There are four verses I want to read and use as a basis for where we go.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 15:12
This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
Ephesians 4:15-16
We are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies,
according to the proper working of each individual part,
causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
The body builds itself up in love.
Revelation 19:7
Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and His bride has made herself ready.
Let us pray a minute. Lord, we thank You for Your abundant love, for the chance that You have provided for us to come to the table and to remember You. We thank You for Your great salvation. We pray that, as we fellowship this morning, we would see more of You. In Jesus’ name.
These verses, if you bear with me, follow a thread through them. John 3:16 tells us that God so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son. If we believe in Him, we should not perish but have everlasting life.
We often think about that as being a time in the future—eternal salvation—but it is also eternal life as a quality of life, a life that we are possessors of because of our salvation. We are born-again saints. We have the life of Christ in us: Christ in us, the hope of glory.
Then John 15 talks about abiding in Christ and bearing fruit. The fruit, I believe, the Lord is after greatly involves expressing His love, because He says, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.”
The third step, Ephesians, talks about building up the body in love. We would be fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part. That proper working causes the body to be built up in love.
The result of the body building itself up is the preparation of a bride who has made herself ready for the Lord’s return. So this love of God, this expression of the love of God in the saints and in our fellowship—we can often think of it as a human thing, as a narrow thing—but it is a very big thing, a very important thing.
I thought I might just share some verses with us this morning. I do not like to just read verses, but sometimes these verses say so much. I want to encourage everyone to reflect on a few of these things.
John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another,
even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
The love used here is what we translate as constant, divine, self-sacrificial love. It is a deep love. It is a special kind of love, a different kind of love.
John 15:12
This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
And verse 17 says:
John 15:17
This I command you, that you love one another.
Constant, divine, self-sacrificial love.
The apostle of love carries on in the book of 1 John. That epistle was written to correct error. There was a doctrinal error that was really causing the saints to stumble.
So often, in these epistles, the apostle presents things from a positive point. Very seldom do the apostles say, “This is what is wrong, and this is what is wrong.” Rather, he shows us what is right and shows us the Lord.
We know this is a book of fellowship. It is a book of love. I wonder whether this, which follows right on the heels of talking about fellowship and the expression of God’s love, is not the real antidote to error. If we stay in fellowship, if we abide in Christ’s love, if we fellowship with one another, it is a great defense against error.
1 John 3:9
No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him;
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
By this, the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
1 John 3:11
For this is the message you have heard from the beginning,
that we should love one another.
1 John 3:14
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren.
He who does not love abides in death.
We know the life of Christ by sharing His love.
1 John 3:16
We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us;
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1 John 3:18
Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue,
but with deed and truth.
1 John 4:7-8
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God;
and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
It seems to me that what our elder brother John is sharing here is that the character of God, the life of God, and the Spirit of God are expressed through His love. That love is to be manifest through us to one another, and it is that expression that builds up the body in love.
I do not think it is as much something we do as something we are. We are new creatures in Christ and have His character. As we grow and are dealt with, we find the character of Christ expressed.
What type of love? What type of love? I think most of us realize that there are three words used for love in Greek: eros, phileo, and agape.
There is a little book that explains some of this: Don’t Waste Your Sorrows by Paul Billheimer. He gives some explanations of these three types of love, but basically his argument in that book is that our progression in the love of God is what prepares us for building up the body, for bringing in His eternal purpose, and for preparing ourselves to reign with Christ.
He calls the three types of love:
All the verses I have read today, and I think most of the verses you will find in the New Testament here, use which word for love? Agape. God’s love.
This is the love that Billheimer talks about. The reason we go through trials, the reason we are dealt with, is so that our natural life, our natural love, and our natural self-life can be dealt with, and so that we can come into God’s life and God’s way.
I think it is pretty clear that we are not talking in these verses about eros, but the other two bear consideration. Let us look at John 21.
This is a discourse between our Lord Jesus and Peter.
John 21:15-17
So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
“Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Tend My lambs.”He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”
Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”
And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”
Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.”
This is a little confusing. He just keeps asking if he loves Him. The explanation of this passage really comes from understanding the words, the definitions of the words used for love.
These are two classic Greek words: phileo and agape. I spent some time trying to read what those were in classic Greek, and it is very difficult to come up with an understanding. I think our understanding of these words as Christians is very helpful if we read the Bible and read how scholars have translated them.
The Amplified Bible renders the first question in this way: “Do you love Me more than these others do, with reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father?” This was agape: “Do you agape Me?”
Peter could say, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You, that I have deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend.” This was phileo.
So twice the Lord asked Peter if he agaped Him, and twice Peter replied, “I phileo You.”
The third time, the Lord said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me with deep, instinctive, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend?” Peter was grieved. He took it ill and was hurt that He should ask him a third time, “Do you love Me?”
