Category: Discipleship

How does a disciple of Christ live “in” the world but not be “of” the world…associate but not assimilate… separate but not isolate?  Are we a counter-culture or a multi-culture?  These are questions that believers have wrestled with over millennia and should be wrestling with today.

I’m not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one (John 17:15) 

“Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN” (2Corinthians 6:17). 

In the inner testament period leading up to the incarnation of Christ, Jews both in Palestine and throughout the diaspora (Roman world), wrestled with the tension of relevance and righteousness… distinctiveness and assimilation. 

Jews dispersed throughout the predominately Greco-Roman culture spoke Greek, read their Torah in Greek (Septuagint) at their synagogue, went to the gymnasium and read Homer.  They followed the teaching of the prophets to work for the peace of their host country.  At the same time the Jews in Palestine spoke Aramaic (a dialect of Hebrew), read their Bible only in Hebrew, and resisted the Hellenistic culture.

At the time of Christ within Palestine there were four main expressions (sects) of assimilation vs separation.  They are described by the historian Josephus.

1.  Zealots – Liberation Expression

Descended from the Maccabees, the zealots were a militant sect that advocated loyalty to the Torah and Jewish control of the religious and political systems.  Zealots would periodically break out in physical violence against Rome in an attempt to gain both religious and political control. 

2.  Essenes – Isolation Expression

Like the Qumran community around the Dead Sea, Essenes withdrew from culture altogether.  Their expression was to live an isolated righteous life as far from cultural corruption as possible.  They would not be contaminated by the world nor would they try to influence it.

3.  Sadducees – Accommodation Expression

The sect of the Sadducees were mostly made up of the aristocracy and ruling party of the Jews.  They were connected with the Temple and the Sanhedrin (Jewish court) and their philosophy was “to get along you need to go along”.  Their expression was one of accommodation and cooperation with the Hellenistic culture.

4.  Pharisees – Separation Expression

The Pharisees were made up of the common people who held to both the written Law (Torah) and the oral law.  They separated themselves from both the Roman/Hellenistic culture and any Jew who didn’t follow their particular practice of tradition.

Into that milieu of expressions came Jesus, the Christ.  He didn’t fit into any of the above.  He demonstrated a different expression He called the kingdom which He described in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 – 7). 

So today, how do we live a lifestyle that is both counter-cultural and relevant? 

As I reflect on growing up in America, I didn’t anticipate that there would be much difference between kingdom values and my own country’s values.  By in-large the culture of my immediate surroundings was similar to the kingdom values I found in Scripture.  To be sure, the culture didn’t always live by those values but at least they were acknowledged as valuable.

Today, much like the first century Christians living under Roman rule, I am increasingly aware that to follow Christ is to live counter-culturally.  I should not be surprised but I thought that it would only happen “to them” or “out there” …whatever that means.

As I wrestle with how to think and behave as a citizen of God’s kingdom while living in the world’s kingdom, I have to start by asking which kingdom has priority.  One is permanent and invisible while the other is temporal and tangible.  It takes the lens of faith to hold to what is real yet unseen even though the tangible seems more “modern and scientific”. 

In the early centuries of Christianity, Christ followers were often viewed as detrimental to the glory of Rome.  They were disloyal citizens since they claimed allegiance to another God, refused to participate in pagan civic rituals, and talked of a life in another realm.  As a tiny minority they were often marginalized and at times persecuted for living counter-culturally. 

However, when they eventually became the majority, the new challenge was to live Christ’s kingdom values from a platform of power and influence.  Unfortunately, history tells us they did not do it well.  There was hypocrisy, coercion, and persecution.  Too often there was little difference between the culture of the dominate empire and the dominate church…accept they dressed differently.

Sadly we do not do it well either.  I am embarrassed by my failure and the failure of my fellow Christians to live out His kingdom values.  In addition, all too often we condemn others by a standard we ourselves fail to keep.  Jesus warned us about removing the log from our own eyes before trying to remove the splinter from the eyes of others.  Duplicity undermines credibility. 

The challenge of discipleship in our current country is to live a counter cultural kingdom lifestyle courageously, humbly, and persistently without having a position of authority, majority rule, or even appreciation and affirmation.   

Questions for reflection

1.  Which of the four Jewish expressions above do you more closely align?

2.  How do you see Jesus demonstrating aspects of each one?

At Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on Dec 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made history when they flew a heavier-than-air machine 120 feet (less than the wingspan of many modern aircraft).  That event opened a new perspective that changed our lives forever.  We were no longer confined to the surface of the earth under the control gravity:  we could fly.  Travel in space became a real possibility.

During the Enlightenment, pioneers like Newton and Bernoulli discovered another law:  the law of lift.  The new law of lift didn’t eliminate the old law of gravity, but it countered it.  This new law simply states that if air passes over a certain shape, an upward force is created, causing the shape—and whatever is connected to it—to lift into that exhilarating space dimension.  The law explains why gliders and jumbo jets fly and rocks do not. 

