In the New Testament, who talked more about love than anyone else?
Some people might instantly think that it was the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, after all, He is love personified. God is love and He is God and so He was the One that talked most about love. He said, “Love one another.” He said that the greatest commandment is to love, and it was by love that He laid down His life for us. But my friends, the Lord Jesus was not the one who talked the most about love.
Some people might suggest that it was the Apostle John. After all, he was the beloved disciple. His first epistle says that we ought to love one another, for God has loved us and it is by love that we will be known as the people who know God. But my friends, it was not the Apostle John.
The person who talked the most about love was the Apostle Paul, the same apostle who was the champion of Grace. This presents us with a very interesting observation:
If we are the ones who truly know the Grace of God, then should we not also be known as those who love?
For instance, it is the Grace of God that teaches us to love. It is the Grace of God that puts us in union with God, who therefore provides love through us.
Though, as I look at the Church and the people who claim to know Grace, I’m not seeing that love expressed. I’m seeing a lot of contention on social media. I see a lot of arrogance. I think that the people of Grace are succumbing to the very same thing that happened to the children of Israel, and that is that revelation when used by the flesh, sometimes produces exclusivism.
We’re the ones in the know, we’re the favored ones. We’re the elite and we end up with pride, and pride exalts itself to the exclusion of others. This is not how it should be.
I don't believe that Grace would produce exclusivism.
Maybe what that behavior is doing is calling into question whether we really do know Grace the way we think we do. You know, in the early Church it was said that the world knew we were the disciples of Christ by our love, which is exactly what Jesus had said in the Gospel accounts:
That the world would know that we are His by our love.
Fascinating! It’s not that we’re known by our correct doctrine. It’s that we are known by our appropriation of doctrine which produces life-transforming love.
Community of Grace, let’s put an end to this self-exaltation, and this bickering, and this contentious spirit. It’s okay to contend for the faith. It’s okay, as Isaiah 1:18a (NASB) says “to reason together,” but it’s not okay to have arrogance, pride, and exclusivism.
