THE CHURCH WITHOUT LOVE
By George W. Sinquefield
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By George W. Sinquefield
Rev. 2:1 through Rev. 2:5 (KJV)
1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; 2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: 3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. 4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Acts 18-20 gives us much scriptural information about the church at Ephesus. Paul visited the city first with Priscilla and Aquila and left them there. Later he returned and preached in the synagogue for three months. Soon opposition began and Paul moved over to the school of Tyrannus where he taught for two years.
Acts 19:17-20 tells us that a revival came. All the elements of a true awakening are here. "Fear fell on them all and the name of the Lord was magnified. Many professed believers, who had been mixed up with these black arts, confessed an made a clean sweep of everything. Judgment began at the house of God. It would be the same thing if some modern church members would own up to dabbling in dark magic and superstition. Many of the spiritualists also came clean and about ten thousand dollar's worth of bad books were burned in public.
One has said, "Revival always produces a bonfire and if we had such a revival in our churches, it would take a forty acre field to accommodate the books, magazines and all other paraphernalia of the devil that would go up in smoke."
When Paul left Ephesus there was a growing church there. Thirty odd years later our Lord calls it to repentance. It was still a remarkable church but it needed a revival. The Lord tells them three things. He tells them what is right with the church, what is wrong and what to do about it. He begins by commending them. "I know thy works." Ephesus was a working church. "I know thy labour." It was a toilsom church. "And I know thy patience." They were persistent in their efforts for Christ. "And how thou canst not bear them which are evil." The church used discipline. Ephesus was a wicked city and Paul had warned the elders.
Acts 20:28 through Acts 20:32 (KJV)
Again the Lord said, "And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not and hast found them liars." The church had dealt with evil doctrine and had refused to let false teachers poison the fellowship. "And hast borne and hast patience and for my name's sake has labored and hast not fainted." They had been faithful to the Lord in a hard situation and had not grown weary in well doing. Now with all this to its credit, we would say that Ephesus was a great church. Could anything possibly be wrong? Yes, one thing was wrong, one thing was lacking -- "Thou hast left thy first love."
What is this first love? It is the love a Christian has for the Lord just after he is saved. When you were a new Christian you could not do too much for the Lord. Like the poor widow you wanted to give Him everything. Our Lord stands among the churches and what He wants most is our love. Without that all our orthodoxy, all our organization and all our church work can never satisfy Him.
Some time ago a husband, going home from business and finding his wife not as cheerful as usual, said; "What's the matter, my dear? Can I do anything for your?" She replied,"Yes, I wish you would write me a letter as you used to write before we were married." Many husbands would have laughed and called her foolish, but he was a wise man, he went up immediately into his library, locked himself in and wrote a real love letter, just as he had written in the long ago -- called her his sweetheart as of old and gave her the letter. Her heart was hungry.
Can we not truthfully say that the heart of our Lord is hungry for our love? Love longs for response and nothing in the world is as sweet as that response. No pain is so agonizing as the pain caused by the alienation of the affection. Love hungers for love and God, who is love, hungers for our love.
Love for God and man is the missing ingredient in the world today. Only sad to say, in many of our churches love is the missing ingredient. Love is the cure all medicine for our sin sick world. Love is the foundation of all that is worthwhile. It is the mightiest factor in human experience. It is the foundation of the home. Love of mother and father or sister and brother, of husband and wife or son and daughter, and the love of grandchildren, is the foundation of the home. Love is the good Samaritan aiding the man who had fallen among thieves.
From the 13th chapter of First Corinthians, we learn that love is the greatest thing in the world and without it you and I are nothing.
Mahatma Gandhi was not a Christian and it is said that he had this to say about the importance of love. "I would suggest first that all of you Christians, missionaries and all, must begin to live more like Christ. If you will come to us in the spirit of you master, we cannot resist you. I would suggest that you must put your emphasis upon love, for love is the center and soul of Christianity."
As strange as it may seem, we are commanded to love.
John 13:34 through John 13:35 (KJV)
John 15:12 (KJV)
John 15:17 (KJV)
Matt. 22:36 through Matt. 22:40 (KJV)
1 John 4:21 (KJV)
J. Oswald Sanders in his book Enjoying Intimacy With God explains why we are commanded to love. "But can love be thus commanded: Is it not spontaneous? Apparently love can be commanded, for our Lord did so. The answer to the problem lies in the fact that love does not spring from the emotions alone but also from the will. Erratic and romantic love may be mainly of the emotions but the "agape" love (the God Kind of love spoken of here is on a higher level and deeply involves the will. Love for the unlovely and undeserving is not spontaneous, it springs from the will to love, in spite of the unloveliness. An examination of the great love text, John 3:16, will support that contention. What prompted God's love for the world? Was it a happy, pleasureable emotion? Did He feel a warm glow in His heart at the thought of sending His Son to the death of the cross? Indeed, no. By a supreme act of His will, He chose to pluck out His heart, to sacrifice His only irreplaceable possession, His only Son, in order that we might be brought into intimate relationship with Him. That is the kind of love He expects us to show to one another."