Living in two dimensions (as we do on Earth) illustrates living in the natural world without God.  In this reality, spiritual gravity (sin) distorts the beauty of the two dimensional and makes everyone a prisoner of it.  However, lift (the gospel or the Spirit of life) sets Christians free from the limitations and penalty of gravity to now live in the added spiritual dimension.

Paul explains this concept in Romans 8:1-2:  “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”

More than one hundred years ago, Edwin Abbott wrote Flatland, an allegory that shows how difficult it is to comprehend a new dimension.  Flatland is a world of two dimensional geometric shapes and living there is like living on the top of a table.  There is length and width, but no height.  The allegory is told through the eyes of Mr. Square: a scholarly and respectable gentleman.

One day Mr. Square meets Mr. Sphere who is from a three dimensional world.  In their curious conversation, the sphere insists that there are three dimensions not just two.  As a sphere, this character knows about length and width but also height.  From his third dimension of height, the sphere explains that he can see “down” into the homes of Flatland—something the square cannot fathom, grasp, understand, or even accept as true.

Finally, out of frustration, Mr. Sphere picks up Mr. Square and lifts him up into the 3^rd dimension so he can actually look down.  Shazam!  He gets it. 

The allegory continues as Mr. Square is placed back down into Flatland and he now tries to explain his new found experience to those still trapped in 2-Dimensions.  Abbot wrote his book to attack the social structures of his day.  Einstein read it frequently to support his belief that there are more dimensions than our traditional four…perhaps even up to ten in the cosmos. 

Years ago I read Flatland to help me understand how my own journey to faith was much like Mr. Square.  Jesus came to us squares as a sphere.  And, like the sphere in Flatland, He not only describes life in 3-D, but also offers to lift us up and allow us to experience its reality and even be transformed to actually fit into the 3-D kingdom of God.

Interestingly, God originally designed humans as three dimensional—spiritual beings.  But the human 3-D experience was short-lived.  As a result of the fall, we lost our spiritual dimension and became trapped in two dimensions (Genesis 3).  The vacuum left in the human heart calls out for this missing dimension as Solomon says, “He has set eternity in their hearts” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  The gospel message of the kingdom is that we can be reborn to discover the lost dimension.  What was lost in the first Adam is reestablished in Jesus Christ. 

Some seek what’s missing through self-effort.  But self-effort is really only a spiritual pogo stick.  When I was in grade school, the pogo stick was as popular as the skateboard is today.  We even had square dance lessons on pogo sticks in PE class.  Kids loved this experience so much they would hop around like kangaroos trying to set world records for jumping endurance.  Why?  Because when skillfully used a pogo stick could put you into the third dimension for a couple of seconds.  However, it could never sustain the break with gravity.

In the same way, self-effort alone can only offer short-lived breaks from spiritual gravity. Only true discipleship can supernaturally break the pull of spiritual gravity.  Yet when Jesus announced that the transformational third dimension of the kingdom of God was at hand, the Jews would not believe it.  They were looking for a complete release from the push-and-pull associated with two-dimensional life.  They simply wanted a more comfortable life in their 2-D world — an expectation that persists among Christians today.

However, comfort in our 2-D world is not the goal of 3-D living as evidenced by the fact that even those closest to Christ then, as well as now, experience pain, suffering and loss.   Rather the goal is spiritual transformation to be like Christ.           

Learning to live in but not of this world, is the challenge and the adventure of discipleship on the resurrection side of the cross is learning how to experience our 2-D world through the lens of our new, 3-D, spiritual dimension.  We don’t escape (yet) the pull of gravity, but we can have freedom from its control.

“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.  Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.  For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3).

Questions for reflection

1.  What makes living with all three dimensions difficult for you?

2.  How do we make our new third dimension our primary/priority dimension? 

Taken from Intentional Disciplemaking, p 37-39

Stomach ulcers were on the rise in the mid 1900’s, causing intense pain, bleeding, and even death.  The medical community discovered that ulcers indicated a high level of stomach acid.  The solution seemed obvious… reduce the acid and you will eliminate ulcers.  So doctors prescribed a regiment of drugs, bland diets, and bed rest to reduce stress.  (I am trying to imagine an ulcerated CEO staying in bed to reduce his stress.)

Millions of dollars and frustrated people later the problem didn’t go away.  In 1982 two doctors from Australia looked outside the box and discovered that although acid did cause ulcers, the cause of the acid was not food or stress but a bacteria.  An antibiotic got rid of the bacteria, the acid went away, and ulcers healed or didn’t develop.  The problem was solved overnight.  No more acid meds or bland food…just a dose of the appropriate antibiotic…ulcers gone!

There is a basic principle that says a proximity (related) issue may not be the causal (root) issue.  Stomach acid and ulcers were closely related, but acid was not the causal issue, bacteria was. 

An incorrect cause leads to an ineffective solution.

Most people would acknowledge that humanity has an “ulcer”:  war, injustice, unrest, suicide, greed, etc.  But what is the cause?  When we choose a proximity issue rather than the root issue, our solutions are like giving antacid medicine to a man with an ulcer.  It may relieve the pain temporarily, but not cure the problem.

