September 2006 chaplain's corner
The Chaplain's Corner is a monthly message for chaplains.
Chaplain’s Corner – September 28, 2006
Rev. Rich Hines
O, How I Love Jesus?
This message is primarily for those who call on the name of Jesus Christ as
their own Lord and Savior from sin, and serve as a Chaplain in a jail, prison
or a follow-up ministry such as a rescue mission – in the
All Scripture quotes are taken from the New King James Version (NKJV) of the
Bible, copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.
All rights reserved. When quoting a text, any deviation from the NKJV text is
placed within parenthesis signs (). These usually occur as direct translations
from the original languages, or as notes from the original setting to help
apply the text to today’s culture.
ALL CAPITAL LETTERS are sometimes used to emphasize words in a text, or to make
a comment about a biblical text, or emphasize a statement.
Lately, I’ve been giving you messages to give your inmates and residents, or at
least to think about applying to them. This month I want to challenge you
Chaplains (as well as myself) directly. This month I want to address the issue
of OUR LOVE FOR GOD even for the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 John 4:19 says: “We love
Him because He first loved us.” If we truly love the Lord it’s in response to
His love for us. His love for us DIED FOR THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGEMENT AGAINST OUR
SINS (Romans 5:8).
In the Apostle Paul’s inspired letter to the Ephesians he used various terms
and phrases to refer to the saved, to true Christians. Let me briefly remind
you of them. In order THEY ARE:
1:1 the SAINTS (holy ones) - also in 1:18, 2:19, 3:8, 3:18, 4:12, 5:3, 6:18,
total - seven times
1:1 the .. faithful in Christ Jesus
1:5 sons (or by implication, daughters)
1:12 we who first trusted in Christ
1:19 believers
1:22 the CHURCH (the assembly of those called out of the world)- also in 3:10,
3:21, 5:24, 5:25, 5:27, 5:29, 5:32, total - seven times.
1:23 His BODY - also in 2:16, 3:6, 4:4, 4:12, 4:16, 4:16, 5:23, 5:30, total -
eight times.
2:10 His workmanship (or masterpiece)
2:19 members of the household (or, family) of God
2:21 a holy temple (shrine)
2:22 a dwelling place of God
3:15 part of the whole family in heaven and earth
4:21 those that “indeed have heard Him, and have been taught by Him”
5:5 those that have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God
5:8 light in the Lord, children of light
5:22-33 by implication – the bride of Christ
6:10 brethren (also in 6:23) total - two times.
So far, that’s seventeen terms or phrases - but the last, the eighteenth, comes
in the very last verse of the letter (6:24)
24 Grace be with ALL THOSE WHO LOVE OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IN SINCERITY.
(incorruptibly, without corruption, without a decaying or deviating influence).
Amen
According to the Bible, among other things, a Christian is someone who loves
the Lord Jesus Christ with an uncorrupted love. As English thinking Americans
we get confused about this word “love.” We romanticize it. WHEN THE SCRIPTURE
SPEAKS ABOUT OUR LOVE FOR THE LORD, IT ALWAYS USES A FORM OF THE ANCIENT GREEK
WORD “AGAPE.”
I won’t go so far as to say there is NO EMOTION in the meaning and use of that
word, but with “agape” love the PRIMARY FOCUS IS NOT ON EMOTION OR FEELING.
There’s more emotional feeling in the Greek word “phile,” than in “agape.” When
Jesus showed emotion and wept at the gravesite of His friend Lazarus, the
people in the crowd commented “see how He LOVED (‘hephilei’ - a form of
‘phile’) him.” (John 11:36).
One of the primary meanings of agape, is a subjective valuing of a person or
thing. Therefore in certain contexts, it can be described by our words, EXTREME
DEVOTION. Agape shows itself more in action than in subjective feelings.
Because we value something, we’ll sacrifice for it.
When I was a new believer, I can remember back to when I used to sing the song
“O, How I Love Jesus.” I would sing it with great emotion and happy feelings.
