Saturday January 31, 2015

Read 1 John 4:16-21

Picture yourself in church one Sonday morning and you witness the following event. Two believers walk into church on this particular Sonday morning as they have both done for several years. As they see each other, they grimace in acknowledgement of each other and immediately head to opposite ends of the sanctuary to take their seats. The animosity is not only obvious but also piercing. The scars caused by that argument 3 years ago still haven’t healed. The wounds of a broken business deal are still raw and tender. Yet even so, throughout the service both believers lift up their hands to the Lord, sing passionately, and pray fervently, even with tears in their eyes.

Most people watching on would probably turn away and assume that all is well or at least as well as it will ever be.

But if you were to glimpse into the heavenlies into the throne room of our awesome and mighty God during this “worship” time, I wonder what you’d see. I suspect that you’d see God weeping tears of sadness. I suspect that you would see God with his face turned away, his heavenly face without a smile.  I suspect that you would see God refusing to listen to the prayers or to rejoice in the singing He’s hearing.

Why? How can I say that given that both men were so passionate and even lifted up their hands and shed a tear? Read today’s verses again very carefully. If we hate our brother in the Lord, then we can not love God. Our love for God is a lie if we cannot be reconciled to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Scripturally speaking, we simply cannot raise up hands in acceptable worship, that is worship in Spirit and truth, if we do not love one another. Hatred, animosity, dislike and worship are mutually exclusive! I can lift up my hands as high as they’ll go. I can sing at the top of my voice. I can pray the most elegant and beautiful prayers… But if I harbour hatred or anger towards my brother/sister in Jesus, I AM NOT WORSHIPPING GOD!!!

Please don’t hear me wrong. No one is saying we have to be besties with those who have hurt us. Rebuilding trust takes time. It can be a slow and painful process. But hatred cannot dwell in the house of God. Hatred cannot dwell in a house of worship. Hatred destroys worship.

Hatred darkens more than the two parties involved. I suspect that God would have his face and ears and heart turned away from the entire congregation because when we worship, we worship as a body, not as gathered individuals. Everything I do as an individual affects the congregation, the body I belong to. I am not an individual! I am a part of God’s body, the body of Christ. If I am dwelling in hatred then everyone is affected as well. My hatred darkens everything we do as a church body.

In tears I ask myself, ‘How many congregations are impotent and ineffective because individuals are trying to worship God with hearts darkened by hatred?’

Can you understand why Jesus said Matthew 5:23-24 that we should be reconciled to our brother/sister before we come to offer our gifts of worship at the altar? If God is love, can anything less be acceptable before Him?

Prayer:

Prayer:

Use the day’s reading notes and Bible passage to pray meaningfully:

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

· Ask the Lord to bring healing and reconciliation to broken relationships in your congregation. Pray that hurts would be healed, forgiveness would be granted and received and that Christ would be glorified in all of this.

· Pray that tomorrow’s service would give opportunities for love to be shared, forgiveness to be offered and received and that Christ would be glorified in the service.

 Discussion & Reflection

1. If you witnessed the two people entering church, what would you do?

2. What does the Bible say about conflict resolution?

3. What is the biblical position on reconciliation among believers?

Friday January 30, 2015

Read 1 John 4:13-16a.

Lucas was abandoned as a baby by his natural parents and spent most of his life being shunted from family to family. To date he has lived in over 15 homes. In many of these homes he has been physically and/or sexually abused. How can he possibly show love to his natural birth parents, whom he has now recontacted? How can he love the families that abused him?

Michaela was bullied at school. She was horribly treated and pushed to the outer by her peers. She was the butt of most jokes and was rarely included in socials and weekend outings. She was often the recipient of on-line threats and taunts. How can she show love to her school peers as she prepares to graduate from high school?

Mack has been married for 40 years but feels that his wife loves her career and her prestigious house more than she loves him. He feels that he comes second, actually last, in his wife’s heart. Can he love her? Can he still have feelings for this woman he’s been with for the last 40 years?

The million dollar question in so many broken lives is, ‘How can I show love to those who have not loved me?’ We need to realise certain truths and draw on them for strength. In and of ourselves loving those who should have loved us but didn’t is virtually impossible.

If you are a believer then you live in God and God lives in you. You are united to God and God is united to you. There is a fundamental relationship between you and God that gives you the resources and the power of God. By the power of God we understand and internalise and apply to our own lives the truth that God sent Jesus into the world out of love to save us. God reached out in love to us personally even when we didn’t reach out to Him in love. Put bluntly, God loved me (and you) when I (and you) were unlovable. OUCH!

If God reached out to me in love before I even thought of reaching out to Him, then I can reach out to others in love. If God reached out to me in love even as I was rejecting Him, I can reach out to others who are rejecting me. The love I have experienced from God equips and empowers me to love others, even others who have hurt me.

It may be difficult to admit and to realise but this fundamental truth has to be admitted and accepted. Even though I may have suffered horrendous wrongs, my sin against God is greater than anyone’s sin against me.  If God can forgive me and love me freely, can I not then forgive and love those that have hurt me? V16 sums it up. .

1 John 4:16 (NIV84)

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

If Lucas, Michaela and Marcus are to move forward, if you and I are to move forward, we have to come to God to receive and bathe in His love. We have to admit our sin against Him and we have to be refreshed by His love.  To move forward I have to admit my shortcomings and abuse of God and I have to receive the cool, refreshing waters of His forgiveness. As that happens, the love of God allows both you and I to love and forgive others. He allows us to move through the pain and the hurt, the anger and bitterness towards love and forgiveness.

Prayer:

Use the day’s reading notes and Bible passage to pray meaningfully:

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

· Pray that your congregation would grow in love for God, in love for each other and in love for the community in which it serves and worships.

· Pray that your Session would be filled with men who love God and His Word, take it seriously in their own lives and practice what they preach. 

 Discussion & Reflection

1. What could you say to Lucas, Michaela or Mack if they said to you that they just can’t seem to forgive those that hurt them?

2. What is the biblical position regarding a Christian and forgiveness?

3. What are the negative effects of not forgiving someone?

Thursday January 29, 2015

Read 1 John 4:11-12

A well known event in Jesus’ life explains the rationale behind 1 John 4;11-12. As Jesus walked and talked and healed and taught people, many came up to Jesus to match him, to test him and, in many cases, to hopefully cause him to slip up. Many people, especially the religious hierarchy, felt obliged to catch Jesus out or to trip Him in His words. Maybe it was the way the He taught with authority. Maybe it was his refusal to quote other rabbis and teachers as the others did. Maybe it was His common declaration ‘Thus saith the Lord’. Whatever it was, people felt compelled to challenge Jesus and to spar with Him.

On one occasion as Jesus taught in Jerusalem (see Mark 12:28-34) a young up and coming teacher of the law decided to try his hand at verbal sparing with Jesus. He’d been listening for some time and felt emboldened to enter into the discussions and debate. And so he asked, ‘Which is the most important commandment?’ Given the different schools of thought and the debates that were presently raging through the leadership community, this young whipper snapper thought he could trap Jesus.

Unfortunately for this teacher, Jesus quoted the Scriptures with his usual authority.  What Scripture did Jesus quote?

Deuteronomy 6:4-5.

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Without pause, Jesus continued to quote Leviticus 19:18.

Leviticus 19:18 (NIV84)

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.

And of course, before the Teacher of the Law could even think of responding, Jesus summed up by saying ’There is no commandment greater than these’. 

The Teacher of the Law was so impressed that he replied

Mark 12:32–33 (NIV84)

32 “Well said, teacher ...You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

This learned Teacher spoke true words. Loving God and loving one’s neighbour are greater than all sacrifices. Without love, one’s sacrifices mean nothing. Some time later the Apostle Paul would echo these words in 1 Corinthians 13. Without love, speaking in tongues is but a resounding gong. Without love prophecy and faith amount to nothing. Without love, the greatest sacrifices are but a waste of space and time.

Jesus however, wasn’t beaten by the teacher of the law. He responded to him in Mark 12:34. ‘You are not far from Kingdom of God.’ So what’s Jesus saying? You’re catching on. You’re starting to understand. If you know the priority of love then turn and truly follow the one who is the source of love.

Do we know the priority of love in our hearts? Do we reach across to others in love? Is love the central motivation in all our relationships? Do we love God and love others more than anything else? More importantly, has the love of God so melted our hearts and transformed us that we can love others, even those who don’t love us?

Prayer:

Use the day’s reading notes and Bible passage to pray meaningfully:

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

· Ask the Lord to grow the families in your church in love for each other. Ask especially that children/teens would love their parents and vice versa and that siblings would love each other.

· Pray that the singles in your church would feel loved and accepted.

 Discussion & Reflection

1. How would you explain the greatest commandment?

2. What implications does the greatest commandment have in your life with regard to

a. Finances?

b. Words you speak?

c. Programs you watch?

3. What implications does the second greatest commandment have for you in the above 3 areas?

Wednesday January 28, 2015

Read 1 John 4:9-10

There’s a fundamental difference between feeling unloved and unlovable. Most of us have had times in our life when we have felt unloved. Maybe during a dry spell in our marriage we felt unloved. Maybe when our children entered the dreaded teenage years and wanted nothing to do with their parents, we felt unloved. Maybe when our boss was displeased with our work performance, we felt unloved. But when we feel unlovable we realise that there is nothing within us or about us that would compel someone else to love us. Feeling unloved focuses on someone else. We feel unloved by someone else. Feeling unlovable focuses on ourselves as is independent of anyone else.

Have you ever felt unlovable? Have you ever felt so bad that you figured that no one could ever love you? Given that suicide rates are at an all-time high, especially among teens, I suspect that most of us have felt this way at some point in time.

Even in this bottom of the barrel situation there is good news. Even when we feel unlovable, there is good news. We can break the shackles and chains. We can break free from this horrid condition. But it’s not by positive self talk or by finding good things in ourselves to focus on. We can break free by realising that God does not love us because we are lovable. We don’t have to prove ourselves to God or make ourselves lovable for him to lavish His love upon us. God doesn’t scour the earth looking for people with the greatest potential to lavish with His love. He’s not seeking out another diamond in the rough to

polish up.    

