Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Expressions of Love

 

HEBREWS 4:14-16 – Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

 

THEME OF THE DAY:  EXPRESSIONS OF LOVE.  What are some of the Biblical manifestations of our obedience to of the command Jesus gives us to love one another?  There are many but allow me to provide three with the last one tied into the scripture of the day.

First, we show obedience to the command to love one another by sacrificially serving the needs of one another.  This was the pattern in the early church and is always present in a healthy church and Christian life – And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need (Acts 2:44-45).  The Apostle John would remind us that true love for one another goes beyond words – Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth (1 John 3:18).  To truly love means we really act and it is acts of sacrificial service to meet tangible and spiritual needs.

 

Another act of obeying the command to “love one another” is the ministry of encouragement.  We are commanded to actively encourage one another.  The writer to Hebrews exhorts us – Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:12-13).  This is one of the easiest of all commands to obey. It only takes two things to show love by encouragement: get out of our small selfish worlds of me, my, and mine and reach out to a believer with a word of encouragement. How? The ways are simple and many; message, text, card, and phone call are just a few.

 

A third way to obey the Lord’s command is to do what Jesus does for us in the role He plays in today’s scripture – High Priest who prays for us. Robert Murray McCheyne said, “If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.”  This is a most precious way Jesus shows love for us and He doesn’t pray sometimes for us, but all the time – Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).  And friends, apart from the cross, there is no greater expression of Jesus’ love to us than Him praying for us.  The application, to obey the command to love one another includes the privilege and responsibility to regularly pray for one another patterning our life of love after Him who is love and prays regularly for us.

 

PRAYER: “Father, I cannot praise You enough for giving me Jesus to not only be my Savior but my interceding priest.”

 

QUOTE: “It is one of the highest expressions of love to commit to praying for others and especially their spiritual health.”

 

Because of Him,

 

Pastor Jim