Category: love

Into His Heavenly Family

How can we ever fathom the wonder and wealth of all God’s spiritual blessings to us in Jesus Christ??  What assurance, confidence, and security are within these glorious truths:

 

…in love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…(Eph. 1:4-5)

 

There never has been, and never will be, a perfect earthly family.  But as believers we have been adopted by God our Father into His heavenly family!  And through His revealed word, God wants us to know the full comfort and significance of our calling as His children, all “…to the praise of His glorious grace” (Eph. 1:6)!  May your hope be strengthened as you trust the riches of His grace, walking worthy as His beloved child!

 

When a child of God is crushed with guilt over sin,

Or pressed hard by deep trials without and within,

Burdened and troubled, and filled up with fear,

What words from the Lord might this child hear?

 

Is there harsh condemnation from the King on His throne?

Angry words of rejection and banishment known?

“I despise you, how dare you think not to obey”,

Is this what a Christian might hear the Lord say?

 

Surely Satan would tempt us to think it is so,

Fiery darts of deception does he constantly throw.

But the Lord, He has spoken – all His words firm and true,

Great, precious promises which ignite hope anew!

 

O My child, my child behold who I AM,

Your Father, who chose you, from before time began!

Drink now all My blessings, given through My Son’s blood,

And walk by faith in the fullness of My holy love!

 

Grace upon grace,

Greg

Because He Cares for You

This coming Lord’s Day, I’m planning to move into 1 Pet. 5:6-7 in our exposition Peter’s great letter:


“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you”.

 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, what a glorious and comforting truth to be strengthened by:  in the great sufficiency of Jesus’ saving work, God cares for you!  The assurance of such a truth enables us to humble ourselves under His mighty hand, confidently casting all our anxieties on Him.  Oh, how infinitely great is the love of God for His own!

 

A.W. Tozer, in his classic book, The Knowledge of the Holy, dwells upon the impact of God’s sovereign love:

 

“The world is full of enemies, and as long as we are subject to the possibility of harm from these enemies, fear is inevitable.  The effort to conquer fear without removing the causes is altogether futile.  The heart is wiser than the apostles of tranquility.  As long as we are in the hands of chance, as long as we look for hope to the law of averages, as long as we must trust for survival to our ability to outthink or outmaneuver the enemy, we have every reason to be afraid.  And fear hath torment.

           

“To know that love is of God and to enter into the secret place leaning upon the arm of the Beloved – this and only this can cast out fear.  Let a man become convinced that nothing can harm him and instantly for him all fear goes out of the universe.  The nervous reflex, the natural revulsion to physical pain may be felt sometimes, but the deep torment of fear is gone forever.  God is love and God is sovereign.  His love disposes Him to desire our everlasting welfare and His sovereignty enables Him to secure it.” (pg. 99)

 

Beloved, may your knowledge of, and faith in His infinite, immeasurable love continue to increase –   Eph. 3:14-21!

 

Because He lives and loves,

Greg

Unfathomable, Full, Trinitarian Love

Ok, the genre/style may not resonate with everyone :), but I encourage you to give a watch and listen to this meditation about the wonder of the incarnation:  God With Us.  The music is produced by a group called Folk Angel.

 

Beloved, can we ever think enough about the unfathomable love of the Father (1 Jn. 3:1), in the love of the Son (Jn. 13:1), poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5)?

 

The deepest ongoing prayer myself and the other elders have for all of you is that you would increasingly know, by faith, the incomprehensible greatness  of God’s holy love for you in Jesus (Eph. 3:14-21).  And as the fullness of His love – which is also the fullness of His grace and truth (Jn. 1:14) – abounds in you, we pray it would overflow through you to more and more people.

 

May you be filled with joy in the living hope of Jesus Christ!

 

Greg

Earnest Love

“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly…” (1 Pet. 4:8).  The command is clear, straightforward, and specific.  Above and beyond everything else that may go on in the life of a local church – worship services, bible studies, ministry projects, financial, administrative, and facility needs, various events and activities, etc. – one thing is absolutely essential and indispensable:  growing in this earnest love for each other.  The earnestness of love that Peter speaks of has to do with intentional, strenuous, sustained effort.  It’s a love that is eager to forgive and restore, because, as Peter goes on to say, “…love covers a multitude of sins”.  This is tenacious love, which humbly moves toward people in a local church, not away from them.

 

Anyone who has walked with other believers in a local church understands the significance of this command!  Let’s be honest:  it’s downright scary, hard, and often painful to pursue this earnest love with specific people in a specific local church like RCG.  We can be easily tempted to become cold and indifferent to the necessity of pursuing this earnest love.  But if we give in to such temptations, we fail to be what God would have us to be as His people – regardless of however involved we might be with various church activities and events.

 

Beloved, as God Himself loves us in Christ with this earnest, holy, persevering love, how can we who belong to Him do anything less?  His grace is sufficient for all He commands of us.  May He continue to grow and strengthen us in the pursuit of this earnest love with each other, that His glory would be all the more displayed through us to the watching world  (Jn. 13:34-35).

 

I’m so grateful for each of you, and the privilege of growing in Him together at RCG!

Greg

The Essence of Ministry

What is your ministry in the church?  Often when we’re asked this question, it is easy to answer simply in terms of task and function:  “I work in children’s ministry…I help with music…I’m a part of the college group, etc.”

But while tasks and functions are an important part of our life together, they are not the real essence of ministry.  What is?  Loving one another in the love of Jesus Christ.  Actively pursuing this love with one another (1 Cor. 14:1) is not just a part of the Christian life, it is the Christian life.  As we’ve seen throughout the summer in our study of 1 Cor. 13, the active pursuit of this Christ-exalting love is central and non-negotiable for believers in a local church.  God has not gifted every believer equally, but He has commanded us to love excellently.

So as you think about your ministry in the local church of RCG, be thinking of it primarily in terms of the specific ways that God wants you to be “pursuing love” with the specific people who are a part of this church.  Let 1 Cor. 13, along with other passages like Rom. 12, Eph. 4, 1 Pet. 4:7-11 (just to name a few) inform the specifics of what this love should look like.  And if you serve in specific areas like those mentioned above, let this love be the focus of your serving…for the glory of Christ.

I praise God for the many evidences of His love at work among us, and count it a great joy to grow in Him with you!
Greg

It’s In the Little Things

It’s the little things that count!

 

Through our ongoing study in 1 Cor. 13 each Sunday morning this summer, the Lord has been clarifying the various dimensions of how we’re to love one another in Christ.  One of the striking implications is that this holy love is to be cultivated day-by-day, and moment-by-moment.  In other words, we’re to love each other not simply in sensational, extraordinary, grandiose ways, but in the very routine, ordinary, and seemingly mundane rhythms of our daily lives.  It’s not just dying to self, and putting others interests above our own in the “big things”, but doing this in a thousand and one little ways every single day.  R.C.H. Lenski says it well:

 

“Paul does not describe love in its greatest works, sacrifices, martyrdoms, triumphs; he goes into the ordinary circumstances of life as we meet them day by day and shows us the picture of love as it must be under these…(So) be a true, everyday Christian in the exercise of love, then all great triumphs of love will take care of themselves.  He who fails in the ordinary works of love will not even have an opportunity when the supreme moment for the performance of the extraordinary arrives.”  (The Interpretation of St. Paul’s 1st & 2nd Epistles to the Corinthians, p. 561)

 

As you consider how God would have you to keep “pursuing love” (1 Cor. 14:1), in the power of His Holy Spirit, think about practical ways He would have you to sacrificially love the specific people who are a part of your daily life – in your home, in the church, and beyond.  For their good, His glory, and the spread of the Gospel.