The scriptural reality is that none of us are good enough to be loved by God. No one on this planet (past, present or future) is smart enough to warrant God’s love or beautiful enough to woo God’s love or productive enough or generous enough to make God love them. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God. All of us deserve God’s condemnation and wrath, not His love and mercy. But even so, God loves you. Warts and all, God loves you! Can you hear the grace dripping off that statement? God loves you. I don’t have to lie to myself that I’m better than I really am. I don’t have to make up things about myself to appear more lovable. I don’t have to think positive self thoughts. God loves me. God loves you. If you find yourself feeling unlovable, meditate upon this reality – God loves you. Warts and all God loves you!

As I counselled a young girl who had been abandoned by her parents and abused for most of her life even by those who should have loved her, the Holy Spirit whispered in my heart, ‘Share Psalm 27:10’. I had no idea what Psalm 27:10 said, even though I love to memorize Scripture. Trying hard to flick inconspicuously through my Bible without disturbing her outpouring I stumbled across these words.

Psalm 27:10 (NIV84)

Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.

How comforting to think that God receives and accepts us even if our parents don’t. How blessed to know that God loves us even when others like our parents can’t or won’t love us. God will receive you. He will love you and accept you, warts and all, even if your parents don’t love you. No matter what you’ve been through, no matter how unlovable you might feel, you can know for certain that God loves you.

Let that truth sink deeply into your heart as you walk through the rest of the day.

Prayer:

Use the day’s reading notes and Bible passage to pray meaningfully:

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

· Pray that your congregation would be saturated by love and that each person would be growing in love for God and love for others.

· Pray that the youth group at your church would feel and experience the love of God and of the congregation.  .

 Discussion & Reflection

1. A fellow believer asks you why God chose to love him but not his brother. How do you respond in a pastorally sensitive way?

2. A believer shares with you the struggles she’s had for the last month and cries out, ‘Why does God hate me?’ How do you respond?

3. How can I be sure that God loves me?

Tuesday January 27, 2015

Weekly Challenge :Take a selfie this week that sums up your relationship with God and upload it to our facebook page for all to see.

Read 1 John 4:7-8

Evolution simply cannot account for love. Think about the animal kingdom and you’ll see what I mean. A Lion kills a small, innocent and helpless deer. It eats what it wants and leaves the rest rotting in the hot African sun. There is no love present in this transaction. As humans we don’t balk at nature, red in tooth and claw! We accept it But if one person kills another we are rightly horrified and disgusted. There is no means for evolution to account for love.

On the contrary, love comes from God because God is love. It is part of His being or make-up if we can fathom such an unfathomable thought. God didn’t create an emotion called love or form this crazy little thing called love in our hearts. God is love. Love emanates from within God much like the sun’s rays emanate from the sun.

Please hear this correctly. Hear this very carefully. God is love. The Bible does not say that the God of the New Testament is love. It says ‘God is love’. So many people wrongly see the God of the Old Testament as a God of punishment or harshness but the God of the New Testament as a God of love. But we read ’God is love’. That love exerted itself in judgement, vengeance and wrath in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. It’s seen in God’s discipline and correction and rebuke as well as His blessings.

When we think of the phrase ‘God is love’ we might also tend to think of God as an old cuddly grandpa sitting on porch giving us whatever we want and letting us do what ever we please. So many churches are even preaching that you can _______________ (insert your sinful desire), God loves you. If we don’t accept this as loving from our parents or grandparents, why would we ever accept it as loving from God. God is love means that he is purely loving in all his ways and has your best interests at heart, even if it means discipline, rebuke or correction. Love is not letting others do as they please.

If God is love then the exhortation for us to love another comes not from within ourselves but from God. God is not saying that you and I are to muster up something from deep within, that we are to find our inner strength to love or that we are to tap into some universal energy to be nice to everyone. God is love. If we are to love, then we need to draw nearer to God.

If you continue along this line of thought about love, it raises deep, heart wrenching questions:

¨ Can I love that uncle who abused me as a child?

¨ Can I love my spouse, who refuses to love me?

¨ Can I love that bully at school or the lecturer who makes my life miserable?

This week you’ll find answers to such difficult questions.

Evolution cannot account for love. If love exists, evolution can not. If evolution is true love is a lie. If we are simply animals of a higher order then having your enemies for lunch would be part and parcel of the survival of the fittest. If we are created by the God who is love then loving your enemies could be shown, for example, by having your enemies over for lunch – pun intended!

Prayer:

Use the day’s reading notes and Bible passage to pray meaningfully:

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

· Ask the Lord to be blessing the work of CMTC (ChristLife Ministry Training Centre) and the students who’ll be visiting and serving in other local congregations once a month. Ask God’s Spirit to lead, to guide and to bless this labour of love.

· Pray that this year would see your church grow through many conversions .

Discussion & Reflection

1. Is love a feeling? Please explain with scriptural references.

2. What does it mean when it says ‘God is love’ in verse 8 and 16?

3. What are the implications of the statement ‘God is love’?