Evangelical Christianity often expresses man’s problem with terms like lost, gone astray, selfishness, immorality, “missing the mark”, disobedience, etc.  There is no question…the Bible teaches all of these are true and universal (Rom. 3:23).  But could these terms represent proximity issues and not the real cause?  Isaiah described the issue as:

“All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own” (Isa 53:6).

Paul quotes the prophets when he writes, “There is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside” (Rom 3:11-12).

Certainly our sins (breaking the moral code of God = criminal) is a problem with devastating consequences.  But our sins are like the acid in the stomach…serious, even fatal, but not the cause of our problem.  The root cause of ulcers is bacteria.  So what is our spiritual “bacteria”?  Unless we assess the true root cause of the ulcers in our lives, we will never effectively solve the problem either personally, socially, or spiritually.

The causal issue is Sin not sins.  “Sin” (or original sin as theologians call it) is not a new concept to most evangelical believers.  Adam’s sin was more than disobedience (ate the fruit); more than embezzlement (using God’s creation for his own selfish ends).  It was the choice to rule himself rather than to submit to God’s rule.  Adam not only gave us a model of disobedience, he gave us the DNA of rebellion against God’s authority.  We are all born into the kingdom of darkness with its rebellion against God and we live each day affirming our own complicity.  Refusing to submit to God as our Creator and Lord, we join in the conflict of rebellion against the Creator, and proclaim our own authority to determine what is right and wrong.

St Augustine of Hippo, writing in the fifth century wrestled with the biblical view of humanity’s “causal” problem.  Augustine believed that man has not simply lost his way (Greek philosophy), but he has lost his orientation and submission to God.  Mankind has replaced the worship of God with the worship of self as specifically expressed by self-rule (Roman 1).

The early church proclaimed a gospel message that addressed this issue.  It was not only a gospel of forgiveness but of transfer from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.  This gospel required not only belief in Christ but repentance:  turning from self-governance to God’s authority.  We are certainly sinners, law breakers who violate the moral code of God (criminals), but that is simply a symptom not the cause.  The cause (“bacteria”) is a rebellious heart.  Rebellion against God is in our DNA and apart from Christ, we live as rebels in the kingdom of rebellion (darkness).  

Jesus Christ came to set us free from the Kingdom of darkness and the hold our rebellious DNA has on us. 

“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:13-14). 

Rejecting God’s authority is the “bacteria” making us and our society sick.  If our gospel doesn’t deal with our root problem, then it isn’t good news, it is only an antacid.  We may outwardly live a better moral life, enjoy our forgiveness, and anticipate heaven, but still live with the bacteria unless we repent by rejecting self-rule and submitting to God’s-rule in our daily lives.

Discipleship on the resurrection side of the cross teaches us how to live a life submitted to and aligned with Christ.  Apprenticeship to Christ is essential for all the forgiven citizens of His kingdom.

Questions for reflection:

1.  Is rebellion too strong a word?  Compare and contrast it with words such as lost, sinners, and disobedient.

2.  How do the following fit with our discussion of proximity and causal issues?

 “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God” (Isa 59:1-2).

 “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners” (Rom 5:19).

Board games may be going the way of the dinosaur, but Monopoly will always be the icon of the genre.  One version of the origin of the game goes something like this:

Living at the time of the Great Depression, Charles Darrow was jobless.  Sitting around the family table at night with lots of time on his hands, he came up with an idea for a new family game.  Cutting out a large cardboard square, he lined the perimeter with names of streets that were connected to Atlantic City’s Boardwalk, added some railroads, dice, buttons, and some hand-carved houses and hotels…along with the illusive bank that never ran out….the game of Monopoly was born.

His neighborhood friends enjoyed playing it so much that Charles took his idea to Parker Brothers hoping to sell it.  After a corporate evaluation they rejected it saying it would never sell because it violated 52 guidelines for a good “family game” including it should not take more than 45 minutes to play and the winner should be decided after one trip around the board.

Now some 90+ years later, over 200 million copies have sold worldwide.  Monopoly is the most popular board came of the 20th century with multiple versions and advertising schemes. 

Reflecting on the popularity of the game I’ve pondered why it has been so successful.  To the original generation it was obvious.  It offered a fun way to pass the time; it provided a dream of getting out of the poverty of the depression.  I grew up playing the game with neighborhood friends to pass the long dreary winters in Iowa.  Our games could last for days depending on how much real life cheating and scheming went on.

But why has it been so popular in succeeding generations and even overseas?  Then it hit me.  It captured what we normally think of as success.  Where else can you go and in a few hours (days) live in a world where you can:

• Get rich

• Bankrupt your competition and

• Dominate the world?

In Monopoly success is defined by how many possessions (money and property) you can acquire with little responsibility for charitable giving (Community Chest).   Round and round you go in strategic pursuit of the “good life” of accumulating wealth, avoiding jail and rent.  Monopoly is a metaphor of the life we are born into where the prevailing assumption is that success and happiness are found in what we achieve and acquire. 

