Compelled By Love

It’s the middle of the week. Again.

Sunday was great – at least sorta. The new person you met yesterday might attend next weekend – maybe. And the podcast you listened to is teaching you how to lead better – you hope.

But there is still one lingering question in the back of your head. 

Why?

After all, who really appreciates all that I’m doing? Sure. The person being fawned over is grateful. The friend in the hospital room is glad to see you. And the person who was led to Christ states their “eternal gratitude.”

But sometimes, we get tired. 

The “wet blanket committee” roams the church to see what passion they can squelch. Tons of logistical work has to be done when all you really want to do is talk to people about Jesus. And there’s the never ending cycle of dreaming, strategy, and vision-casting. It’s a lot for one person to handle. 

So why?

Because of love. Not love like a Reese Witherspoon romantic-comedy or an afternoon talk show pseudo-psychology counseling session. I’m talking about love that asks you to die for the greater good. Like Jack Bauer in 24. Or Leonidas and the Spartans . The kind of love that motivates us should be the same as Christ – a dying love.

Love stands at the center of the Christian life. Understood rightly, it is the “why.” It is the supreme command of scripture. When Christ was asked to name the greatest law, he pointed out that it is to love God supremely and others sacrificially (Matthew 22:37-40).

But here is a problem in the church. And, unfortunately, the world has caught on to it. We have a lot of unloving Christians – and unloving churches.

We all must admit that, at times, we have lived this oxymoronic life too. To that end, God works to change the passions and intentions of our hearts. He forms us to be like the Son. He knows that for the church to tell the gospel, it must live the gospel as well. The life of the church must be a living, breathing expression of that love because it is founded in the One who is love.

1 John 4:7-8 (HCSB)   Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

There is a devastating lesson contained in these verses. If your life isn’t marked by love, then you don’t know God. But how do you know if it is? Let’s consider three tests.

Test #1: Entry to Christ
I’m not talking about a bland repetition of the so-called sinner’s prayer. I am not against a sinner’s prayer. But, on its own, it limits the gospel to repeating words.

Forming a relationship with the Almighty is more than signing a little card and parroting a prayer on the front pew. Utter transformation by our Creator God flows out His nature of love.

Ultimately, I think we do a disservice to people when we say, “Just pray this prayer,” and then we pronounce them “saved” or “born again” or whatever term is being used this week. A person can read the prayer on a tract and never begin a relationship with their Creator. But when it is genuinely the intent of my heart to repent, follow Christ, and love Him supremely, He changes me.

You know this.  So make sure your “why” is right.  You minister so people can be invited into a transforming relationship with Christ, not so they will join your church or sign on to your vision for the community.

Test #2: Walk with Christ
In the third grade, I stopped signing cards “Love, Ed.” I thought it was silly, girly, and, to be honest, my family did not really love that well. So, all my cards ended with “From Ed.” Cold, sterile, and pointless.

Too many in church leadership operate with a “From _____” mentality. Churches and Christians act like religious pharmacies doling out platitudes to get people through the day but never entering into their lives. That’s nothing like Christ, who was called a drunkard because He hung out with people at dinner parties.

Maybe this is why Oprah, Dr. Phil, and the SuperNanny are so popular – people feel loved by them, even though they’ve never met them. 

If the church is represented by any human emotion through the scriptures – it is love. Just consider the main images God uses to describe us: body parts rightly relating to one another, a temple housing the presence of God, and a bride anticipating the arrival of her groom.

Let love embody your missional life. The church, born out of the character of God, is missional by nature, so let love stand as the guard over that mission.

Begin by extending a compassionate heart to the members of your church. When feeling prompted to check in with an absent member, do it out of love instead of duty. This week, sit somewhere different during worship and interact with someone new. Seek out an older person who is often alone. Help your family collectively decide who to reach out to – perhaps someone in (or even outside of) your church who is in pain. These simple acts of love will put us on the proper path to “carrying a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name.”

Just make sure you think beyond the Sunday morning crowd. Invite a family over for dinner who has never attended your church before. Invest in a long-term friendship with someone you know is “far from God.” Organize your Bible study group to take care packages to a home for abused women in the county. There are myriad ways to go on mission with God, to express His love to those who need it desperately.

Test #3: Teaching Christ
Catalyst is all about moving people from here to there. Leadership, it has been said by many, is influence. But influence devoid of love is cold manipulation. There is a choice we must make about how we will pass on leadership skills to the next group of leaders for God’s church.

I was raised in a New York union family. My dad was an iron lather. My grandfather, a firemen. My uncle, a cop. All Irish … and all tough folks. And, in my neighborhood, it could be pretty cut-throat.

You can imagine my surprise when I entered the ministry, expecting something completely different – and rarely found it. Church people can make union people look like daisies. Then again, maybe you are not surprised. 

I have good friends – like many of you – who have been through “meat grinder” churches. It is ugly and a lot of bitterness usually follows. But I also know a lot of godly leaders in the church today. They are the ones who live out 2 Corinthians 5:14. Being compelled by Christ’s love, they lead others to the mercy of God.

Evaluate your leadership lessons to others. Are you raising-up leaders who show love by dying as Christ did or manipulate people toward a preferred future feeling? The portrait of God the Father is that of the searcher; looking for the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son. The image of God the Son is that of the Great Shepherd who lays down his life for the flock. The image of God the Spirit is the one who indwells the mortal so we might be reminded of the enduring truths of God.

As others taught you, it is time to turn around and disciple the next generation of leaders for God’s kingdom. Teach your new leaders to love people as Christ did – with a dying love.

What Now?
If you, like me, bemoan the lack of love in Christians and their churches, let’s start the revolution. Be the one who shows the love of Christ, lives the normal Christian life – and truly acts like a Christian. 

I teach my 6 year old that others will know we are Jesus’ disciples by our love. Now, we must live that truth out. That will make all the difference.

1 Comment »

1. It is a great point that “here is a problem in the church. And, unfortunately, the world has caught on to it. We have a lot of unloving Christians – and unloving churches.”
   So many people are turned off by the church because of the people within the church and not necessarily the message being conveyed. If we are to be members of the body and infulential in the church we must be above reproach as well as “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.” Acts 20:28
   At a college and up group in Corona, Ca called Generate at Crossroads Church http://www.generatelife.com. The pastor Tony Wood made a remarkable point that “Church is like a hospital, it is for the sick. And no one is turned away from a hospital.” Matthew 9:12 “On hearing this, Jesus said, it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”
   As christians and as a church it is our calling to be loving, and to meet the needs of the people who walk into the church regardless of how broken they are. If God is love then why do some Christians not meet everyone with open arms of love?

   Comment by aliveinHIM - Jul 17, 2008 @ 07:28 PM

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