LOVE-OTHERS FOR

I care not where I go, or how I live, or what I endure so that I may save souls. When I sleep I dream of them; when I awake they are first in my thoughts…no amount of scholastic attainment, of able and profound exposition of brilliant and stirring eloquence can atone for the absence of a deep impassioned sympathetic love for human souls.

David Brainerd

What a wonderful Savior we have. It wasn’t lovely people for whose sake He died; it was for ungodly people, for His enemies. It was for law breakers that He suffered. He loved us, says (the Apostle) Paul, in spite of how unlovely we were. Just as He loved us, Paul insists we are to love one another.

Jay E. Adams

Christian Living in the Home, P&R Publishing, 1972, p. 41, Used by Permission.

Christianity burst into a corrupt world with a brilliantly new moral radiance... The moral level of society was dismal, and sin prevailed in many forms... Into this discouraged world came Christ and His Spirit-transformed disciples, filled with holy joy, motivated by a love which the pagans could not grasp, and proclaiming Good News-the message that God has provided a Savior... The Christians lived in tiny communities knit together in the power of the Holy Spirit, little colonies of heaven. They thought of themselves as pilgrims on their way to the celestial city, but they were very much concerned to manifest the love of Christ in all human relationships.

J.C. Wenger

It is this lack of love among Christians which today makes the church an insipid, lukewarm institution. People come to find affection and are turned off by our tepidity.

Phillip Keller

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Permission by Zondervan, www.zondervan.com, 1970, p. 133.

You demonstrate biblical love when you take steps to restore a fellow-believer overtaken in sin. This not only encourages a fallen believer to return to his first love of Jesus Christ, but it also gives others involved in the restoration process on-going opportunities to examine the depth of their love to the Lord.

Biblical Counseling Foundation

Self-Confrontation Manuel, Lesson 13, Page 9, Used by Permission of the Biblical Counseling Foundation.

A person's life is his most precious possession. Consequently, to rob him of it is the greatest sin we can commit against him, while to give one's own life on his behalf is the greatest possible expression of love for him (1 Jn. 3:16). This, then, is the ultimate contrast: Cain's hatred issued in murder, Christ's love (issued) in self-sacrifice.

John Stott

The Letters of John, Eerdmans, 1998, p. 146.

If God is my portion, if God is the true source of my joy, and if it is God who will fulfill me, then I am free to be a companion instead of a consumer. That is, because of what I receive from God I can give to another person instead of always taking; I can minister rather than manipulate because of the fulfillment I get from God.

Richard D. Phillips and Sharon L. Phillips

Holding Hands and Holding Hearts, P&R, 2006, p. 58. Used by Permission.

You can always give without loving, but you can never love without giving.

Amy Carmichael

If I can enjoy a joke at the expense of another; if I can in any way slight another in conversation, or even in thought, then I know nothing of Calvary's love.

Amy Carmichael

The way to open our hearts to others is by receiving afresh the grace of God and appreciating what it means: seeing our own need of Christ; coming to receive His mercy; sensing how undeserved His love for us is; remembering how He has also opened His heart to those whose hearts are closed against us. Then we will see that the heart which is too narrow to receive a fellow Christian is too narrow to enthrone the Lord Jesus Christ. But the heart that is opened to receive the grace of Christ will learn to welcome all those whom Christ Himself has welcomed.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

Grow in Grace, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 1989, p. 88-89.

Love is very much a matter of actions rather than emotions. However, although this emphasis on acts of love is certainly necessary, we can sometimes give the impression that love doesn’t involve any emotion – that it is entirely an act of the will, of one’s duty, regardless of how one feels. We can even promote the “I can love him but I can’t like him” type of attitude. The Bible does not support such an unbalanced concept of love…fervently, fondly, and affectionately (are used in the Bible) to describe the love Christians ought to have for one another… Obviously such a fervency of spirit cannot substitute for loving actions, but surely it should accompany them. We dare not settle for less.

Jerry Bridges

Here is a spiritual principle: We cannot exercise love unless we are experiencing grace. You cannot truly love others unless you are convinced that God’s love for you is unconditional, based solely on the merit of Christ, not on your performance. John said, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Our love, either to God or to others, can only be a response to His love for us.

Jerry Bridges

The second commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself. Among other things this would mean:

1. You cherish for your neighbors the very same love that you bear toward yourself.

2. In your dealings with them you never show selfishness, irritability, peevishness, or indifference.

3. You take a genuine interest in their welfare and seek to promote their interests, honor, and well-being.

4. You never regard them with a feeling of prideful superiority, nor do you ever talk about their failings.

5. You never resent any wrongs they do to you, but instead are always ready to forgive.

6. You always treat them as you would have them treat you.

7. To paraphrase 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, you are always patient and kind, never envious or boastful, never proud or rude, never self-seeking. You are not easily angered and you keep no record, even in your mind, of wrongs done to you.