Writing in the 5^th century, St. Augustine recognized the world’s “game of life” is the result of original sin and the human desire to control, possess, and dominate, whether by ruling an empire or controlling a family.  However, the gospel offers another way to live in this fallen world.  It is the way to freedom:  a transference from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His Son (Col. 1:13).  In his treatise, The City of God, Augustine saw the Christian faith as a new way of life, spiritually living in the City of God while physically living in the city of the world.  The former is primary and eternal and the later secondary and temporal. 

Unfortunately, the Christian faith often seems to be little more than a “get out of jail free” card acquired when landing on “Chance” during one our many trips around the board.   We simply store our “get out of hell free” card among our possessions with the plan to pull it out when the time comes.  Rather than our faith being a transfer from one kingdom to another, it is more like an addition to our current life.  We may even exchange church and Bible study for Baltic and Mediterranean since they have minimum value anyway.  Essentially life goes on much the same as it always did and faith becomes syncretistic:  a futile attempt to live by two opposing worldviews. 

Repentance and belief in the gospel is not designed to be an “add on” but to lift us out of our 2-dimensional, treadmill world into a 3-dimensional experience with Christ and His kingdom.  The gospel defines our new reality through the lens of faith…more like 3-D Monopoly!  (Maybe someone will invent a 3-D Christian Monopoly game.  Hey, there is already a 3-D Scrabble!).

In the kingdom of light our success is not measured in what we accomplish or possess, but in WHO we know!  Contrary to our view of eternal life as a condo in heaven with a lake or ocean view, Jesus said eternal life is all about knowing Him:

And this is eternal life that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent (John 17:3). 

In Matthew’s record of the “Sermon on the Mount”, Jesus gives a clear warning. 

Not everyone who calls out to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of My Father in heaven will enter.  On judgment day many will say to Me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in Your name and cast out demons in Your name and performed many miracles in Your name.’  But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from Me, you who break God’s laws‘ (Mat 7:21-23 NLT).

Our faith does not remove us from living in a Monopoly world, but it should free us from playing the game in the same way.  It should add a new dimension of reality that is intentionally developed through a lifestyle of apprenticeship/discipleship to Christ and His kingdom.

Questions for reflection:

1.  What other similarities does Monopoly have with life in the current world system?

2.  How should adding a third spiritual dimension change how we live in a 2-D world?  What does not change?

Speedbumps, potholes, and detours are common hazards on almost every trip.  We usually don’t plan on them, but then again neither are we surprised when they show up.  Each one has a unique way of altering our plans.   Each one is there for a different reason and requires a particular response. 

Speedbumps are not accidental but intentionally placed for the purpose of slowing traffic.  They are usually in places where we need to be more attentive to our surroundings.  Residential neighborhoods often install them to protect children especially after discovering that speed limit signs are ineffective.  

The inconvenience of speedbumps often irritates me.  They slow me down and mess with my schedule.  I usually question the sanity of the city planners as I calculate how fast I can go without doing damage to my car.

Our spiritual journey also has speedbumps, potholes, and detours.  I think life’s speedbumps are designed to slow us down and force us to pay attention to what is going on around us.  In a culture in which fast is good and faster is better, we are in danger of running over or through the very people we should be slowing down for.  When spiritual signs like “Reduce Speed Ahead” don’t work, we need a few speedbumps.  They force us to slow down, look around, and proceed with caution.  That is good advice at any age.

I think Abigail was a speedbump for David’s fast paced passion for revenge (1 Sam. 25).  David having been rebuffed by Nabal (a rich, stingy rancher), sets out on a path of justice (revenge).  Abigail, Nabal’s wife, intercepts David and graciously challenges his thinking.  She was a speedbump that allowed David to slow down, gain perspective, and alter his actions.  He could have ignored the warning but only to his peril. 

“Faithful are the wounds (speedbumps) of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy” (Prov. 27:6).

Events, people, even circumstances can act as speedbumps warning us to slow down and proceed with caution.  If we have faith that God is directing our journey, speedbumps can be signs of His presence.  Maybe we have ignored the slow down signs and our loving Father would rather we get bounced in our seat than cause an accident.

Potholes, on the other hand, are not there to warn us but to damage us.  Potholes can appear when we least expect them.  Living in Missouri we should always expect them, but sometimes we don’t see them until it’s too late.  Ignored potholes can do major damage, especially if we are traveling at a high rate of speed.  Potholes are to be avoided.  When I was learning to drive and hit a pothole, my dad would say, “Son, that’s what your steering wheel is for”.

I liken potholes to moral temptations.  In the fifth century St Augustine taught that evil is a distortion of good.  Potholes are a distortion of the roadway and temptation is a distortion of the truth.  Both giving into temptation and hitting potholes in the road should be avoided by steering around them.

Paul’s warning to Timothy was to “flee from youthful lusts” (2 Tim. 2:27).  Don’t pretend they are not there; don’t ignore them; don’t drive over them.  If a road is notorious for potholes, find another route!  Solomon wrote, “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.  Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away” (Prov. 4:14-15).  Unfortunately, Solomon disregarded his own advice.

