Monday, October 26, 2015

Love From a Pure Heart


What does it mean to have the love of God perfected in us? Peter writes, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,” (1 Peter 1:22)

1.      By obeying the truth we purify (sanctify) ourselves

When praying for His disciples Jesus said, “Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is the truth.” (John 17:17). We become His disciples by obeying His word. Jesus said the word of God is the truth. The word of God is clear on how we ought to conduct ourselves before God.

Peter commends the church for being obedient children, ‘not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:14-16). By obeying the word of God we are making ourselves approved and acceptable to our God, for He is pure.

2.      The channel for our purification is the Holy Spirit

Give a non-believer the bible to read. There are very high chances that he will not understand what is written, no matter how educated he may be. Sometimes the person may have academic knowledge of the Scriptures but they will not have an effect on Him. The reason is simple, the person is not obedient to what he is reading.

The Scriptures are spiritual and for them to have an effect they need to be activated by the Holy Spirit. Purification comes by obeying the word through the Holy Spirit. Obeying the word open the doors for Holy Spirit to do His work in you. God intends us to be first saved by believing and obeying the truth and then sanctified through the Holy Spirit. Paul writes, “…because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

  
3.      The Spirit deposits sincere love to us

God intends us to be pure and to be like Him. As the Holy God, He is a loving God. Peter says we have purified ourselves by obeying the truth through the Spirit ‘in sincere love of the brethren.’ (The King James version says, ‘unto unfeigned love’). This means that when we walk in holiness we become more and more like our Holy God. He loved us with the greatest love of all [AGAPE]. We also grow into that kind of love. This is not by any means our own work but by the grace of our dear Lord, “…because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us,” ( Romans 5:5).


4.      Because we have the true love, we should not cease to love one another

Given that the true love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we have the authority to exercise and express it. We have to love one another fervently (without ceasing). God demonstrated His love in that whilst we were sinners Christ died for us. This was His love in action. When someone demonstrates something he is actually showing you how it is done and expects you to continue doing it. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God,” (1 John 4:7).


5.      The love should come from a pure heart

The love that we have to extend to one another should never be hypocritical. It must be sincere and coming from a pure heart. The point is that you purified yourself by obeying the word through the Holy Spirit. However, that does not mean it is done. As long as you live you have to keep your heart pure. Your former lusts which defiled you before you turned to the Lord will always be there but you have to continually keep your heart pure.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God,” (Matthew 5:8). The Lord is always willing to reveal Himself as you are walking with Him but you cannot see Him without a pure heart. We can confidently say truly our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ if we love our fellow brothers in the Lord with a pure heart.

Monday, October 19, 2015

We Obey Jesus Because We Love Him


There is a great privilege in keeping His word.

Jesus said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him,” (John 14:21-23).

The whole relationship between man and God is based on love. He sacrificed His only begotten Son because He loved the world so much. We were His enemies but because He loved us so much Christ died so that we can be reconciled to Him. He expects nothing less from us, that is why He says you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.

Jesus therefore left us with a new commandment that we love one another as He loved us. This is the commandment that the Apostle John accentuates in his letters. “But he who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes,” (1 John 2:10 – 11)

By doing this we demonstrate that we know our Lord and we love Him. That is why Jesus says He will manifest or reveal Himself to us. Jesus cannot reveal Himself to those who are in darkness, He is the light therefore Has no fellowship with darkness. That is what sets us apart from the world.

Judas asked an important question and wanted to find out how He would do that.  Jesus said He, together with the Father will come and dwell in us – make a home with us. When we obey His commandments we are basically welcoming Him to dwell in our hearts and He continually reveals Himself. We know that it is the Holy Spirit that dwells in us, teaching, guiding and leading us to and through the truth.

There is no denying that the word of God is the truth and obeying it we are simply obeying the truth. The beautiful fact is that God never forces you to obey His word. He gives you the free will and your obedience stems from love. Your earthly father may use his authority to force you to respond positively to his command but God simply needs you to do it out of love. That is why Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him and commanded him to take care of his sheep.

There is no way we can love and fellowship with God without loving one another. There is also no way we can fellowship with God without holiness. Since God is holy we have to be holy in all our conduct. So the Apostle John says whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him and by this we know that we are in Him. 