Christians should be characterized, not by sloppy sentiment but by sacrificial love that expresses itself in loving activity to the unloveable as well as to the attractive. The supreme test of our love is the willingness to lay down one's life for another, not in overwhelming emotion. Because love is commanded, it is possible. "The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:5). Then too, the first fruit the Holy Spirit enables us to bear is love (Galations 5:22).
Please permit me again to share with you the words of Sanders. "The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Our unaided love can never attain to the divine desire nor reach the depths of human need. But our union with Christ makes that possible. His love is being perpetually poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It is for us to believe and act on that glorious fact, and it will become true not in theory but in actual experience."
I. We Are Commanded To Love The Lord.
Matt. 22:36 through Matt. 22:40 (KJV)
A certain Japanese pastor said, "I love two J's, Japan and Jesus, and which of these two I love the more I cannot tell." We say that was blaspheming and without question it was. But there are many like him today. While professing to love and serve Him, they love material goods and pleasures as much as if not more. We've never seen the Lord but we love Him because of what He has done for us.
1 Pet. 1:8 (KJV)
1 John 4:9 through 1 John 4:11 (KJV)
1 John 4:19 (KJV)
A kind mother had one day been talking with her little girl about the duty of loving God. The child replied, "Mother, I have never seen God; how can I love Him?" The mother made no answer then. A few days after, she received a package from a friend who lived a great way off; and in the package was a beautiful picture book for the little girl. The child took the book and was for some time entirely engrossed in looking at the pictures, but soon she exclaimed, "Oh, mother! how I do love the good lady that sent me this book!" "But you never saw her, my dear," said the mother. "No," answered the child; "but I love her because she sent me this beautiful present." "My child," said the mother, "you told me the other day that you could not love God, because you had never seen Him. And yet you love this kind lady whom you have never seen, because she has given you a present. Now you have all around you the presents which God has given you. Why cannot you love Him for His presents?"
On day Sternberg, the artist, was requested by a priest to paint a picture of the crucifixion of Jesus. He agreed to do so but since he knew nothing of Jesus he had to read the New Testament. He painted the picture but felt that it wasn't too good, so he left it in his studio. One day a gypsy girl came to his studio to sit as a model. She stopped in front of the picture and asked, "Who is this man?" He then told her about the love of Jesus and how He died for our sake. Then she asked him. "Did He do all of this for you." He managed to answer, "Yes." "Then," she said, "You must love him very much for doing all of this for you." He could never get this thought out of his mind. One night he could not sleep. He got out of bed, read again the story of the crucifixion, fell upon his knees and accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior. He then tore up the old picture and painted a better one which was later hung in a national art gallery. One day the artist saw a man gazing at it and weeping. He went forward and led the man to Christ. This man was Count Zinzendorf who later founded the Moravian church.
John 15:12 through John 15:13 (KJV)
Jesus laid down His life for us while we were His enemies -- not His friends.
Rom. 5:8 through Rom. 5:10 (KJV)
William Barclay -- "The fact that Jesus died for us is the final proof of God's love. It would be difficult enough to get a man to die for a just man; it might be possible for a man to be persuaded to die for some great and good principle; a man might have the greater love that would make him lay down his life for his friend. But the wonder of Jesus Christ is that He died for us when we are sinners and in a state of hostility to God. Love can go no further than that."
II. We Are Commanded To Love Our Brothers And Sisters In Christ.
John 13:34 through John 13:35 (KJV)
John 15:12 (KJV)
John 15:17 (KJV)
Heb. 13:1 (KJV)
I've used these Scriptures twice and I do so to emphasize the importance of loving one another. Nowhere are we told to love the sins and unlovely ways of others. We are not told to love the peculiarities of some people, but we are told to love them.
A Baptist deacon told an amusing story about a little neighbor girl who was very fond of him. One day as she dogged his steps while he worked in the yard, the little girl said, "I have a picture which looks just like you. Do you want to see it?" The deacon, who is elderly and bald, said, "I don't think so." Nevertheless, the little girl ran to get the picture. Much to his astonishment, it was a picture of a handsome young man with a beautiful head of hair. Commented the deacon, "When you love persons, they are beautiful to you."