Detours are yet another travel hazard.  Unlike speedbumps, detours can be a major disruption to our plans.  Speedbumps can momentarily affect us, but detours can last a lifetime.  Detour signs may give the reason for the course change like “bridge out” or “sink hole ahead”, but often they don’t.  We are simply forced to alter our plans, take a different road, and drive around on some inconvenient secondary road with no immediate explanation.

It seems to me that there are three major reasons God puts up detour signs in our lives.  The first is to avoid major trouble ahead.  In this case, God in His wisdom does not give us a choice but redirects our route to keep us safe.  We would welcome the warning if we could see life from His perspective, but that rarely happens.   

I remember a detour in my career path that at the time seemed senseless and unfair.  I felt that management was sending me on a path to nowhere.  Years later I became aware that there was a “bridge out” that I could not see.  God used the “unfair” decisions of people to create a detour for my safety.

A second reason for detours is to see landscapes we would have missed.  When we are intently focused on “getting there” (whatever “there” is), freeways and interstates are the logical choice.  But there is so much we miss from the interstate.  Detours have a unique way of taking us places we would not have chosen to go, showing us scenery we would have missed.  God’s detours have a way of saying, “Look around.  You have not been here before.  Don’t miss the experience.”

A third reason God sends us on detours is to redirect our plans.  I had graduated with a degree in engineering and was hired by Boeing Aircraft in Seattle to help design the new 747 jumbo jet.  The interstate led from Iowa to Washington.  I prayed about it, the road was clear, and I set out…until I hit the “detour” sign.  The military draft during that period took me off my freeway and into territory I would not have chosen.  In fact, there were several detours during that period of my life that caused me to hang onto God’s promise in Proverbs 3:5-6:

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean (rely) on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” 

I noticed that the verse did not say “don’t use your understanding”, but it did say don’t rely on it. After several detours my path led me to a career I had never considered an option.  The detour changed my compass heading and took me on a whole new adventure.  Thank you, Father, for the uncomfortable detours that protect and guide me along my journey of faith.

On the resurrection side of the cross we need to slow down for speedbumps, avoid potholes, and welcome detours. 

Questions for reflection:

1.  Describe a time when a life speedbump made you slow down.

2.  Think of a detour in your life that took you places you had not planned on.  What did you see?

The power and the manner in which we love others is rooted in our personal experience of God’s love.  His love enables us to understand what real love means and empowers us to put it into practice.  We are not the source of love but the reflectors of God’s iridescent love.

Jesus said one mark of discipleship is loving others.  He even called it a new commandment.

“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other” (John 13:34; 15:12).

What made this commandment new was not the substance (love people) but the model.  In the Old Testament the model was self-love:  loving others as we love ourselves.  Since we are conspicuously self-centered, self-absorbed, and narcissistic, self-love applied to others seems like a very high standard.  However, Jesus modeled a much higher standard: love in the way He loves.  Only by the transforming power of the gospel are we set free to go beyond self-love to Christ-like love. 

In TAD Blogs 44-47 we have been discussing the four ways God’s iridescent love is expressed to us and how we are to respond to each one.  Now we go a step further and look at how to love others in those same ways.  Principle: we are commanded to love others but not everyone in the same way.

1.  Loving others with the creative sustaining love of God.

This form of love is expressed to everyone without merit and without conditions.  It is the kind of love Jesus refers to in the “Sermon on the Mount”.  

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.  (44)  But I say, love your enemies! [Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you.] Pray for those who persecute you!  (45)  In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For He gives His sunlight to both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike” (Matt. 5:43-45). 

This form of love is demonstrated by benevolent acts of kindness without regard to merit or visible reward.  This expression of love shines brightest when the recipient is notably unworthy as it radiates grace and mercy. 

2.  Loving others with individual redemptive love

The love of God through the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross, is the ultimate example of redemptive love.  So how do we express His redemptive love to others?  Consider three ways as a starting point:

• As ambassadors sharing the gospel of reconciliation.  We are to boldly model and share the narrative of God’s redemptive love in Christ.   

• As forgivers of those who seek our forgiveness.  Peter asked the critical question, “How many times should we forgive?”  Jesus response gives several guidelines (Luke 17:3-4):

• As forgivers of those who seek our forgiveness.  Peter asked the critical question, “How many times should we forgive?”  Jesus response gives several guidelines (Luke 17:3-4):

1.  If your brother sins, rebuke him.

2.  If he repents, forgive him.

3.  If he sins seven times in the day and turns to you (meaning repents), forgive him seven times.

Another way to offer forgiveness is by not taking offense in the first place.  Too often our “injustice” detector is way too sensitive.  In the classic description of love, Paul tells us to intentionally choose not to be offended. 

“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,

does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered“ (1 Cor. 13:4-5).

We can offer redemptive love to a lot of people if we can learn to let it go, to absorb it by not taking offense.

• As peacemakers who bring harmony.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:9).