 

And rejoice all the more that our exalted Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, perfectly loves you moment-by-moment, into eternity!

 

Growing with you,

Greg

 

Philippians 2:1-11

“1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

True Love is Humble

“True love is a humble love; and that love which is not humble, is not truly divine.”  (Jonathan Edwards, Charity and Its Fruits, pg. 144)

 

Our Lord and Teacher Jesus Christ, in every moment of every detail of His incarnate life, personified this divine, humble love.  How can it be that the eternal, holy King of Kings would stoop to serve sinners such as us, by suffering on the cross as a substitute for us?  We can never explain it, but only marvel, rejoice, and strive to be faithful stewards of His love in other people’s lives.

 

Reflecting on the lesson and meaning of Jesus washing His disciples’ (Jn. 13:1-17), Edwards further observes, “If our Lord and Master is humble, and we love Him as such, certainly it becomes us who are His disciples and servants to be so too, for surely it does not become the servant to be prouder or less abased than the Master.”  (Ibid., pg. 151)

 

Beloved, the next time we’re tempted to think, “I shouldn’t have to love that person,” or “loving this person is beneath me,” let us look afresh in faith to our Lord and Teacher, Jesus Christ.  And in the power and pattern of His humble love, let us gladly minister the same to one another.

 

Growing with you,

Greg

Patience and Kindness in Love

It is humbling to consider the following contrast.  On the one hand there is me, a confirmed sinner, who can so quickly be impatient and unkind toward those who offend me. On the other hand, there is God, the eternal, holy, sovereign ruler, who is “… merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” (Ps. 86:15)  God is extravagantly rich in patience and kindness to sinners like me.  Amazing!  Truly, what hope would any of us have if God Almighty responded to us the way we so often respond to those who hurt and injure us?

 

God’s infinite patience and kindness has been poured out upon us through Jesus Christ (Titus 3:4-7).  As we grow in the knowledge of His love for us, by faith, so we must be all the more faithful in being instruments of His love to others – especially our brothers and sisters in the local church (1 Cor. 13:4).  In God’s perfect providence, it is the very sins and weaknesses of our brothers and sisters that become the occasion of genuinely displaying the supernatural love of Christ.  Thus we must learn to look beyond the offense of our brother or sister, to the need of their soul.  We must seek to bless them with the patience and kindness of Christ.  None of us can do this on our own, but God gives us the power through His Holy Spirit.

 

Beloved, in this way God’s excellencies in Christ are all the more displayed through us (Eph. 3:8-10) , and the unity of His Spirit is all the more preserved among us (Eph. 4:1-3).  The process is often hard, difficult, and painful.  But oh, what wonderful fruit God bears for His glory, and the joy of His people (Jn. 15:8-11)!

 

I’m so grateful for each of you, and the privilege of growing in these matters together as a part of RCG!

Greg

Love.

Beloved, What is the essence of the church?  What is the heart of all ministry?  What makes a healthy church?  What makes a church powerful and fruitful in bearing witness for Christ among unbelievers?  What is it in the church that is always, absolutely essential, necessary, and indispensible?  What builds the church?

 

What is it that forgives and cleanses the sinner?  Heals the brokenhearted?  Lifts up the discouraged?  Rescues the wanderer?  Exhorts the rebellious?  Instructs the humble?  Bears with the stumbling?  Comforts the grieving?  Restores fractured relationships?  Encourages the fainthearted?  Cares for the struggling?  Strengthens the weak?  Maintains peace and unity in the church?  And on, and on, and on…

 

Here’s how the living, exalted, reigning Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ, answers all these questions:

 

LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE. 

 

John 13:34-35;  1 Cor. 13:1-13;  Heb. 13:1;  1 Pet. 4:7-11; 1 Jn. 3:11-18.

 

According to God’s Word, by the power of the Holy Spirit, for the glory of Jesus Christ!

 

I love you,

Greg