The truth is that we can't love God if we do not love others. Please notice very carefully what God's Word has to say about this.
1 John 2:9 through 1 John 2:11 (KJV)
1 John 4:7 through 1 John 4:8 (KJV)
One who does not love other Christian is "in the darkness and walks in darkness." And the one who does not love does not know God for God is love. One who does not love is not saved, he is in the darkness of sin. The Word of God does not, "beat around the bush," so to speak.
1 John 4:20 (KJV)
The Holy spirit indwells the saved and He helps a child of God live like God wants him to.
1 Cor. 6:19 through 1 Cor. 6:20 (KJV)
And as we've already said, the Holy Spirit enables us to love others (Romans 5:5, Galatians 5:22).
III. We Are To Love The Lost.
When I think of loving the lost I always think of Paul. Oh, how he loved the Jews and how he longed for them to be saved.
Rom. 9:1 through Rom. 9:3 (KJV)
The lost are condemned and on the way to hell. It is to the saved that Jesus gave the great commission to preach the gospel to every creature. The gospel is good news that God loves them, that Jesus died for them and He'll save them if they will believe on Him.
John 3:16 (KJV)
A visitor in a home saw a doll that had been rejected by the Goodwill. One of the eyes was off, the cloth hair was hanging by a single thread, the dress was worn and dirty and one shoe was missing. she asked the little girl, "Why do you love this doll so much?" The little girl answered, "Because if I didn't nobody else would." That speaks to our hearts, doesn't it? If we Christians don't love the lost, nobody else will. We are to love the lost, not because of what he is but because of who he can become.
2 Cor. 5:17 (KJV)
The husband of a lady who played the organ in church was murdered. Later on the murderer attended the service and was saved. While others were extending Christian greetings to him, this lady left the organ and went to greet him. After the service someone asked her. "How could you hug and greet this man who killed your husband?" She said, "This is not the man who killed my husband, this is a new man."
We are to love the lost for Jesus' sake. It was He who died for them. He provided by His death the way for lost sinners to be saved.
Rom. 5:6 (KJV)
Rom. 5:8 (KJV)
1 Tim. 1:15 (KJV)
1 Cor. 15:3 (KJV)
Dr. W. D. Nowlin, in his great book, Fundamentals Of The Faith, said that during his stay in Owensboro, Kentucky, his little girl went out one day and found a little kitten that was the dirtiest, filthiest, most unpleasant kitten he had ever seen. The little girl loved that kitten, while every other child in the house kicked it and threw it out the door every chance they could. Then one day this little girl became ill and died. They took her out and buried her. They came back to the pastor's home. Sitting out on the front porch, they saw the scrawny kitten walking across the yard. Dr. Nowlin said that all the children ran out in the yard, and they took the little kitten unto their arms, and said, "Bless you kitten, sister loved you," and from that day on their attitude toward that kitten was different. They loved it, nursed it, fed it -- for little sister's sake.
God loves the lost regardless of the sins he has committed. Marcia Trimble was a nine year old girl scout in Nashville, Tenn. She had almost sold her quota of cookies and she said to her mother, "I'm going across the street to carry Mrs Maxwell some cookies. I'll be right back." But she never came back. She was kidnapped. The news went out over radio and television and hundreds of volunteers joined in a effort to find her. On Easter morning thirty three days after her disappearance, her body was found in a garage nearby. Mrs Trimble's (Marcia's mother) faith was almost unbelievable. A reporter asked her at her home before Marcia's body was found, "If Marcia is found alive and her kidnapper faced you, what would you say to him? She answered, "I would tell him that God loves him."
IV. We Are To Love Our Enemies.
Matt. 5:43 through Matt. 5:48 (KJV)
This scripture teaches that we are to act God-like. Verse 44 tells us to love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to those who hate us and pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us. Now verse 45 states that by doing these things, "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven." Now is this the way to be saved? Absolutely not. No one is saved by his works no matter how noble they are. This verse means that it would be evident that we are God's child because we would be acting like God. Then verse 48 tells us to be perfect. This word "perfect" has no moral conatation. It is not saying that we are to live a sinless life. The whole New Testament urges us to grow and by the help of the Holy Spirit to become more and more like Jesus who was without sin. Greek scholars tell us that, "perfect" literally means "that which is at the end." It means the goal which one is endeavoring to reach. What was the goal set before Jesus? All through the New Testament we are advised that it was the cross. Now Jesus was sinless but He was not perfect until He died on the cross.
1 Pet. 2:22 (KJV)
Heb. 2:10 (KJV)
By His death on the cross, Jesus reached His goal to become the Savior of the world. Our goal should be to reach the lost for Him.