People who love others this way seek opportunities to bring people together.  They take a personal risk in order to reduce friction, bring perspective, and foster dialogue.  Peacemakers lower the temperature in the room and radiate hope.  They don’t suppress friction or ignore it, but their attitude and words of encouragement can provide an atmosphere that calms the storm.

3.  Loving others with a covenant family love

“Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God” (1 John 3:1).

John is referring to the covenant family love of the Father.  This love was not extended to humanity in general but to God’s family.  It was the special kind of love He offered Israel as His chosen people.  God did not love all nations or people equally.   In the New Testament Jesus’ “new command” focused on the “one another”.  John calls it loving the family of faith (I John 4:11).  

An example would be Paul’s collection of money for saints in Jerusalem during a famine.  It was specifically for the saints in Jerusalem who were suffering.  The believers were not the only ones affected, but the collection from the churches in Asia Minor was designated to support the family of faith in Jerusalem.

This is not to say that love should be exclusive, but loving both our physical and spiritual family is a priority.  In fact, Jesus says that those outside the family have a right to judge the authenticity of our faith by the way we treat each other.

4.  Love others with an intimate relational love

Jesus called the eleven disciples His friends.  This was a different relationship than what He had with the crowds.  In today’s world the circle of people with whom we have this kind of love relationship is usually pretty small. 

There are several reasons for this including our mobile culture, sound-bite communication, and the fear of being authentic and transparent with others.   St Augustine wrote that our souls are “opaque” due to our inherited sin nature.  However, in heaven we will have the freedom to be totally transparent with God and one another since there will no longer be anything to hide, fear, or prove.  So now, what is exceptional, will one day be normal.

I think the relationship between Jonathan and David comes close to illustrating the closeness of this kind of authentic friendship love.  It is also reflected in the relationship between Paul and Timothy as they traveled and served together (Phil. 2:19-20).  This kind of love relationship is only developed over time in combination with trust, respect, and shared multiple experiences.  It will not develop without intentional effort.

John reminds us that loving others is a command … not an option.  “This is My commandment:  love each other in the same way I have loved you” (John 15:12).  Jesus refracted His iridescent divine love into our lives so that we can reflect that same kind of love to others.

Questions for reflection:

1. How do you respond to the idea that we are to love everybody but not everybody in the same way?
2. What limits our ability to love others with a personal intimate love?

The iridescent colors of God’s love are displayed as they pass through the prism of our broken humanity.  Our God desires that we know and experience the greatness of His love both in its magnitude and complexity.  As the white light of God’s love shines in and through us it is both refracted (broken into its various colors) and reflected.

Down through history Theologians have use a variety of terms to describe this complexity e.g. benevolent, beneficent,and complacent love of God. Keep in mind that this complexity does not sacrifice the unity any more than the four New Testament Gospel accounts destroy the unity of the gospel. In this blog I want to highlight four expressions of God’s love and will refer to them as His: 

• Creative Sustaining love     
• Individual Redemptive love
• Covenant Family love
• Relational Intimate love

His creative sustaining love (sometimes referred to as his providential love) is evidenced through all that He has created.  Creation itself is an expression of who God is and thereby reveals His nature to everyone, everywhere, all the time.  In the book “Privileged Planet” the authors identify the amazing uniqueness of our celestial spaceship earth and note its critical position in our galaxy, making it possible to observe the vast cosmos around us.   So why should our planet be in this unique place?  Could it be that God wants us to observe the universe because it tells us something about His creative sustaining love? 

The love of God that created the cosmos and now holds it together is expressed to all mankind even to those who reject Him. Jesus said,”…He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt. 5:45).  But failure to acknowledge or give God thanks for this creative love has severe consequences as Paul explains:

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities…have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made, …For even though they knew God,they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, … and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man” (Romans 1:20-23).   

The cosmos provides an expression of God’s creative sustaining love and it also provides the platform to understand the next expression:  His redemptive love.  Because it is so important, we should not be surprised at Satan’s strategy to separate God from creation in the worldview of most people.

His individual redemptive love is expressed in the gospel, specifically by the death of Christ on the cross.  Calvary made atonement possible for all mankind given without merit – not, however without conditions.  This is the love expression of John 3:16.  

A biblical illustration of this love is found in the events of the Hebrew Passover.  God graciously redeemed a chosen people from slavery in Egypt.  Although this expression of God’s love was offered without merit, it was not without conditions.  The Hebrews would experience this redemptive love only if they placed the blood of a lamb over the door of their home and followed Moses out of Egypt.   

Redemptive love is an amazing color made even more brilliant as the foundation of the next expression: His covenant family love.

This love is seen in our new identity and position in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17). Introduced in passages like John 1:12 and 1 John 3:1-3, it includes love gifts such as adoption, citizenship, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. On the basis of God’s family love we have a new position and identity.  This love is expressed in all the rights and privileges found in Christ (Eph. 1:3-11) including our future inheritance as heirs with Christ.