Wuest renders it this way: “Do you have a love for Me called out of your heart by My preciousness to you—a devotional love that impels you to sacrifice yourself for Me?” Peter answers, “You know positively that I have an emotional fondness for You.”
So what are these two words here? Phileo, if we combine Amplified and Wuest, describes a deep, instinctive, personal affection for a close friend—emotional fondness, friendly feeling, and affection.
Agape is reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father: a love called out of your heart by His preciousness to you, a devotional love that impels you to sacrifice yourself.
A self-sacrificial love, love as God has it.
I think it is very good for us to spend some time and really consider what these two words mean. We know it is almost impossible just to come up with a definition, but we see where they are used, and how their usage will really help us.
It seems to me that what we have here is a natural affection and feeling, as opposed to supernatural, selfless, unconditional love. Of course, this agape love is what we have read in these verses today and what the Lord is after.
The agape love is the love of God expressed between the Father and the Son. It is the selfless, sacrificial love expressed to us by our Lord going to the cross. It is a love that we are exhorted to express to one another.
There is a character of Christ that, when released through us, will build up the body of Christ and prepare the bride.
This is what the Lord is after. I think we will see that expressing this type of love is naturally, utterly impossible in ourselves. It has to be the love of God working in our hearts.
Let us look at this exchange between the Lord and Peter a little more. The first thing that the Lord said to Peter was, “Do you love Me?” Whatever word He used, “Do you love Me?”
When we are thinking about sharing the love of God with one another, we need to start with loving the Lord first. We need the supply of the Lord’s life to bring into the situation.
If we do not have the love of God, how can we help? If we do not bring in the love of God, what do we bring in? The self-life, natural love. At best, that can be helpful, and at worst, I think it can really risk defrauding one another.
We need to love the Lord first, and it is the love of God that we bring into the situation when we share the love of God with one another.
The second thing we should learn from this passage is denying ourselves. We have to deny ourselves. We can see what happened with Peter. Peter was one who was so strong, so impetuous, so self-willed, but in this case he seems to have come to the end of himself.
John 13:37-38
Peter said, “I will lay down my life for You.”
Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me?
Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster shall not crow,
until you deny Me three times.”
Then we go on to John 18.
John 18:25-27
Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself.
They said therefore to him, “You are not also one of His disciples, are you?”
He denied it, and said, “I am not.”One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said,
“Did I not see you in the garden with Him?”
Peter therefore denied it again; and immediately a rooster crowed.
Peter had been dealt with. He thought he had this natural strength, that he could really do the Lord’s bidding and do the Lord’s will, but he came to the end of himself.
When he was asked in this exchange three times, “Do you agape Me? Do you agape Me?” and the third time the Lord said to him, “Do you phileo Me?” Peter said, “You know, Lord. You know, Lord, I cannot do it. It is not in me.”
But the Lord took him where he was. He took him with that response. He said, “Peter, do you phileo Me?” And he said, “Yes, Lord, You know I do.” Based on Peter’s confession of his weakness, the Lord took him and moved him on.
I believe the Lord would do the same for us. We confess it is not in us. At best, we love Him with our natural strength. But He took Peter, He honored Peter, and Peter was the one who was so powerful in his work and testimony in the early church.
I think it is good for all of us to know that we cannot naturally love in a self-sacrificial way. We need to deny ourselves and ask the Lord to work out, and trust Him to work out, that agape love in us.
Then He says, “Tend My sheep.” I think what I want to say here is that “My sheep” are the Lord’s sheep. When we are ministering, when we are loving one another, it is for the Lord. It is for His people.
We can often be used to meet needs. Meeting needs is good, but that is not the end of our love. The end of our love is bringing one another to the Lord, bringing one another to Christ. Tend His sheep.
We need not to have pat answers, no fixed solutions to our issues and problems. We are to love one another and bring one another to the point where each of us can say:
2 Corinthians 12:9
My grace is sufficient for you.
I think we really get in trouble if we bring natural love and natural solutions. We want to draw one another to the Lord and avoid defrauding one another.
What is the argument we have been making here? God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that we would not perish but have eternal life. That eternal life is a quality, a type of life, that we have today: Christ’s life in us, Christ in us. That life is meant to find expression today in the body of Christ, in the assembly.
We are to be expressing this agape love—not natural love, but agape love—and it is that love that builds up the body of Christ. We need to deny ourselves. Remember what Peter went through. He came to the end of himself and realized it was not in us. It is the love of God in us to be expressed.
By expressing that love, the body builds itself up in love, and the bride makes herself ready.
The first passage where I really started this thought is 2 Corinthians 5.
2 Corinthians 5:14-17
For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this,
that one died for all, therefore all died;
and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves,
but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh;
even though we have known Christ according to the flesh,
yet now we know Him thus no longer.Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature;
the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.
Verse 16: recognize no man according to the flesh. Recognize no man according to the flesh.
