love

  • More on love for the brethren (George Whitefield’s Journals)

    In a post last week I shared my struggle with loving my brothers and sisters in Christ. Then yesterday I posted some excerpts from Evan Roberts’ biography “Instrument of Revival” on love for the brethren. Today I’d like to post some words from “George Whitefield’s Journals” on the love and unity in the Body of Christ.


    Saturday, Feb. 25, 1738. … Oh, when will that come, when all differences about externals shall be taken away, and we all with one heart, and one mouth glorify our Lord Jesus Christ!     (132)

    Monday, Feb. 27, 1738. Went to the church, and did as yesterday; and was visited afterwards by two of the Nonconforming Society, who seemed to be Israelites indeed. I exhorted them to love and unity , and not to let a little difference about a few externals occasion any narrow-spiritedness to arise in their hearts. I advised them to come and hear me expound int he church, which they did; and providentially the Lesson was the 4th of the Ephesians, from whence I took occasion to urge on them the necessity of loving one another with a catholic disinterested love, to be of one heart and one mind, and to join without respect of persons in hastening the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope God gave a blessing to what was said, for I observed they came constantly afterwards, and was told there was a perfect harmony between them. What infinite mischief have needless divisions occasioned in the Christian world! Divide et impera, is the Devil’s motto. (133)

    Wednesday, April 18, 1739. Preached this morning with power to a much larger congregation than we had last night. Several servants of God said they never saw the like before. We shall see greater things than these; for almost every day persons of all denominations come unto me, telling how they intercede in my behalf. And it shall now be my particular business, wherever I go, to bring all the children of God, notwithstanding their differences, to rejoice together. How dare we not converse with those who have received the Holy Ghost as we? (253)

     

    Acts 10:44  While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45  And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. 46  For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, 47  “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 

     

    Now (We need this now, O Lord! Be merciful and gracious to us, for certainly You see how we struggle with loving one another and we have so often grieved you … We have seen how the devil delights to divide us and conquer! Yet  we know that You who dwell in us are greater than he who is in the world. May we sober and on the alert against the enemy’s crafty schemes so we might be more than conquerors and not end up as lion’s bait!) – Now, may You, the God of patience and endurance and the God of consolation and encouragement work in us through Your Holy Spirit (the one Spirit who breathed life into all us and united us in Christ, the one Spirit whom we share and who now dwells in us) so we might live in harmony with one another and be like-minded toward one toward another in accord with Christ Jesus: That we may be one, so together we may with one mind, one heart and one voice glorify You, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. May we welcome one another as Christ Himself received us, to Your glory, O God. (For when we don’t welcome one another, we rob You of Your due glory.) Grant us patience and endurance, so we might be instruments of consolation and encouragement to one another so we might reflect Your gracious dealings with us in Jesus Christ. Amen.

     

    More on Whitefield and love and unity in the Church:

    Other related posts:

     

    Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

     

  • Love for the brethren (Evan Roberts & the Welsh Revival of 1904-05)

    In my last post I wrote on my struggle to love my brothers and sisters in Christ as I ought.

    During times of revival, differences on nonessential matters seem to grow strangely dim in the light of God’s glory and grace. The true oneness we share becomes more visible as the Holy Spirit falls and works to purify believers and impart a greater love for our God as well as for one another. (How can we say we’re part of the family of God if we’re not loving the other family members as our heavenly Father loves them?)

    I’ve been reading “An Instrument of Revival: The Complete Life of Evan Roberts, 1878-1951″ (Brynmor Pierce Jones, Bridge Publishing: South Plainfield, NJ, 1995). Evan Roberts was used by God in the Welsh Revival of 1904-05. He had a God-given desire for the brothers and sisters in Christ to love one another as Jesus Christ has loved us. Here are some excerpts from the book (boldface, mine).

         Perhaps the greatest sensation occurred on 22 December when Evan gave time and opportunity to a Turk and then to an Armenian whose people had suffered at the hands of the Turks. He wanted to illustrate one of his personal burdens: “If you do not love the brethren there is no unity. If you have received the Savior you should be one with each other.” Evan often rebuked those who prayed for only their own chapel, denomination or country. One of his finer sermons, based on the Archdruid’s call at the National Eisteddfod, advocated peace and unity at every level of life.

         It seems sad, therefore, that the freedoms given to English and European visitors caused discontent. Giving them the best seats was bad enough; now they were given time to make platform speeches instead of being content to join in the prayer and praise. To ministers like Dr. Morris and William Evans, it seemed an abuse of the spiritual liberty that Evan Roberts had advocated. Another prominent Welsh preacher, Dr. