First Love
Is anyone smarter than God? Is anyone wiser? Is anyone more powerful? Do we know the future better than God? God alone is the one who knows the future. He alone is all powerful and all wise. Why then do we have difficulty believing and trusting in his word?
According to Eph 1: 15 and following,
15. “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
16. Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20. Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,”
21. Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23. Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”
God is the one who by His mercy and grace loves, protects, and provides for us. Therefore James 1:22-24 says,
22. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
He who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
It’s one thing to hear the word of God in its authority and power. The challenge is to do that which he commands. This is what it means to trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.
The word of God is contrary to the word of man. To follow according to God’s command is to forsake the commands of man. Some of His commands may offend our sense of “human” rights. We’re commanded to turn the other cheek and to go the second mile.
According to Ezekiel 33, the prophet was frustrated because the people would not heed the word of God. They hear your word but they do not follow them. Verse 31 says, “And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.”
Many don’t call Jesus Lord because they want to be in control of their own lives. The diagnostic question is, “why would God let you into heaven?” Is eternal life on your own terms, or on God’s terms? God’s terms say that you can’t make it on your own. Your own performance is not good enough to deserve eternal life. If we’re to come to him, we must enter in according to His terms, not ours.
Bill Gothard who had youth conferences in the 70’s ministered to a young couple. They said, “what if we want to live together without getting married?” He answered,
‘then that means that you haven’t made Jesus Lord of your lives. If he were Lord, you would do his will. Marriage is the will of the Lord.”
Jesus said to Simon Peter, “do you love me more than these?” Do you love me with the highest form of unconditional love more than your fishing business… your nets, your boats, and your fishing crew? Peter responded with a different word for love, “I love (phileo) you like a brother…I’m fond of you.” He asked Peter this question three times. The first two times Jesus used the word “agape”, the unconditional love of God. The third time he used the word “phileo” brotherly love. The third time Peter said, you know all things. You know that I love (phileo) you… I love you the only way I know how. Jesus answered, “Feed my sheep.”
Peter could not love his Lord with agape love, the unconditional spiritual love of God, because he did not yet have God’s spirit. Jesus had not yet paid the price for our salvation and the Holy Spirit was not available until after the day of Pentecost. The question Jesus has for his disciples is, “do you love me?” Jesus had said in John 14:6 if you love me, keep my commandments.
The first love is that God initiated love (agape) by loving us first. Romans 5:8 says, “But God commended his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” We can love Him only because He loved us first. We received His gift of the Holy Spirit when we were born again. With His spirit we received the ability to love him with spiritual Agape love in return. To know God is to love him. Ephesians 3:16-19 says:
16. That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18. May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”
To know God is to know the love of God which passes earthly knowledge. This super-natural spiritual knowledge assures our hearts of God’s unconditional love. For we are the sons of God in the midst of a wicked and perverse nation among whom we shine as lights in a world of darkness. To forsake the darkness of the world is to know the heart of God. Knowing God’s heart is to love him above all…. to acknowledge, despite the world’s accusations, that we’re loved with the pure unadulterated love of God. We love him because he first loved us.
Apart from the spiritual love of God, worldly types of love are fragile and limited. Worldly love is conditional on the performance of the other party. Pete recalls that a man approached him and said, When I woke up this morning, I found a note from my wife that said, “if you want to save this marriage, then go see Pete.” Pete asked him, “are you willing to do whatever it takes to save this marriage?” He said, “probably not.” This man was unwilling to submit his heart in humility under the mighty hand of God. To love with God’s love, we must approach his throne of grace on His terms according to His word.
The love of this world will leave us frustrated and unfulfilled. However, Jesus said, come unto me all ye who are weary and heavy ladened and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Within his grace, mercy, and love, it is God who worketh in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
What does it mean to accept Jesus as Lord? Lord means owner. A man of God is God’s man. This is the genitive of possession. Who are we when Jesus is Lord? Christianity is not who we are. Instead Christianity is whose we are. According to Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
What is the love of God? Herein is the love of God made perfect. He who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.
In order to turn from sin and unto the Lord, we must approach him with a contrite heart of repentance in humility. Therefore, 1 John 9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God has called us into fellowship with himself. When we give up the rights of our sinful flesh, then we can come to him with a heart of humility according to his terms. God will come to us with the grip of his son’s nail-pierced hands. If he must break our hearts in order for us to reach for his hand, then thank him for breaking our heart.
The devil will tempt us to think that we need to be in control. The qauestion is not who will sit on Christ’s right and left hand in positions of honor in God’s kingdom. The right question is, do you love me? Ye are not your own, Ye are bought with a price. Therefore we are his and he is ours. This is our challenge and our calling: to love God above all.
For He alone is worthy. That we may ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace,
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