Jerry Bridges

There is nothing to be valued more highly than to have people praying for us; God links up His power in answer to their prayers.

Oswald Chambers

The opposite of love is not correction but indifference.

Anthony Thiselton

The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Eerdmans, 2000, p. 1089. www.eerdmans.com.

But what about love and loyalty when no one else seems to be hurt, such as premarital sexual relationships? Such an argument does not apprehend biblical love. Love is not simply the absence of obvious injury to anyone. For example, critical thoughts don’t victimize, but they are unloving and wrong. Defining love in terms of whether people get hurt misses the heart of biblical teaching. We may not automatically decide what form love takes. God tells us how to love. When we love on our terms rather than His, we are in sin. Even if our sin does not seem to hurt another human being, it is still sin. If sin were reduced to hurting others, then we could become morally perfect by isolating ourselves from all people. Sin, however, is not primarily a human-against-human action. It is human-against-God. God defines love as obedience to Him.

Edward T. Welch

Blame in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 162-163.

We are called to love not because other people are empty and need love (to feel better about themselves) but because love is the way in which we imitate Christ and bring glory to God.

Edward T. Welch

When People are Big and God is Small, P&R Publishing, 1997, p. 147. Used by Permission.

We need to love rather that we have a psychological deficit that must be filled with love.

Edward T. Welch

When People are Big and God is Small, P&R Publishing, 1997, p. 162- 163. Used by Permission.

The path of God’s love is a path that leaves us overflowing. Our cup cannot contain what God bestows on us. It is only natural, then, that the comfort we received from Christ will overflow into the lives of other people (2 Cor. 1:3-7). Our goal is to love people more than need them. We are overflowing pitchers, not leaky cups.

Edward T. Welch

When People are Big and God is Small, P&R Publishing, 1997, p. 179. Used by Permission.

Who are other people? They take on three different shapes: Enemies, neighbors, and family. What is our duty to them? Love. Love may take a different form with each group, but our duty is summed up as love. We love enemies by surprising them with our service toward them. We love neighbors by treating them like our family. And we love the body of Christ – our true brothers and sisters – in such a way that the world and spiritual powers are stunned by our oneness.

Edward T. Welch

When People are Big and God is Small, P&R Publishing, 1997, p. 211. Used by Permission.

[Saying] “yes” might be very unwise. It might not be the best way to repay our debt of love. Saying “yes” to one task might keep us from another that is more important. It might mean that we will do something that someone else could have done better. It might mean that we will entrench the sin patterns of other people. It might mean that we interpret the church egocentrically rather than as a body, thinking, “If I don’t do it, nobody will.”

Edward T. Welch

When People are Big and God is Small, P&R Publishing, 1997, p. 214. Used by Permission.

To be sure, it is much easier to be loving if you’re in love, but being in love is not intrinsically necessary to being loving – else the Great Commandment is a farce.

R.C. Sproul

The Intimate Marriage, P&R Publishing, 1975, p. 103.

Our prayer must not be self-centered. It must arise not only because we feel our own need as a burden we must lay upon God, but also because we are so bound up in love for our fellow men that we feel their need as acutely as our own. To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them.

John Calvin

It’s bad enough for me to make choices that hurt my own relationship with God. How much more serious is it to be the cause of someone else deciding to sin? Not only must I choose the pathway of holiness for God’s sake and for my own sake; I must also do it for the sake of others.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Holiness, The Heart God Purifies, Moody Publishers, p. 63.

In 1956 Life magazine told of the shocking death of five missionaries in the jungles of Ecuador. For several months these men had tried to make contact with the primitive Auca Indians. On their first attempt to establish a camp, they were brutally murdered! Today these same Auca tribesmen are all Christians. They are leaders of a small congregation that worships near the spot where the missionaries died. Many educators and government leaders have expressed astonishment at the miraculous change in these Indians. How did it happen? The answer lies in the love of God expressed to these people by the sister of Nate Saint and the wife of Jim Elliot, two of the martyred missionaries. Led by God who is love and not vengeance, these women were able to break down the walls of distrust. In time they were able to share the gospel with these tribesmen and see the love of Christ transform their lives.

George Sweeting

Who Said That? Moody Press, 1995, p. 325.

There is nothing that makes us love a man so much as praying for him.

William Law

[Love] your neighbors through thick and thin… Don’t seek to please them, but to please your Master; and remember, if they spurn your love, your Master has not spurned it, and your deed is acceptable to Him as if it had been acceptable to them.

C.H. Spurgeon

Morning and Evening, Morning: March 12.

Love is not blind, it sees more not less; but because it sees more it chooses to see less.

Author Unknown

Do you want to know that your [Christian] life is real? Commit yourself to a local group of saved sinners. Try to love them. Don’t just do it for three weeks. Don’t just do it for six months. Do it for years. And I think you’ll find out, and others will, too, whether or not you love God. The truth will show itself.

