Where is the love?

Imagine. It is Monday morning. You just woke up and while you are having your breakfast, you’re reading the morning paper. You start reading about what’s going on in the world. Not much surprising news that day. But then you suddenly see a remarkable message in the lost & found section of the paper. 

Lost: Love for our neighbors
We - the Church - lost our love for our neighbors. According to a testament we have, it should be somewhere, but we can’t find it. Since many know the content of the testament, and the description of the love for our neighbors, we ask you to keep your eyes open and to look for it. If you manage to find the love for our neighbors, then please contact our branch in your city. 

Imagine that you would see such a message in the paper. It sounds funny, but sad at the same time. Of course it is not likely that that will happen, but do we realize that we don’t have to publish such a message? Our behavior, our way of thinking and acting is giving the world this message already. While I’m writing studies, I usually publish some statements while I am writing it. So I posted the ‘message’ above on my Facebook page as well. The first person who gave her response was my wife. She made a very accurate statement: “To most people, we are the only Bible they will ever read.” To most people, the next Bible verses are very familiar. Yet I do want to start with these verses, because they are the basis of this study.

The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.

Mark 12:29-31

It was Jesus Christ Himself Who made this statement, when a scribe asked Him what the most important commandment is. Many people interpret this as “Love God above all, and your neighbors as yourself”, which is absolutely true. But Jesus said more then that. The Jesus I know never says more then necessary, but when He speaks, He means something with every word He says. The first thing He says was this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one’. Now why would He say that? By saying this, He points out that the Lord our God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, do live in absolute unity. Keep this in mind when you read the next verse:

That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

John 17:21

In both Bible parts, Jesus points out that unity and love are somehow connected. So when Jesus started to tell the scribe what the most important commandment is, He started with telling him about unity. He said this because unity is the aim He has with us as His body. A body cannot function in separate parts. Yet this is exactly what the Church of today is doing. 

The spirit of denominationalism

I was struggling with this message for many days. I knew God was trying to tell me something, and I knew some of the basics, but I couldn’t figure it all out at once. And as for the things I did already knew, I really didn’t knew how to explain it in plain language. From what the Lord taught me, I knew that meant that I didn’t understood it enough. If you can’t explain something, you didn’t completely understand it yet. But I realized that this is a very valuable lesson for all of us, so I wanted to know more. It was like a message that started to burn in my heart and it wanted to get out, I just didn’t knew how. Then I found a video fragment of Bill Johnson. When I started to watch the video, I saw him making a very accurate statement.

“Denominations are not bad, but denominationalism is. Why? Because denominations were initially formed because groups of people had agreements in common doctrine and that agreement is what brought them together. When your foundation is doctrinal agreement, then you have to remove anything or anyone that does not conform. I know people in denominations who doesn’t have a spirit of denominationalism and I know people who are not in denominations who do have a spirit of denominationalism. It’s not the sign on the door, it’s the structure in the heart.”
Bill Johnson, November 8, 2008

And suddenly the light went on. That was it. The one thing that unites us is the love God has for us and the love we have for each other. No love, no unity. So you could say that the lack of unity is a fruit of the lack of love we have for each other. So when we’re looking at all those Churches today, we see that one fruit is mostly missing. I’m not talking about ‘them’, I’m talking about ‘us’, that is including myself. It is not about ‘us’ and ‘them’, because that is exactly what the spirit of denominationalism does. It is about ‘us’, the whole body of Christ, all the Churches united as ‘The Church’. Whether we like it or not, we are the Church of God all together. That means we are family. And to be very honest, I don’t see much unity these days. In fact I see a lot of the opposite. It is my understanding that because of this, the part “that the world may believe that You sent Me” can’t fully come to pass. 

The religious ‘bible’ says this: “Defend your own truth (doctrine), love God above all and the your neighbors in your congregation as yourself”. Let’s be completely honest here. Although we did not confess this with our mouths, we did with our actions (most of the time). That is not real love, it is conditional love. God never told us to be part of an institute. He never told us to be part of a denomination. He did tell us that we need to love each other and that we need to live together in unity. We can do this inside or outside a denomination, but in order to be one with God, we need to be one with each other as well. True love doesn’t only love when someone agrees with us or when he/she has the same standards or doctrines as we have. True love in unconditional.

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Matthew 5:43-48

Jesus tells us that we even have to love our worst enemies! I don’t about you, but I don’t consider my brothers and sisters from other denominations as my enemy. They might think differently then we do, but they are my family and we need to love them. They are part of the same family as we are. Why do we need to love? That we may be sons of our Father in heaven! Reason enough for me.

What is true love and what is unity?

True love does not only tolerate someone, it will make that someone share in all the same benefits that all the other loved ones can profit from. True love is not only given when someone succeeds, it is mainly given - and needed the most - when  someone fails. True love is not connected to laws or rules and does not demand to be perfect. True love gives without expecting something in return. True love is never about our self, but always about others. True love offers room to make mistakes. True love will last for eternity. 

“Yes, but…” is what many say when they read this. Didn’t you notice that I didn’t say that we have to agree with everything? Loving someone is something else then agreeing with someone. Love and agreement are not connected in any way. You can disagree with what someone believes and still love him/her at the same time. 

As long as everyone agrees with us, we will have no problems loving them. In many (almost all) cases, the problems begin when others start to have a different opinion then ours. For example, when someone can no longer agree with ‘our Church’ and decides to leave, that person will be totally ignored by most of the people from that Church. We’re talking about the people that he/she used to be very close with, who used to be our friends, with whom we used to share our good and bad times. And suddenly, just because that person does no longer agree with us, we start to ignore that person. You know what I mean. You meet such a person on the street or in a store and you pretend not to see that person and turn your head the other way. At the moment you think it’s justified, because that person abandoned ‘your truth’. In fact it’s just a form of hypocrisy. That’s what Jesus called that kind of behavior. It is far from ‘loving your neighbors’. 

But is goes further then that. It seems that from that moment on, we are going to watch what happens with these people who left ‘our truth’, as if we wish them the worst. At the moment something terrible happens to their lives, we just start to point our finger to them and start to tell each other that that wouldn’t have happened when they would still follow ‘our truth’. And when they somehow decide to come back, we still treat them like garbage. It is far from loving each other and even further from living in unity. We all know exactly what this is about because we all did at least once or twice in our lives. It is easy to get yourself out of the religion, but it’s harder to get the religion out of you. We can’t just blame a religious spirit of causing all this. It was the way we were raised, the values we learned from the moment we were a child. If we don’t change our way of thinking and acting on this area, we don’t have love at all. Don't forget that the way we treat our neighbors, is the way we treat Jesus. Now let’s go back to the word of God.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13

God never asked us to change people or to make them believe ‘our truth’. The truth is not a doctrine or opinion anyway, it’s a Person and that Person is Jesus Christ. Any person who has Jesus Christ as their Savior has the truth. The only thing God asks from us is to love them with sincere and unconditional love. Your opinion is not important. That may not sound very popular, but it’s the way it is. The only thing that matters is what God’s opinion is. Do not defend your ‘truth’ and do not try to always be right. Being right or ‘your truth’ is never more important then love. It is God and you working together. You love them, He will change them. We have to have the right priorities; God’s priorities. And love is at the top of His list.

Our fallen brother and sisters

As some of you might know by now, my heart goes out to the weak and to the fallen, to the people who are treated like garbage by our own brothers and sisters. At this moment I want to zoom in on our fallen brothers and sisters. I noticed that something terrible is going on in the Church of today, regarding our fallen brothers and sisters. The general attitude the Church of today has is “once fallen, always fallen”. The pride big leaders standing tall, looking down patronizing, almost saying (and in some cases they actually DO say this): “Thank God I’m not like them”. It reminds me of something I’ve seen in the Bible, but that is something you can search for yourself. 