V. Love For Jesus Will Solve The Problem Of Disobedience.
The highest expression of love is the amount we are willing to give. It is after the pattern of God Himself who so loved that He gave. A certain young man who had just recently been married, and was very, very deeply in love with his new wife; in fact, he was so much in love that he would come in from the field every hour or two in order that he might tell her how much he appreciated her, while all the time the weeds were growing out in the field and the crops were suffering because of his neglect. The result was that while he was telling her all about his love, he was practically starving her to death, and she was living a life of miserable poverty. If this man had only known that the highest expression of love was in giving of his best in his labor and his toil in order to make her happy, it would undoubtedly have been appreciated a great deal more.
Just before the beginning of the reformation period, Martin Luther and Martin of Basel both found the truth of God through the Holy spirit. Martin Luther followed the revelation he received into open battle and led the world's mightiest movement. On the other hand, Martin of Basel wrote these words, "O most merciful Christ, I know I can be saved only by the merit of Thy blood. Holy Jesus, I acknowledge Thee. I love Thee! I love Thee!" Then he signed his name and hid it in the stone wall of his monastery cell. It was not discovered until a hundred years later. God gives us revelation for action and not to be concealed.
2 John 1:6 (KJV)
One may attend religious services occasionally out of a sense of duty but only a love for Christ and His church and a desire to know and serve Him better will keep one faithful.
One has said, "We talk much about church loyalty while we beg and coax and almost bribe church members to come to church. People go where they want to go. Where their hearts are their heels will follow. Deeper than church loyalty must be Christ loyalty and that must grow out of love to Christ."
I love Thee, I love Thee and this Thou dost know. But how much I love Thee my actions will show.
It was Grace's first experience at a boarding school. A copy of the rules was handed to her as she entered. She read them and her heart sunk. Keep those rules? She never could and she never would. At supper she was introduced to the principal. What a lovely woman. How winning her smile. Grace admired her and her admiration increased daily. The rules were no longer irksome. Her one desire was to please the principal whom she had come to love. Love made obedience easy.
A shepherd was asked what the weather would be on the morrow. He replied, "It will be just what I prefer." "How can that be?" he was asked. "Because it will be such weather as pleases God, and whatever pleases Him always pleases me." Wouldn't it be wonderful if the will of God always pleased us?
One timid Christian said, "I think I love Him because there are things I refrain from doing for no other reason than that He forbids them, while I do other things simply because He desires them." He certainly passed the test. If Christ's will for us is the law of our lives, His smile of approval will be an adequate reward. "Well done good and faithful servant."
VI. Love Is The Only Motive For Service.
A motive is something within us that incites or impells us to action. The church has no greater need today than to fall in love with Jesus all over again. Call it what you will, we need a heart-warming. There is a world of difference between studying books on love and falling in love. We are going through the motions without any motive. A few Christians who are desperately in love with Christ mean more than a host of indifferent church members whose Christianity has become just another "big business" of committees and budgets and programs.
A man in a church in Huntsville, Alabama was leading singing. He had a job and made a good living. Something was said about paying him for his services. He said, "If you want me to quit, offer me money. I do this because I love the Lord."
Dr. Vance Hauner said, "I have wondered what would be left nowadays if we eliminated from our church work all that is not the spontaneous expression of our heart's love for Christ. Deacons and Sunday School teachers and choir singers should ask themselves, "Why do I do what I do in the church? Because I ought to do it because somebody has to do it, because I was chosen to do it?" If the love of Christ is not our compelling motive, God will not accept our service." And we preachers had better ask, "For all my labor and perseverance and orthodoxy and condemnation of evil, is it the love of Christ that constrains me? If not, then all eloquence and prophecy and knowledge and faith and benevolence and even martyrdom are but so much dust in a windy street."
John 14:15 (KJV)
Jesus would say, "If you don't love me, forget my commandments, forget my work, forget my church. I want only those who love me to engage in my work.
It was after Simon Peter expressed his love for Jesus that he was told to "feed My lambs," "feed my sheep."
John 21:15 through John 21:17 (KJV)
If Jesus asked us if we loved Him, could we answer as Simon Peter did? "Lord, you know that I love Thee." He would challenge us to prove it by our actions -- our service for Him. We may not love but God is love and He loves you.
John 3:16 (KJV)
Have you responded to that love? Have you made Jesus your Lord and Savior? He longs for you to do so and He urges you to do so now.
28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. 32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
19 We love him, because he first loved us.
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
1 Let brotherly love continue.
9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, 2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. 16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