A biblical example of covenant family love is God’s relationship the people of Israel.  God calls them His family, His people, and His vineyard.  The Old Testament tells the story of this family and their difficult journey to discover and live in God’s covenant love.  Within this love Israel was to learn to obey and follow God.  Their struggle to respond to this expression of God’s love over successive generations, is an instructive but sad story that is a warning for us now living under the new covenant of God’s family love.             

We see this expression in the life of Jesus with His 12 disciples.  Once they responded to His call to follow, they experienced an increasing intimacy with Him.  The crowds experienced the benefit of His miracles, but the disciples experienced the relational love of His continued presence.  Peter, James, and John were given the privilege of an even deeper intimacy as He allowed them to see both the glory of His transfiguration and the agony of His prayer in the Garden.

A fourth expression of God’s iridescent love is His relational intimate love.  This expression exposes us to the very heart of God and is the most intimate of all the expressions.  It is a relational love that is modeled in the Trinity. (TADB 45)

The eleven disciples also experienced this relational love in the upper room just before the trial and crucifixion.  In those final hours they heard and saw first-hand the passion of Christ to fulfill the plan and purpose of the Father.  They were also allowed to listen in on the intimate conversation between Jesus and the Father as recorded in John 17.

The relational intimate love shown to the disciples was not a random act.  It was the result of their growing allegiance to and alignment with His person and mission.

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved Me.  Remain in My love.  When you obey My commandments, you remain in My love, just as I obey My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.  I have told you these things so that you will be filled with My joy. Yes, your joy will overflow…. You are My friends if you do what I command.  I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in His slaves.  Now you are My friends, since I have told you everything the Father told Me” (Joh15:9-15). 

Few people in Scripture are ever referred to by God as His friend and no one ever took the title for themselves.  Yet this amazing relational intimate love of God is now possible on the resurrection side of the cross. 

We have been discussing the various expressions of God’s love for us as they take us deeper into the relational heart of God.  Next we will look at our response to God’s love and how it is connected to experiencing those expression of love

For reflection:

1.  How do you see these expressions of God’s love connected to each other?

2.  God’s love in all its expressions is always unmerited, but is it always unconditional? Explain.

3.  What do you think of the statement, “We are as close to God, not as we wish to be, but as we choose to be”?

The doctrine of the love of God is sometimes portrayed within Christian circles as much easier and more obvious than it really is, and this is achieved by overlooking some of the distinctions the Bible itself introduces when it depicts the love of God.¹

I have been captured by Paul’s prayer that we would come to experience the magnitude and complexity of the love of God not merely as a doctrine but as a life-changing reality (Eph. 3:17-18).  Although this unexplainable love can be known, it is not automatic or simple.

There are several ways to explore the greatness of God’s love.  One is to consider the magnitude as it reaches through history, spans geography, and penetrates every culture to every person.  Another is to look at the qualities of God’s love: eternal, loyal, holy, gracious, etc.  I am exploring a third way by considering the complexity of God’s love as evidenced by the many ways it is expressed or demonstrated.

I am coming to understand that His love is not monochromatic but iridescent (like a rainbow).  That is, as His love touches broken humanity, the “white light” of His love is refracted and reflected into a rainbow of colors.

Before we look at the various expressions of God’s love, I want to preface the discussion by clarifying several concepts that set the stage for understanding its complexity.

1. Definitions
2. Intra-Trinitarian source
3. Expression and experience

1.  Word definition/meaning

It is obvious that love has many forms.  Two Greek words are used to express love forms in the New Testament:  pheleo and agape.  The word pheleo is used to express a love of affection and approval.  The word agape, however, has a broader meaning ranging from affectionate love to benevolent love.²  Agape was the word for love that New Testament writers chose to express the gracious, benevolent love of God given to undeserving humanity.  This grace kind of love was added to the historic use of agape, and eventually came to dominate its meaning.  However, the grace aspect of agape is not its only meaning in Scripture and it would be incorrect to remove the element of affection from our understanding of the word.

While the Hebrew and Greek words for “love” have various shades and intensities of meaning, they may be summed up in some such definition as this: Love, whether used of God or man, is an earnest and anxious desire for and an active and beneficent interest in the well-being of the one loved.³                      

 The love relationship within the Trinity affirms that the grace aspect of agape is not its only meaning in Scripture.

2.  Intra-Trinitarian love

This refers to the love that exists within the Trinity.⁴  John refers to this love when he said, “God is love” (1 John 4:8).  God not only loves, but He is love.  Love resides within the essence of who God is.  John is not saying that God equals love, but rather that love is a trait of divinity (along with His other traits such as holiness and justice).  John is not making love the “trump card” in the deck of God’s attributes.  He is saying that love is part of the essence of God, permeates all His other characteristics, and is the source of love as we know it.

Therefore, it should not surprise us to see love expressed within the Trinity.  Jesus described the Father’s love for Him as both agapeo (John 3:35) and pheleo (John 5:20) even as the Son loves (John 14:31) the Father.  It is this amazing intra-Trinitarian love into which we are now invited.  Jesus prayed this invitation for His disciples (John 17:26):

I have made your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You love Me may be in them, and I in them.

