12 and repeats it in verse 17.

We notice the kind of love of which He spoke. This kind of love does not look at a person's status, even if their status seems lower than us. The love Jesus spoke of is qualitatively greater than normal human love. It is a kind of love that would die for a friend. This "friend" comes from the Greek word philos, which means someone so close they are or could be considered family. All Jesus' disciples then are family and worthy for whom to die.

Jesus gave this great depth of love as well as a commission. He is the one who chose you and called you "philos" friend. Jesus is the one who appointed you to go. He is the one who established your connection to the vine by which spiritual fruit could grow. He gives them the ability to grow their fruit because they are part of His family. They can ask anything of the Father and can grow more like Him. Jesus does all these. He requires only one thing - love of God and each other. 

This passage sheds light that the greatest of all the commandments is loving God and loving neighbors. We cannot hide from that. Jesus didn't hide from it, but gave His life so it could occur. He is the one who chose to love us, to establish us as part of His family, and to give us power to have fruit.

Have you forgotten the depth of Jesus' love for you? Have you forgotten that Jesus chose you? Have you been running the race in your own strength. Go back to Jesus and He will remind you of His love for you and His power to make you strong. He will remind you that you are family and renew your place in His family. Let Jesus be the one who gives you strength, encourages you, loves you, and grows your fruit.

Are You Following-Through for God?

2 Corinthians 8

          Upon reading 2 Corinthians, I came upon the passage of 2 Corinthians 8. I know I have read it before, but I mulled the passage for many days and resolved I must delve into it. While reading 1 Corinthians last month, I found Paul’s letter to the believers in Corinth to be one of censure and disappointment in them. While reading 2 Corinthians, I find censure and disappointment are not the reasons Paul was writing to the Corinthians then. In 2 Corinthians, we find Paul writing commending them on having disciplined the disobedient and becoming unified. Paul tells them he has heard this good news from Titus whom Paul sent to Corinth.

            Paul had a couple of other reasons for writing to the Corinthians again. One of those reasons was to express his regret at not returning to Corinth yet. Another is to spur them on to complete that to which the Corinthians pledged themselves to God and the apostles. Chapter 8 is the crux of the latter point. This one made itself very visible in my mind this week.

            What was Paul writing to the Corinthians with his letter to them called 2 Corinthians 8? Paul was writing to spur the Corinthians finally to give as they had pledged of themselves for the poor in Jerusalem. There is no definitive cause of the poverty in Jerusalem. Some people have conjectured that because Jerusalem had so many pilgrims arriving each day, the hosts and other residents were impoverished from having to give food and shelter to them. Another conjecture put forth for the poverty of Jerusalem is a famine which may have occurred in Palestine around 46 A.D. Whatever the cause, the Christians in Jerusalem asked Barnabas and Saul to encourage Jesus' followers in the Diaspora (the areas outside Judea) to contribute toward the poverty of Jerusalem and either bring the funds back themselves or have it sent to the leaders in Jerusalem. (see Acts 11:29-30)

            Before, Paul had spoken to the Corinthians concerning the need in Judea and Jerusalem. (see 1 Corinthians 16:1-3) They had responded to the plea by Paul over a year before this letter (vs. 10). Paul encouraged them to complete this collection and send it on to Jerusalem (vv. 6 & 11). What caught my attention was what Paul said next to them. They abounded in everything, faith, utterance, knowledge, earnestness, and love. Yet, they had not done the next step and given money to the poor in Jerusalem.

Why had they not acted upon the desire God placed in their hearts? We are not exactly sure, but we know that Paul mentions what they did have. The Corinthians had these graces from God: faith, utterance, knowledge, earnestness, and love. They had faith to believe God had sent the Messiah. They had the Holy Spirit in them and so were able to teach and preach the Gospel. They had knowledge of the God of Israel, His promised Savior, and God’s provision of the Savior through His son, Jesus. The Corinthians were earnest, convicted, regarding the need to provide for the poor and they expressed their love for the apostles and other believers. Why then does Paul not only exhort them to complete this action, but holds up the action of the poor Macedonians as an example of those who had less than the Corinthians yet had already given to Jerusalem? The Macedonians gave not just of their surplus but of their own poverty to be able to help their impoverished brothers in Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 8:1-5). What the Corinthians did not appear to have was the ability to put their inward heart’s desire into action.