Monday, October 12, 2015

Keeping His Word

At one point Jesus was teaching and a woman, probably amazed by the wisdom from this Man screamed in the midst of the crowd blessing the womb that carried Jesus and the breast that nursed Him. Listen to what the Lord said; “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word and keep it,” (Luke 11:28).

We have seen in the previous post that we communicate with our Lord best through His word. There is no point in hearing or reading the word and then fail to do as it says. Keeping the word does not only mean preserving it but it means also obeying it – doing as it says.

Failing to do the word of God is simply failing to walk in the light. We are still in darkness and because there is no darkness in the Lord therefore we are not worthy to fellowship with Him.

The Master Himself rebuked the multitudes, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). Jesus went on to illustrate that failing to keep his word is like setting yourself for destruction.

He likened someone who obeys his word to a man building a house, who digs down and lays the foundation on a rock. When a flood comes the house is not swept away because it has a rock solid foundation. However, the one who hears the word and do not do anything is like a man who builds a house without a foundation and is easily swept off by the flood and left in great damage.

What a vast difference! The word of the Lord is the solid foundation of our relationship with God. When we obey the word of the Lord we are safe because no matter what comes our way we shall remain unshaken and strong. More than that, God is pleased with us and his love is complete in us. “But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him,” (1 John 2:5).

Our desire is to be in Him all the time and the only way is to keep His word. There is no fellowship without love. That is why in order to know that we are truly in fellowship with Him we need to be perfected (matured) in love and this comes by keeping His word. Keeping His word means being obedient to His commands and the greatest commandment is that we should love one another as the Lord loved us. Jesus says that if we keep this word He will know that we are His disciples.

So basically this is the deal that Jesus puts on the table; ‘You keep my word I know that you are my disciple and you know that you are in Me.’ 

That is the assurance we have to say truly our fellowship is with the Lord. We are all God’s children as Christians and if we love one another we are demonstrating our love for Him. That is why Jesus said if we love Him we will keep His commandments.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Living In Christ

Last week we said earthly success is nothing without Jesus Christ. Being saved is not only to save us from destruction but it is about taking our right positions with God. The Word of God says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them,” (Ephesians 2:10).

Being ‘workmanship’ means that we are a product or an artwork that God made for a specific purpose. We were made to do the works that God predestined for us to walk in them. God preordained us to walk in light and we were actually wasting our time and His time whilst we were walking in darkness.

What is also important to note is that we were created in Christ Jesus. In Him we live, move and have our being. We cannot do the good works that God prepared for us without being in Christ. Revered Chinese preacher Watchman Nee once said;

“Outside of Christ, I am only a sinner;  but in Christ, I am saved. Outside of Christ, I am empty ; in Christ, I am full. Outside of Christ, I am weak; in Christ, I am strong. Outside of Christ, I cannot; in Christ, I am more than able. Outside of Christ, I have been defeated; in Christ, I am already victorious. How meaningful are the words, “in Christ.”

We have to understand that we cannot have fellowship with God seated and folding our arms. Fellowship has to do with a close relationship that is developed by sharing in a common cause or engagement. You can get to experience God’s presence in the process of doing good works.

God has created each one of us for a purpose. Our Master expects us to be the useful vessel that is prepared for the honorable use. That does not mean we are sinless. Only Jesus Christ has and will ever live without sin. There will be times that we will slip out of the way and the enemy cannot wait for that moment to accuse and condemn us. But thank God we have an Advocate with the Father, the Lord of righteousness Jesus Christ.

When it happens that we fall into sin, we should not turn our backs on God, instead we should turn back to Him. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” (1 John 1:9).

When we confess our sins we are actually declaring that we belong to God. Through Jesus Christ we are shifting positions – from the devil’s presence (darkness) to the presence of the Lord (light). We begin to walk as children of light, acceptable and pleasing to our God.

The Word of God clearly instructs us, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done in secret,” (Ephesians 5:11-12).

There is no point in us to go searching for what is in the dark. Instead we should dwell in the presence of the Lord. Like Mary, the sister to Martha, we should come and sit at the feet of Jesus to hear His Word. The Word will expose whatever is on the dark because, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path,” (Psalm 119:105).



The whole purpose of being in fellowship is to know each other better and foster better communication. What better way to communicate to our God than through His Word. This is where we find what we can expect from our loving Father and what He expects from us. And all we do with our Lord is done in the open and in light. In him there is no darkness at all! 

Join us next week as we talk about the blessings of keeping His word.