The intra-Trinitarian love is the source of all love.  It is the “white light” that contains various expressions.  It is the love that is incomprehensible yet expressed in such ways that we can begin to understand its complexity when we observe how God loves broken humanity.

 3.  Expression and response

Unless love is expressed in some way, it may exist but be unknown.  Within the intra-Trinitarian love, Jesus explains how it is expressed and responded to:

For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; (John 5:20).

But so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me (John 14:31).

For us to know God’s love it must be expressed and to be experienced it requires a response.  In John 3:16 Jesus explained that God’s love was expressed in the giving of his only begotten Son.  But to experience that love, one must respond by believing “in Him”.

A word of caution:  the condition of responding to His love, should not be equated with meriting His love.  God’s love in all of its expressions is always initiated by God and unmerited.  But unmerited does not mean unconditional. [See TAD Blog 12 Reducing Tension in Discipleship (2)]

With these three critical concepts in mind, in the next blog we will explore four of the colors of God’s iridescent love.  The following blog we will look at the love language of God and then tie them into our pursuit of knowing Christ on the resurrection side of the cross.

1.  DA Carson, “The Uncomfortable Doctrine of the Love of God.” pg.15
2.  Thayer word studies defines agapeo: to be well pleased to be fond of, love dearly. But also “embracing especially the judgment and the deliberate assent of the will as a matter of principle, duty, and propriety”.
3. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.  Love in its broadest meaning can also been described as a deep personal longing for the object of the love.  This implies ascribing value, feeling of affection, and seeking the welfare of that which is loved.
4. DA Carson, “The Uncomfortable Doctrine of the Love of God.” pg. 16

“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so” was the alleged response twentieth century theologian Karl Barth gave when asked to summarize his life’s work in theology.   The astounding simplicity, magnitude and beauty of the love of God has amazed theologians, poets, and ordinary people down through history.  However, while it is simple to say, the love of God is not a simple concept to understand or grasp.

The apostle Paul obviously did not believe the love of God was simple or shallow.  His prayer for the church was,

“…that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:17-19 NASB).

Paul was convinced that the love of God was not only a foundation, but also a vast reality to be explored.  But we need help.  God’s love is vast and unknowable in its complexity yet comprehensible in ever increasing degrees through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Paul’s prayer for our ability to grasp this amazing aspect of God’s nature, indicates not only its importance but its complexity.

I am concerned that in our current culture of sound bites and over generalizations, we have trivialized and distorted this critically important quality of God so that it is no longer a wonder to pursue.  Paul challenges us to not only think in terms of its vast magnitude but also of its great complexity.  Comprehending God’s love is a central theme throughout our journey of discipleship as we grow in our love for God and our love for others.

However, our journey to understand the depth of God’s love is hindered not only by our contentment with sound bite thinking but also by an inadequate vocabulary.  Our single English word “love” covers a huge span of meanings.  We “love” pizza, our dog, our children, our spouse, and even God; one word for many expressions of love.

The Old Testament Hebrew language has two main words for love.  The word “ahab” is equivalent to the English “to love” in the sense of having a strong emotional attachment to and/or desire to possess an object or be in its presence.  It is found in all periods of Hebrew writing and approximately 250 times in the Bible.  The other word “checed” is often translated loving-kindness and is a covenant term of relationship between God and Israel.  It is a clear demonstration of grace over merit.¹

With the revelation of God’s redemptive love in Christ, New Testament writers in Greek needed a new word that didn’t have the emotional, romantic or merit elements.  Avoiding the word “eros” (a physical love) and the word “pheleo” (an affectionate love) they chose a common (yet somewhat obscure) Greek word for love (agape).  They used it in a specific, focused way “mainly referring to unconditional, self-sacrificing, giving love to all – both friend and enemy”.²

But beyond an expanded vocabulary, theologians down through history have expressed the amazing complexity of God’s love by using various adjectives to describe it including:  Intra-Trinitarian³, complacent⁴, benevolent, compassionate, merciful, and affectionate.^5,6

Both the unity and complexity of the love of God can be illustrated by the characteristics of light in the physical world.  White light demonstrates unity, but it is actually very complex consisting of all the colors of the rainbow.  When white light touches a prism, it is refracted into its various colors.  Likewise, when God’s love touches the prism of broken humanity, the complexity of its various “colors” is revealed.  We are like a diamond (prism) God is shaping to reflect the brilliance of His love in all its hues.

In the following blogs I want to explore the amazing, beautiful, iridescent expressions of the love of God through the primary colors of what I will call His:

• Creative sustaining love
• Redemptive saving love
• Covenant family love
• Intimate friendship love

We will find that they are interconnected and critical to discipleship on the resurrection side of the cross.  Since our love for God is based on His love for us (1 John 4:19), the more we understand the complexity of His love, the greater our love can be in return.

1. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
2. New World Encyclopedia, electronic version
3. Love within the Trinity
4. Complacent in classical use does not mean passivity, but a love towards that which pleases
5. The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, DA Carson
6. James Boyce, Chapter 10 of Boyce’s Abstract of Systematic Theology.