This brought to mind the question: How can they say they are believers if their faith does not have actions? It was James who said in James 2:17-18 (NASB), “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” Christ spoke of this kind of faith as similar to the Pharisees faith, the men who knew the Law so well, but who were not practicing what God really required in their lives. Jesus said that true faith had to surpass the faith of the Pharisees to be considered children of God (Matthew 5:20). Jesus did not mean that our actions would win our way into heaven, but that the faith that came from truth, which when enacted, would show we are truly the children of God. True faith brings with it actions of love by us that shows God’s love for Him and others.

This is what kept prodding my thoughts this week. Paul was comparing the Macedonians to the Corinthians to prod the Corinthians into action, the action to which they committed from a heart full of God’s love. In the fervor of hearing about the plight of the believers in Jerusalem, the Corinthians pledged themselves to aid them. In the year since the Corinthians heard this message, their earnestness did not result in action. This made me wonder how often we are caught in this trap for one reason or another. How often do we fail on our follow-through to do the thing that we pledged as service because of God’s moving in our hearts? We may have faith, utterance, knowledge, earnestness, and love as the Corinthians. Unless people can experience God through our faithful actions, unless we follow-through on that which we committed to do because of God’s moving in our hearts, how will others know or hear of God’s love? Faith without works is dead, James 2 says.

Consider it another way, when you believe, the Holy Spirit, whom Christ promised to give to His followers, comes to live in us. As we grow in Christ, in our relationship with God, the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual gifts and helps us grow them. As we exercise these gifts, we will bear fruit of the Spirit. You can see now, that unless our lives, as followers of Jesus, bear fruit, we show to others around us and ourselves that we are not growing more Christlike. One of two possibilities may have occurred for this to be so. Either we were never taught how to be more Christlike and grow more in our relationship with Him, or we never truly had accepted Jesus into our hearts and lives. If the latter is the case, we may be comparable to the packed dirt, the rocky ground, or the thorny soil upon which the seed fell. In any of these places, the roots could not be firmly established and the seed would not have taken hold in a person’s life (see Matthew 13). I pray none of us were any of these latter.

I pray that we are all growing to be more Christlike so that His fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, and self-control are seen in us and experienced through us (Galatians 5:22-23). I pray that our faith leads to actions quicker than the Corinthians’ expressed the love which God moved in them toward the poor in Jerusalem. Paul’s gentleness when he approached the Corinthians’ delay in action relieved me. I am grateful that our Father in heaven is also gentle, merciful, and forgiving toward us for our delay in action. Yet, now that God brought our inaction to our attention, we must no longer delay in acting upon His prodding of our hearts and minds.

What is it that His Spirit in you compelled you to commit to do for God? You may not have even spoke your commitment aloud, but you and God both know what you promised Him you would do when He stirred your heart. Now is the time to act upon the gracious gift of faith God has given you by putting your faith and love to work. May we each join with Christ to do whatever He has pressed upon our hearts, not only so we can have completed that task, but so that the recipient can receive the gift God had planned to give them through you. Someone may be waiting upon your action and promise to God. What is keeping you from following through with God to them?

Building Upon the Foundation Of…

1 Corinthians 14

Paul continues to speak to the Corinthians concerning being unified in one mind and not trying to “lord It over” the others. He speaks of spiritual gifts in this chapter and tells them they should seek to love. Without love, other actions are shallow. There becomes a mind-set of self-satisfying with our actions so we are seen instead of acting for the profit of the person receiving. The first brings glory to the actor, while, the latter brings glory to God.

Paul carries on with this thought of love moving from the gifts of the Spirit to the fruits of the Spirit. It appears obvious that self-serving people crave the “flashy” fruit, for example speaking in tongues or preaching. Paul speaks to the Corinthians in this book concerning being unified. A member being self-serving and self-focused brings disharmony into any group. The person takes a role that draws attention to him or herself instead of to the group. In the context of a church, this occurs when a person takes it upon him or herself to be at the center of attention. In consideration of the gifts of the Spirit, self-focused people consider the gift of tongues and speaking in groups as desirable because of this outcome. Paul, in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, speaks to just these people. He states in verse 1, “Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy” (New American Standard Bible).

Paul ties the spiritual gifts to the fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23. He states firstly that love should be the guide in using spiritual gifts. Paul’s wish is that they prophesy. Why is this his wish for them? Consider what he says in verse 3, “But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation” (NASB). This tells why Paul says for them to crave for and develop this spiritual gift. As readers in the 21^st century, though, we need to understand what Paul meant by edification, exhortation, and consolation.