Mark Dever

Quoted from: Stop Dating the Church by Joshua Harris, p. 57.

When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now.

C.S. Lewis

“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Now you love yourself suitably when you love God better than yourself. What, then, you aim at in yourself you must aim at in your neighbor, namely, that he may love God with a perfect affection. For you do not love him as yourself, unless you try to draw him to that good which you are yourself pursuing. For this is the one good which has room for all to pursue it along with thee. From this precept proceed the duties of human society.

Augustine

Morals of the Catholic Church.

Practical features of the expression of God’s love:

1. Love is not defined by the act, but by the character of God within the act.

2. Love precludes hypocrisy and play-acting.

3. Love is unselfish; not based on self-need or want.

4. Love is not conditioned on reciprocity or calculation of repayment.

5. Love doesn’t care who gets the credit.

6. Love is active; not merely passive or theoretical; love doesn’t loiter.

7. Love believes, trusts and expects God to overcome all things.

8. Love is directed toward people; not things, ideas, doctrines, principles.

9. Love of neighbor desires them to have everything you have, and more.

10. Love precludes resentment, covetousness, and judging another.

11. Love seeks to commend, not condemn.

12. Love is not conditioned on the lovability or action of the recipient.

13. Love is not fickle; it is unchanging and limitless.

14. Love precludes despair at the loss or absence of the person loved.

15. Love precludes favoritism and aversion.

16. Love does not engage in comparison.

17. Love is not possessive, seeking to own or control another person.

18. Love does not find its identity or life in the one loved.

19. Love is the antidote to fear and paranoia – I Jn. 4:18.

20. Love seeks the highest good of the other, with no thought of benefit to oneself.

21. Love involves self-denial, self-renunciation, personal sacrifice, humility.

22. Love is willing to suffer slights, hurts, abuse.

23. Love builds others up, nurtures, edifies; it is constructive, not destructive.

24. Love seeks to avoid grieving or offending another – Rom. 13:10; 14:15.

25. Love of one’s enemy removes his relation of power – Matt. 5:40.

26. Love precludes partiality, preference, distinction, exclusivism; it is universal and equal.

27. Love does not take the situation into one's hand to resolve the problem.

28. Love does not preclude confrontation, opposition and discipline – Heb. 12:6; it is not always capitulatory or soft (“tough love”); cf. Matt. 10:34; Lk. 12:49.

29. Love cannot be coerced or obliged by law or moral principle and program.

30. Love is not retaliatory – Rom. 12:17; it turns the other cheek – Matt. 5:39.

31. Love does not dictate performance standards or expectations to others.

32. Love prompts one to take the initiative to be the first to act – Matt. 7:12.

33. Love dissolves the emotional blocks which keep us from sensitivity to others.

34. Love does not demand its personal rights.

35. Love excludes suspicion and mistrust.

36. Love allows one to be free to be man as God intended man to be.

James Fowler

Excerpted from: Love, Study Outlines, 1999, www.christinyou.net. Used by Permission.

Our job in this life is not to go off on our own and get busy, busy, busy, work, work, work, trying in vain to produce fruit. Trying to love people on our own will lead to a life of frustration. Our responsibility is not to produce the fruit of the Spirit on our own. Our responsibility is to have a relationship to Jesus Christ and to let God use us. It is a life yielded to Christ. It is a life of rest.

J. Delany

Abiding in Christ, Chapter 7, Used by Permission.

Love is power. The Holy Spirit, for the most part, works by our affection. Love men to Christ; faith accomplishes much, but love is the actual instrument by which faith works out its desires in the Name of the Lord of love. And I am sure that, until we heartily love our work, and love the people with whom we are working, we shall not accomplish much.

C.H. Spurgeon

An All-Around Ministry.

Make your self-seeking the measure of your self-giving.

John Piper

Loving God as Yourself – Part 2, May 7, 1995, www.DesiringGod.org. Used by Permission.

Quit being satisfied with little five percent yields of pleasure that get eaten up by the moths of inflation and the rust of death. Invest in the blue-chip, high-yield, divinely insured securities of heaven. A life devoted to material comforts and thrills is like throwing money down a rathole. But a life invested in the labor of love yields dividends of joy unsurpassed and unending.

John Piper

Desiring God, 1996, p. 110, Used by Permission, www.DesiringGod.org.

It is possible to speak of love toward men in such a way that God drops out of the picture It is possible to begin to justify your life solely on the basis of how much "good" you do for men. And gradually the difference between a Christian and a humanistic ethic disappears. Not because the humanist has become God-centered but because the Christian has become man-centered.

John Piper

The Shepherd, the Host and the Highway Patrol, Sermon on Psalm 23, September 7, 1980. Used by Permission, www.DesiringGod.org.