It just struck me how important this is: that we know one another not after the flesh. We have all been drawn together. Why are we meeting together? Why do we assemble together? Why do we have this relationship here?
I believe it starts on that common life. We love the Lord. We love to share the Lord with one another and have fellowship with one another. But something happens pretty soon after we come together: we begin to understand one another.
We are all personally very different personalities naturally. We just get on each other’s nerves pretty quick. But what does Paul tell us here? Know one another not after the flesh.
I think it is very important not to be put off by our natural life, but to know one another after the Spirit, to know and appreciate the Christ in one another. We need to look for the Christ in one another. We need to build on the Christ in one another.
If we spend time complaining about one another and being put off by one another, we will just be driven apart. One thing that concerns me sometimes is that, because fellowship is painful and requires denying our own self-life, we withdraw and isolate ourselves.
We can easily find ourselves building up a little shield around us, drawing into our own little world. That is not what the Lord wants, but it is costly. Fellowship is costly.
The assembly, the body of Christ, is a wonderful, great place to deny yourself, take up the cross, and follow the Lord. I want to encourage us all to know one another after the Spirit: Christ in us. We need to really know each other, know the Christ in one another, and not according to the flesh.
Another little thought I had concerns the question we often hear: “Have you seen the body of Christ?” That is a good question. It is a wonderful question, and it is very important for us to have seen something of what the Lord is after.
But I want to expand that question a little bit: Have you seen the body of Christ today? Are you seeing the body of Christ daily?
How do we see the body of Christ? We see Christ in one another. We see joints of supply. We are building up one another in the love of God.
This great matter of vision, which is very important, has a practical outworking daily. Have we seen the body of Christ today? Are we loving the brethren today and seeing the reality of the body of Christ, the body building itself up in love?
Let us talk just a little bit about a couple of applications. How do we enter into expressing the love of God—agape love?
The first thing we learned is that we deny ourselves. Peter came to the place of denying himself. We deny our self-life and realize it is not in us.
We love the Lord first. “Peter, do you love Me? Peter, do you love Me?”
Then the next thing I thought was, we love our spouses. Talk about a practical place for the outworking of God’s love and the Spirit of God: it is in our marriages.
There is no place where we are closer to another human being, or where there is more chance for conflict, misunderstanding, and so forth. But what a place for us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and love our spouses.
Our marriages are very, very, very important to the Lord, and they are very, very, very much under attack and assault. We need to cherish our wives and our husbands. We need to cherish our marriages, stand for them, protect them, and defend them. Very important.
The next thing we can think about is loving our children—even our teenagers. Grandchildren are easier. Jerry may think he has the nicest grandchildren, but we really do. Well, that is true, right?
We need to love our children. I think our children are God’s gift. They are God’s trust, and it is very difficult sometimes to love our children. We get frustrated and upset, or we can take them as possessions.
We are going to make them be what we were not. We are going to have this vicarious enjoyment through our children. Boy, they are going to be great soccer players, or they are going to be doctors or lawyers.
Lay off the children and take them to the Lord. Let them find their own way. Do not make them your possessions. They are God’s possessions. So love our children. God loves them.
So, we deny ourselves. We love the Lord. We love our spouses. We love our children. Then we love one another.
I cannot sit up here and tell you whom to love or whom to have a relationship with. The Lord will show you. But I can tell you one thing: the body builds itself up in love.
If we read that Ephesians 4 passage, we see that the body is held together by joints and ligaments. Are you a joint of supply? I think that is a question we can ask. Are you a joint of supply? Are we each a joint of supply?
Let me sum it up again.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.
We remember this morning that we are recipients of the Son of His love. Whoever believes in Him shall not perish—not go to hell—but will have eternal life. That was John’s concern at the end of the Gospel of John: that you be having eternal life.
So we have this eternal life, the life of Christ: Christ in us, the hope of glory. Since we are receivers of that redeeming love and eternal life, it is the Lord’s desire that we be sharers of that eternal life daily, today.
We would be building up the body in love, and the bride would be preparing herself for His return.
I have to ask again that question as we leave, kind of like Lance asked at conference: “What are you doing about it?”
What we can do about it is find time for the saints. We can be together when we have opportunities. We can look for times to encourage one another, to lead one another to the Lord, to share the love of God with one another, and to build up the body of Christ.
These are days when everything else gets in the way. Everything else gets in the way—unbelievably demanding days. But we have been given each other, and we are to nourish the relationship in Christ that we have.
Ask the Lord: How are we building up the body of Christ? How are we, each of us, a joint of supply? What are we going to do about it?
Let us pray. Lord, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for living faith. We thank You for Your desire for an expression of Your very self in Your body.
Lord, we pray that You would have Your way, that we would be not just possessors of eternal life, but expressers of that life. Lord, that the love of God—not the love of man, but the unlimited, selfless love of God—would be shed abroad in our hearts.
May we be built up, and may You have a bride prepared for Your return. In Jesus’ name.