For the times in which Paul lived and in the century or two after, edification meant to build up or help another Christian grow in wisdom, piety, happiness, and holiness. Paul used this term in Romans 14:19 as well. He wrote, “So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another” (NASB). Things which brought righteousness, peace, and joy are ways to serve Christ acceptable by God and men (Romans 14:18, NASB). If our goal is to help others grow in their faith and wisdom, not only are we edifying them, but we are building up the body of Christ to which that believer belongs. Prophecy assists in growing the body of Christ. The goal of prophecy then is not self-serving, but submission and subservience to the Church and, as a result, to Christ. It is building upon the foundation laid by Christ with things that will make the members stronger in their faith, knowledge of God, wisdom, and happiness.

Paul considers the spiritual gift of prophecy as the highest because its attribute of exhortation. To us in the 21^st century, this means telling others in a persuasive way of the validity of our cause/principles/vision. During the early Christian era, exhortation meant calling persons near/summoning them with entreaties and encouragement to follow the espoused path of the speaker. Paul uses this nineteen of the twenty-eight times the word occurs in the New Testament. Paul uses this word to describe Barnabas in Acts 4:36. Barnabas’ name means “Son of Encouragement.” For Paul, the exhortation he is speaking to the Corinthians is that which encourages others to continue in their walk with Christ. This encouraging gives believers courage to stand strong in the face of persecution. It keeps them strong everyday to walk in God’s way. This form of prophesying is to encourage a follower of Christ to stand strong everyday in usual business as well as when he or she faces trials for being His followers.

The final way in which Paul considers prophesying most important is because it brings consolation. Consolation in this context means to persuade continuance, arouse strong allegiance, and calm and comfort when encountering trials. Prophesying for this purpose is profitable for its soothing and driving to continue on the journey to which Christ calls each follower. In the New Testament, only 1 Corinthians speaks to this use of prophesying. Paul considers prophesying highly important since it helps others grow in their faith, encourages them to continue following during hard times, and calms and comforts as they are being battered by the spiritual conditions of the world.

Paul continues in 1 Corinthians 14 by comparing the gifts of prophesy and tongues. Prophesying is for the building up of the church, the body of believers, and for convicting unbelievers of their sin. Tongues are desirable only when an interpreter is present, so mostly for the spiritual life of the believer in commune with God. Tongues do not build up the body of Christ unless there is an interpreter. Paul says in verse 2, “For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries” (NASB). Paul continues in verse 4, “One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church” (NASB). The church is a place for sinners, not just the current body of Christ. If a person enters the church and hears words spoken in another tongue, the outsider is not edified and considers the people in the church mad. If the person enters the church and prophecies are occurring, the believer and unbeliever grow, one to greater knowledge, wisdom, and piety, and the other in awareness of his sin and the love of Christ. Consider what Paul says,

Therefore, if the whole church assembles and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter; will they not say that you are mad? However, if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you. (1 Corinthians 14:23-25, NASB)

Paul does not say tongues are a gift to which you should not aspire or should not cultivate. Rather, he says tongues are only useful for the person speaking with God. For it to be beneficial to others, an interpreter needs to translate so that “Amens” can respond. (“If you bless in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say the "Amen " at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying?” vs.16) Paul’s statement most specific in regards to these two gifts is found in verse 12, “Since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church.” Paul acknowledges their wish to be growing Christians useful to the Lord for His service. He says that the most important thing to consider is that the building up of the church and its members should be paramount. Whether we are visible working for the Lord and receive praise or are not visible and receive only the praise of our Father, what is of considerable worth is the building up of the body of Christ.

            Ultimately, love is the consideration, though. Paul’s first two words in this chapter speak to this, “Pursue love.” We want to have spiritual gifts with which to minister with God. The Spirit, by whom we are seen as Christians, gives us fruit. Paul, in considering both of these, states that love is the most important. Without love, we are a “noisy gong and a clanging symbol.” He says in 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, 12-13,

Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away… now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. (NASB)

We each must come to the point where we are not striving for our own selves, but are choosing the greater. The challenge comes, are we living in love, seeking to serve others through the love of God? It gives us pause. Do we want to be the show or do we want to show Jesus’ love to others?