But one day, I believe the Holy Spirit stopped me right in the middle of that
chorus.
He made me think, “Can you really sing that? Do you really OBEY Him as you
should?” Convicted, I stopped singing the word “love” when I got to it in the
chorus with the group. I sang, “O, how I ____ Jesus” and really thought, “O,
how I disobey Jesus!
You know that the Holy Spirit is speaking to your inner person when the thought
comes directly from Scripture. Look at John 14:21-23 (the context was Jesus’
preparation of His disciples for His soon coming death, resurrection and
physical departure from earth): Threr Jesus said:
21 “He who has My commandments AND KEEPS THEM, it is he who LOVES Me. And he
who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest
(show) Myself to him.”
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest
Yourself to us, and not to the world?”
This Judas would be the same as Lebbaeus Thaddaeus, of Matthew 10:3 and Mark
3:18. Judas Lebbaeus Thaddaeus didn’t understand Jesus was speaking about an
INTERNAL MANIFESTATION or disclosure of His presence. So in verse 23 -
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, HE WILL KEEP MY WORD;
and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with
him.”
This is why I couldn't sing “O, how I love (agape) Jesus” - because He defined
agape for Him as OBEDIENCE. He said to love Him is to keep His commandments and
words. One of His commandments is that we should love (agape) one another and
show His love to the lost.
So often we fall short in loving other people with Christ’s “agape” love. I
believe it’s because our “agape” love for Christ has grown cold. Many of us
become like the ancient Ephesian believers. Jesus addressed them in Revelation
2:1-7. There, Jesus said:
1 “To the angel (messenger) of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says
He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the
seven golden lampstands; (the stars and the lampstands are defined by the
previous verse Rev. 1:20, as the messengers and the local churches that Jesus,
the resurrected One in Rev. 1:19, was examining)
2 I know your works (deeds - implied good deeds), your labor (work, to the
point of exhaustion), your patience (endurance), and that you cannot bear those
who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not,
and have found them liars;
3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored (lit. borne up)
for My name’s sake and have not become weary.
Seven good things were in their lives:
GOOD DEEDS,
HARD WORK for the cause of Christ,
ENDURANCE in the faith,
DISAPPROVAL of evil false prophets,
EXPOSURE of those that brought bad messages by examination,
ENDURING PERSECUTION,
And, BEARING the heavy load of PERSECUTION FOR A LONG TIME for Christ.
4 Nevertheless (Literally, “BUT”) I have this against you, that YOU HAVE LEFT
YOUR FIRST LOVE (agape). This could be translated ‘your primary devotion’ --- and
by implication, to Me! To Christ.
Don’t you hear an echo of 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, here in Revelation 2:1-4? This
is where the Apostle Paul said:
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love
(agape), I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy (preaching), and understand all
mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could
remove mountains, but have not love (agape), I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body
to be burned, but have not love (agape), it profits me nothing.
We can be doing the right things - but for the wrong reasons. Jesus says in
effect it’s all unworthy fruit, UNLESS it’s done as a result of our undying
personal love and devotion to Him. Ask yourself, “What truly motivates me, in
my heart of hearts?”
14 For the love of Christ compels us, … (NKJV, NASB also with “controls” for
compels).
This is ambiguous, it could be OUR LOVE for Him as it’s object, or HIS LOVE
towards us. Other's render it "for Christ’s love compels us …" This
is more HIS LOVE towards it’s object.
Good New Testament Greek scholars are divided as to whether this is talking
about: OUR LOVE for Christ OR, HIS LOVE flowing through us.
This verse really presents an interpretive challenge. It leans a little bit,
like 52%-48%, towards HIS LOVE THROUGH US. But the New Testament also
definitely teaches (in verses like Romans 15:16) our ministry to others is to
be motivated by our love for Him. So, we really can’t be a channel of His love
to others without a primary devotion to Him, without the fresh experience of
our “first love.”
