The Kingdom of God and Love

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not [love], I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not [love], I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not [love], it profiteth me nothing" (I Cor. 13:1-4). As Jesus said to Martha after telling her that those who believe in him would never die, "Believest thou this?" (Jn. 11:26) Well, if we don't believe the apostle Paul in regard to our text passage from the great 'love' chapter, let's check in with Jesus on this issue: "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Mat. 7:21-23). To more perfectly tie this passage in with our opening passage, the word 'iniquity' actually means 'lawlessness.' That would be lawlessness to the law of God, and we are told in the scripture, "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13:10). So those who will stand before Jesus on the day of judgment and remind him of the spiritual gifts that they operated in, and are told by him to depart his presence because he did not know them; were in fact not known to him because of their lack of love that they conducted their lives in. So in God's eyes, being loveless is the same thing as being lawless, because his law IS love. Jesus did not know these people for the simple reason that they did not make it their business to know him, and to that the scriptures also agree: "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love" (I Jn. 4:8).

Please allow me to say that I couldn't care less about what spiritual gifts someone operates in, or what knowledge someone may possess, or even how much faith someone may have. But what I DO care about, and more importantly what GOD cares about, is how much do you CARE about your fellow man, and especially the brotherhood in Christ? That will surely be the tale of the tape when all men stand before God to be judged according to the deeds of their lives. Jesus made that point abundantly clear when speaking of the judgment (Mat. 25:31-46). As part of that passage says, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not... And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal" (Mat. 25:41-43,46). As we have already seen graphically illustrated by the scriptures, there will be many at the judgment who seemed to have good deeds, but if those deeds were not motivated by the love of God they will be worthless. For too long I have seen too much focus by many believers on things like 'church' service, 'ministry,' spiritual gifts and the like; but too little focus on, and demonstration of loving the next person as Peter said, "with a pure heart fervently" (I Pet. 1:22). A thousand books could be written just to cover this subject from all angles and through all facets, but I would like to just point a couple things that earmark someone who has love. If we are motivated by the love of God then we are going to be more interested in listening to someone else's problems than to tell our own. In fact the love of God in someone's life will condition them to be more minded to listen than to talk, and the scriptures say the same: "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil" (Eccl. 5:1).

When someone is always wanting to dominate conversation, and the conversation never seems to be about the other person or people present, that is not motivated by love. If we just like to tell what we know, or think we know, and talk about what God is doing in our lives; but never really want to know what someone else knows or what God is doing in their lives, then I say again that is not motivated by love. The biggest thing on love's mind is how to edify someone else. The scripture also clearly shows this to be the case: "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others" (Philip. 2:3,4). Make no mistake, the love of God most assuredly operates in spiritual gifts and has knowledge, but if someone only seems to want to tell what they know and how they are moving in spiritual gifts, that does not come from love. Love and humility are inseparable twins, and as the great love chapter tells us, "Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up" (I Cor. 13:4). We need to let the horse pull the cart instead of the cart trying to pull the horse, and it is certain that love is the horse of the Gospel, not spiritual gifts or knowledge. As far as service and ministry, which are the same thing actually, let's not be like the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan, and forget our true appointment to ministry; which is to care for the needs of the needy (Lk. 10:30-32). Anyway, these are just a few things that we can think about that can help prepare us for the day when we carry the testimony of our lives and deeds to the place of no return. May God bless.