As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
9But
you are not having a need [for us] to write to you concerning brotherly love,
for you yourselves are God-taught ones into the love (agape) of one another and
10for you are doing this into all the brothers in all of Macedonia.
But we are urging you, brothers, to abound more and more,
Hmmmm. I actually think these two little verses are a
bombshell … and I’m not sure what to do with it.
What do I mean? Note here Paul is commending the
Thessalonian church for their very evident love for each other and for all the
other believers in their country. Paul, and everyone else, could see this love.
It was observable and undeniable. Such love for each other was a characteristic
of not just the Thessalonians, but of the early church as a whole. One man
wrote, “In the second century the scoffing
Lucian declared: ‘It is incredible to see the ardour with which the people of
that religion help each other in their wants. They spare nothing. Their first
legislator has put it into their heads that they are all brethren.’”
What is bothering me is that neither Paul’s words in I Thess
4:9,10, nor the “scoffing” Lucian’s are true at all anywhere today (at least in America, which is the only
country I know). Where is it true that believers are known for their love for
each other?
I have long been convinced that in Jesus’ words to the
church at Ephesus, “You’ve left your first love,” He was actually not speaking
of their love for Him, but for each other.
I know the entire church today, it would seem, preaches, teaches, sings about,
and is quite convinced that those words in Rev 2:4 refer to Christians having
lost their “first love” for Christ. But, if we let the Bible speak for itself,
and ask the question, “What was the ‘first love’ of the Ephesians,” then go
back to the book of Ephesians, we find the only love specifically mentioned was
their love for each other.
In America, I’m afraid we have not “left” our first love
(for each other), we never had it!
Where can we go today to find Christians who are actually
known, even among unbelievers, for their love for each other? In all my life, I’ve never seen anything even remotely resembling
such a thing. Churches are all about their services, about busy things they
call “ministries,” about their “positions” on important doctrinal issues or, in
the public arena, moral issues. But where could Lucian look today that would
move him to say, “It is incredible to see
the ardour with which the people of that religion help each other in their
wants...”?
Paul’s admonition to the Thessalonians is to do so “more and
more.” What about us who never started?
Frankly, it makes my head spin.
Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that you are My
disciples, if you love one another.”
John later wrote, “We know that we have passed from death to
life, because we love the brothers.
Anyone who does not love remains in death”
(I John 3:14).
Yikes!
Where it all circles back to, of course, is my own heart. I
have to ask the question, “Am I any different?” I don’t think anyone would say
of me, “See how much he loves other Christians!!?”
How can this be? How can we truly know God and love Jesus
and be so utterly devoid of what He says is the most basic outward evidence of
His presence in our lives?
In Zeph 3:17, it says, “The
Lord your God in the midst of you is
mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest in His
love, He will joy over you with singing.” I wonder if, at the root of it
all, the problem is that we don’t see each other through those eyes? The Lord “joys”
over His people “with singing.” That is not only talking about me, but about
every single other person who is a believer. Do I see them that way? Are they “precious”
in my sight?
Hmmmmm. I suspect there is some really deep festering I need
the Lord to help me see and change. God in Heaven, help me to see the sin in my
heart and repent of it. I can’t change anyone else, but at least change me.
Yikes!
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