And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. –Philippians 1:9-11

 

Christianity is synonymous with love and good works. Everyone knows that those who call themselves the followers of Jesus ought to be loving and kind. Afterall Jesus did say that the world would know His followers by the love they show to one another. John 13:34-35.   JC Ryle in his book “Practical Religion” said “Love is righty called ‘the Queen of Christian graces’.  Everyone attaches being a Christian to being loving and rightly so.

Christians are commanded in scripture to love one another and to be loving towards others, even those termed “unlovable” by some. Being loving is so vital to the Christian walk that in 1Corinthians 13: 3, the Holy Spirit speaking though Paul says If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.  If showing Christian love to others is so important that it will profit me nothing to give my body to be burned without it, then we do need to explore what Christian love is. There seems to be a lot of confusion out there as to its nature.

There are those who equate Christian love with giving and helping those in need such as giving and volunteering at food banks, nursing homes, homeless shelters, etc. While doing all that is good and the Bible does command us to remember the poor and needy, the act of giving and helping the poor itself does not constitute Christian love.  1Cor 13:3 says a person could give all they have and even their lives but have no love. So being a philanthropic and giving person is not always a sign of being a loving person.

Others equate Christian love with the ability to always get along, never criticizing or pointing out the wrong of another person. Such people walk around saying “don’t judge”.  They see it as “unloving” and “unchristian” to criticize the erroneous/wrong doctrines being lived out in the lives of professing believers. They say we should just be nice to people and not be so harsh or judgmental.  Is this Christian love? The answer is, no. Both those who equate Christian love to philanthropic work and those who equate it to being nice are wrong. If so, what then is Christian love?

 

Niceness is not Christian love. Niceness is self-focused, people-pleasing and based on and driven by feelings and emotions. For the sake of being nice, people will and do sacrifice the truth. The Bible does not call us to be nice, but to be kind. Kindness is born out of the pursuit of holiness. The pursuit of holiness shows the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, this produces the fruit of Spirit of which kindness is one. Where the Holy Spirit is, Truth prevails.

 

While Christian love does include acts of goodwill like feeding the poor and taking care of the needy and being kind, feeling and emotions, Christian love is not driven nor based on feelings and emotions.  It is rooted and controlled by the knowledge of the word of God and discernment.  Writing to the Philippians, Paul prayed for their love to abound more in knowledge & discernment, which will lead them to make right and godly choices that will keep them pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Now we don’t normally think of love as something rooted and controlled by the Word of God & discernment and designed to make us pure for Christ, but Christian love is!

Philippians 1:9-11 – And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

The idea that being loving in a Christian way means never criticizing anyone’s sinful behavior or bad theology is not just wrong, it is ungodly. The most loving person that ever lived was Jesus. All through the scriptures, we never see Jesus flattering anyone or failing to denounce false doctrine and beliefs, neither do we ever see Him controlled by his emotions to the point where He fails to discern what is godly. He called sin when He saw it and called sinners and teachers of false doctrine to repentance.

Those who equate calling out sinful behavior as unloving are trying to be nice. Niceness is not Christian love.  Niceness is people pleasing, self-focused and based and driven by feelings and emotions. For the sake of being nice, people will and do sacrifice the truth. The Bible does not call us to be nice, but to be kind. Kindness is born out of the pursuit of holiness. The pursuit of holiness shows the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, this produces the fruit of the Spirit of which kindness is one. Where the Holy Spirit is, Truth prevails. A person bearing the fruit of kindness will perform acts of kindness with full knowledge of the word of God and will be discerning.

Philippians 1:9-11 teaches us that that ultimate goal of Christian love is not to make the world like us, but to make us more like Jesus.  The world will never like us. We are not of the world. The world hated Jesus.  He warned us, that because they hated Him, they will hate us also. John 15:18.  A love that increases in knowledge and discernment is a love that enable us “approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,”.

What will that look like in the everyday life of the believer?  This quote from JC Ryle in his book “Practical Religion” says it all:

The love of the Bible will show itself in a believer’s “readiness to bear” evil as well as to do good. It will make him patient under provocation, forgiving when injured, meek when unjustly attacked, quiet when slandered. It will make him bear much, put up with much and look over much, submit often and deny himself often, all for the sake of peace. It will make him control his temper, and check his tongue. True love is not always asking, “What are my rights? Am I treated as I deserve?” but, “How can I best promote peace? How can I do that which is most edifying to others?”

The love of the Bible will show itself in the “general spirit and demeanor” of a believer. It will make him kind, unselfish, good-natured, good-tempered, and considerate of others. It will make him gentle, friendly, and courteous, in all the daily relations of private life, thoughtful for others comfort, tender for other’s feelings, and more anxious to give pleasure than to receive.

True love never envies others when they prosper, nor rejoices in the calamities of others when they are in trouble. At all times it will believe, and hope, and try to put to good use the actions of others. And even at the worst, it will be full of pity, mercy, and compassion.

 

May the Lord help us to daily grow into the image of His son. Amen.

God bless.