Tag Archives: Love

living a good life and being kind to others…

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WordPress.com has a number of different posts that pop up each day. They are either the most popular or the ones that are deemed to be good or thought-provoking or something. Today, one entitled “Raising a churchless child” caught my attention so i had a quick look over it and at a few of the comments.

In the opening paragraph there are a few statements which simply sum up not only the writer’s thoughts on God but probably sum up what most people general think these days:

In the end, shouldn’t we be good people because it’s just the right thing to do, independent of judgment from on high?  And any God who might be out there… wouldn’t he/she/it be rather pleased I’ve lived a good life and been kind to others?  There’s just something about the notion of an all-powerful being who will punish me for not believing despite the quality of my life that seems a little… self serving?  Narcissistic?

Considering that this week has had an emphasis on the legalism of the Pharisees i thought this was quite relevant. This kind of talk pretty much hits the nail on the head, “As long we are good people then that will surely be OK. As long as i am nice to my friends and the people around me then i shouldn’t get punished for that”. This is what a typical religious person, or in this case, agnostic person, may believe what church and Christianity is all about. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

There can’t be one person living on the whole planet that can say that they have lived a good life the whole time, that they have been good the whole time, that they have never done anything wrong to another person, have never looked down on someone, got angry with someone, lusted after someone. It is a false assumption to say that generally being good to people our whole lives will be fine with our Maker.

It is a false assumption b/c the way in which we measure ourselves is different to the way in which God measures us. The Pharisees believed that if they kept all the Law that they would be fine, that they were doing God’s will and that they were going to be accepted because of what they had fulfilled. In the same way, believing that we are going to be accepted through being “good people” is like being a Pharisee. It is reliant on our own works, our own achievements and our own actions.

The good news for us, for the world, is that it is not through our own actions that we are accepted by God. It is through Jesus, and his death and resurrection. For, it is only through his actions that it has been made possible to find acceptance by God. Having faith in Jesus and believing that he took the punishment for our “bad” not only brings us into acceptance but also shows the incredible love and grace that God gives. Rather than being “punished for not believing” one is actually accepted through love.

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Love & Respect by Emerson Eggerichs

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loveandrespectEmerson Eggerichs, Love & Respect: The love she most desires, the respect he desperately needs (303 pages, Nashville, USA: Thomas Nelson), 2004.

Within the first three chapters Dr. Emerson Eggerichs will captivate your attention. It is within these early pages of his book that he describes the main premise of his book. That being, based on Ephesians 5:33, husbands are to unconditionally love their wives and wives to unconditionally respect their husbands. It is within this context that Eggerichs explains how he has developed theoretical and practical solutions surrounding communication and relationship problems within a relationship/marriage.

The book is based on Scriptural principles, particularly this one passage from Ephesians. It would be highly recommended for married couples, engaged couples or anyone in a relationship. Eggerichs’ gives illustrations from his ministry both in the pastorate and counselling as well as letting us in on how others have reacted to his teaching. Eggerichs’  focuses a lot of his attention on communication and the way both the man and woman’s brain works and comprehends things. It gives a good insight into the opposite sex which will helpfully explain a lot of things!

It seems that from the turn of the millennium he has been teaching this love & respect at various conferences and the like and this book is the summary of that teaching. It is a good book and I will be recommending it to friends and also my wife.

3/5.

Unity

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The following post is something i am thinking about sending into The Witness, the monthly Victorian Baptist magazine. I’m not sure if it’ll make the cut but thought it would be good to post here anyway.

Unity seems to be something which is hard to find in the church today. Well, maybe it’s always been hard to find, church history seems to suggest so too. It’s surprising isn’t it; one would think that the church would be the one place that is united.

If we look outside the church there are plenty of things that unite people. Football unites supporters like nothing else here in Melbourne, but sport in general does that in almost every nation (let’s not mention the Ashes). Community events show a united people, look no further than Black Saturday and the out-pouring of unity that has come from that. But we could also think of book clubs, favourite cafes, the RSL, the local lawn bowls club and the like. Being part of a community, being part of a family brings unity and commonality.

In recent months I have been pondering unity within the church. It’s been hard to nail and hard to find. If we are honest with ourselves we must recognise that there is a wealth of disagreement that occurs within the church. These may be things such as where the pulpit should be placed when one is preaching to the ways in which we reach our community with the Gospel to the various theological positions our members have. Differences occur, they are bound to, but quite often they cause disunity rather than mutual encouragement and respect.

While on holiday a couple of months ago I read volume one of Arnold Dallimore’s biography of George Whitefield. Whitefield was a preacher who spread the Gospel throughout the UK and America in the 18th century. He was one of the first to preach outdoors, outside the church building, and for his day this was radical. Instead of avoiding such “corner preaching” like the plague, which we tend to do, Whitefield was able to preach to tens of thousands at a time. What impressed me most about his character was the way in which he tried to be unified with other believers. Wherever he went he would first stop by the local church or parish and in his theological disputes with John Wesley he continued to pray and hold him up as a brother in Christ. Whitefield modelled what I believe many in the church today miss, unity.

Paul speaks no better about unity than in 1 Corinthians 12 & 13. Beginning with the illustration of the church being one body with many parts he moves on to the most crucial point regarding unity, love. While one may be particularly enamoured by the passage regarding love in 1 Cor 13 it actually stems out of Paul’s thinking regarding unity and the body of Christ. It is love which is most central to unity, it is love which is most central to Paul and it is love which is most central to our faith. It is the “more excellent way” (4:31). Christians are to be marked by love and to be unified by love.

That love is best expressed when we head to the cross. That sacrificial, God-exalting, sinner-redeeming love is most clearly seen through Jesus’ death and unifies all believers to love others rather than themselves.

Why is it that churches split, that conflict occurs, that disunity abounds? It is because there is no Christ-like love. Why does a supporter of a footy team actively go to all the matches and buy the team scarf? Why does a community rally in the face of adversity? Why does unity occur? It is because there is love.

“Unity through diversity” seems to be the catch-cry at the moment but perhaps unity through love might be a better way to put it. Through the cross of Christ and the love of Christ unity is at its peak.

Compelled by Love by Ed Stetzer and Philip Nation

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CompelledbyLoveEd Stetzer and Philip Nation, Compelled by Love: The most excellent way to missional living (211 pages, Birmingham, USA: New Hope Publishers), 2008.

In three parts Stetzer and Nation write about the love of God, the love of the church and the love of believers. The primary and central point of this book is love. It challenges and opens-wide the readers imagination as to what love really means, both from Christ’s perspective and our living-it-out perspective.

In each part and then in each chapter the centrality of the cross is shown to be the essence of love. God’s love is shown through the cross, the church is identified by love, founded on the cross, and the believer is living in love through the power of the cross.

I think this is one of the best books i have read all year. It was challenging and convicting as it showed me the way of love. It highlighted how far the church today has drifted from its purpose to love God and love their neighbour. Through sound exposition and poignant illustration Compelled by Love encourages one to think how central love is in their life.

At the end of each chapter there are a handful of discussion questions which could be used individually or as a group/mentoring type study. They are insightful and challenging questions based on what has been said in the chapter. I think much can be garnered from each chapter as one stops to think about what they just read.

With a focus on Jesus and a focus on being missional this book is an excellent resource and an excellent word to the church (individually and corporately) today. 9/10.