I am raised in a Christian family and our family always went to Church. But it is only in the last few years that I learned to know more about what’s going on in the Churches worldwide. In those few years I’ve seen several mighty warriors of God, entering the ministry. Some are still in the ministry, others are accused of all sorts of things they didn’t do and others have fallen. The ones who have been accused of all sorts of things they didn’t do, are already judged by their brothers and sisters. And our fallen brothers and sisters? In many cases they are no longer considered to be a brother or sister, even when they repented. In the Christian world of today, you only have one chance. Once you blew it, you’re finished for the majority of the Church. It is remarkable how judgmental the Church has become, that we don’t allow anyone to have a second, third or fourth chance. If the Church would be God, then we now would have a big problem where we would be able to get a second chance. I have seen this not only in traditional Churches, but mainly in the charismatic movement. You know what it is? It is behavior that is causes by a religious spirit. Why? Because we serve a God of second, third, fourth, fifth (etc.) chances, while the enemy accuses and makes us believe that we are finished at the moment we commit sin. The religious spirit will tolerate hatred and anger under the banner of passion for holiness. It pretends to be a passion for holiness, while it is killing the love at the same time by allowing that hatred and anger to grow in our lives. 

If we allow such a behavior and those feelings towards any person into our lives, we really don’t know the heart of our God. A culture of honor can only exist if there is a true culture of confrontation and Biblical discipline that doesn’t has punishment as it’s core value, but that has restoration as it’s core value. Restoration is the heart of God. That is His aim for every of our fallen brothers and sisters. Not just a little restoration, but full restoration. In their relationship with God, in their marriages, in their relationships with others, in dignity and also in ministry. That should be our aim as well. Instead of sending out statements where we disassociate with our fallen brother or sister, we should take a stand by helping him or her to receive full restoration. It is only denominationalism and religion that requires disassociation to proof devotion to truth. That form of proving our devotion to truth is anything but healthy. Our fallen brothers and sisters need a helping hand, not a hand that hits them even further down.

You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.

John 8:15

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

1 Corinthians 10:12

Let’s not forget that it is really easy to fall. All it takes are just a few moments of inattention or disobedience. Who throws the first stone? You did not deserve all the chances that God gave you. You did not deserve it at all. Yet He gave it to you out of His mercy. Is it really that hard to show the same kind of mercy to those who need it the most?

A change of heart

I have made all the mistakes that I just described, so I am not better then anyone else. But I thank God for these revelations, because now I am able to do something with it because I have sinned against the love of God, by judging and not loving some brothers and sisters. I was struggling with this, because the word is giving us some very specific instructions about what to do with people who refuse to repent (“Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person”, 1 Corinthians 5:13). That much is true, but it never said that we should stop loving them and there always needs to be room for those who come back to repent after all. His mercy is still available, so our mercy for them needs to be available as well. What if it is you who falls down? How would you like your brothers and sisters to treat you? Do exactly the same to others as you want to be treated yourself. I needed to have a change of heart on this, which really is not always easy. But it is a decision I have made with my will, and so can you. 

Let me guess. While you were just reading this study, the names of several people came into your mind, right? Right. Well, forget about these people. Let’s keep this closer to home and start looking into your own heart. What is that you see there? What we’re talking about here, is usually something you don’t see right away. But once you’ve learned to recognize it, you can do something about it. Most people will recognize it in their own hearts, simply because this was the way we were raised. This was the way many Churches taught us. It needs to stop dear brothers and sisters. If we really want to see His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, then we have to have His heart for all of our neighbors, not just for some of them. Jesus did not came for the perfect people, He came for the people who needed His help the most. The fallen ones. That is where we are needed as well. The strategy of satan is “divide and conquer”. The strategy of God is “unite and reign”.