Often after having one of these great moments with God and our community (see last blog), I walk straight into the one member of the church I have the most trouble with. I can ignore him and walk on by, or I can stop and talk to him. Usually I am thinking of how to get out of the conversation or how hungry I am . In any event it is totally opposite of what I just experienced.
It is like I walk right out of verse seven and smack into verse 8. Did John know this? Did this happen to him?
8. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Keep in mind John is addressing his "beloved". Why is he saying this? Why do we suddenly find this? It is because the purpose of this pericope is the perfection of love. Sometimes for our love to be perfected we have to see that it needs to be perfected. We're going to run into situations with members of our fellowship when love is not evident. God is not being revealed. The word for "perfected" is teteleiwme√nh which is a participle, the root actually being teleow. It means "finished" or "completed" and "perfected". So you could say God is not finished with our love yet.
John Stevens in his book Dedicated To Unity kicks it up another notch or two, by saying, "We are heaven's colony, a transplant from an age to come... a colony of the Kingdom here on earth and we live as citizens of the Kingdom. We will have to live by different rules. It is a time to love, a time of oneness in the Lord...." This love is not optional. If we are to live in God's kingdom then to know God and His kingdom we need to live by his rule of love. In short, I don't get to choose whom I love.
John is making a very bold statement here.
John is saying that if I ignore him, and don't love him, then I don't know God. Meaning to me that I don't know God in this connection with my brother or sister in Christ. Whoever does not love him does not know God. How important is it to love one person? It's just one person. How important is it for me to finish or complete the love for that one person that I can't get along with? When God is not being revealed, love is not being shown and the rest of the body is being affected. We are not individuals. We are a body of believers. Lets look at it from another perspective.
Paul tells us that in Ephesians chapter 4 verses 15 and 16.
15 But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Building up of itself in love. Building up of the body in love. How does this happen? It happens by every joint supplying. Where the members of the body come together at the joint is where God's love is revealed. This is what gets supplied to the whole body. The proper working of each individual part causes the growth, and it comes from the joint where the members of the body meet. Our love supplies the rest of body. How does that work? If my joints are not working properly my body suffers. the limbs don't work.
It is the same with the body of Christ. When one suffers we all suffer. The expression of love needs to be working among us, between us, at the intersection of the members.
Okay what is the solution then? How do I get God revealed in these relationships? How is my love perfected? How do I get life in joints.?
John gives us the answer in verse 9 and 10. TO BE CONTINUED.
John is saying that if I ignore him, and don't love him, then I don't know God. Meaning to me that I don't know God in this connection with my brother or sister in Christ. Whoever does not love him does not know God. How important is it to love one person? It's just one person. How important is it for me to finish or complete the love for that one person that I can't get along with? When God is not being revealed, love is not being shown and the rest of the body is being affected. We are not individuals. We are a body of believers. Lets look at it from another perspective.
Paul tells us that in Ephesians chapter 4 verses 15 and 16.
15 But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Building up of itself in love. Building up of the body in love. How does this happen? It happens by every joint supplying. Where the members of the body come together at the joint is where God's love is revealed. This is what gets supplied to the whole body. The proper working of each individual part causes the growth, and it comes from the joint where the members of the body meet. Our love supplies the rest of body. How does that work? If my joints are not working properly my body suffers. the limbs don't work.
It is the same with the body of Christ. When one suffers we all suffer. The expression of love needs to be working among us, between us, at the intersection of the members.
Okay what is the solution then? How do I get God revealed in these relationships? How is my love perfected? How do I get life in joints.?
John gives us the answer in verse 9 and 10. TO BE CONTINUED.
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