Ask yourself Chaplain, “Has my love for Christ grown cold?” “Am I not as truly
devoted to Christ as I used to be?” “Am I slipping in my desire to obey Him?”
If in any sense the honest answer to any of these questions is “Yes,” then the
solution is in the next verse – in Rev. 2:5
5 REMEMBER therefore from where you have fallen; REPENT and DO THE FIRST WORKS,
or else I will come to you quickly (suddenly, with speed) and remove your
lampstand from its place – unless you repent.
The solution is to REMEMBER … REPENT … REDO. All three of these verbs – remember,
repent, and do - in verse 5, are imperatives. They are commands from the Lord
to His servants. If no repentance takes place then Jesus said He would REMOVE
their witness for Him. It’s repent, or else removal.
The Lord alone knows each man’s heart. Could it be some who were once dynamic
gospel witnesses were removed from ministry to the incarcerated BECAUSE their
love for Jesus grew cold and they refused to repent? Well, right here in
Revelation 2 we have God’s word on it, “Yes!”
But we who are convicted that we’ve been disobedient children of God, and have
slipped in our “agape” love for Jesus are encouraged. First, we’re to think
about it. We’re to mull it over in our minds. To put it on a personal level
from this teacher to you - REMEMBER FROM WHERE YOU’VE FALLEN in your past
obedience, and therefore your love for Jesus.
Next, you’re to REPENT and REDO the things you used to do as an expression of
your heart’s devotion to Him alone. Do what He says above all other demands
that seem to come your way. If you’re convicted about letting go of your first
love for Jesus, ask Him to grant you repentance and the ability to redo the
things you used to do in your total devotion to Him.
Lest any true believer should be totally crushed with the thought that they
haven’t loved Jesus like they should, Jesus in Revelation 2, continues and
encourages the guilty -
6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also
hate.
Of all the things the ancient Ephesian believers were doing, apparently the
best was to oppose and expose the false teachers in their midst. I hope that’s
true of every one of you Chaplains that reads (or listens to this) this
message! I think this is more important than our government’s war on terror.
After all, false teaching is spiritual terrorism and those spreading it are
spiritual terrorists!
Applying verse 6 to your life and ministry, after you’ve straightened out your
relationship with your Lord, keep on doing the right things. Our Lord’s
ENCOURAGEMENT to remember, repent and redo the right things to demonstrate our
“agape” love of Him concludes in verse 7.
7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. TO HIM
WHO OVERCOMES, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst
of the Paradise of God.”
Quickly paraphrased - in effect He was saying, PAY ATTENTION TO THIS ISSUE,
THIS IS SERIOUS. To the one getting the victory over their lack of love for Me,
I promise they’ll be with Me in heaven forever.
The OVERCOMERS or victors, aren’t a superior more spiritual class of
Christians, they are ALL TRUE BELIEVERS. 1 John 5:4,5 makes that abundantly
clear. Therefore to the true believer in Christ in any local church of any era,
Christ is promising THEY WILL EVENTUALLY OVERCOME THEIR LACK OF LOVE AND
DIVIDED DEVOTION to Him. That’s encouraging!
A biblical example of this would be Simon Peter, who not only allowed his
“agape” for Jesus to slip but even also his “phile” – affection for Christ, was
superceded by the fear of man when he denied Him three times. But Jesus
encouraged him in John 21:15 - 19, that in the end he would be true and loyal
and loving his Lord, even unto death. In the future HE WOULD HOLD ONTO HIS
“FIRST LOVE.”
I’ll close where I started, in the end of Ephesians 6.
23 Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, FROM God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ.
24 Grace be with ALL THOSE WHO LOVE OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IN SINCERITY.
This was a prayer from Paul for the saved in
At the same time, you and I have a responsibility to actively love Him more
than anything else in our life. If this were not so, Jesus would not have
condemned the Ephesians in Revelation 2. But, the ability to do it, to really
love with “agape” love the Lord Jesus Christ – has to come FROM HIM!
May it be a reality in your life and ministry.
Rich Hines –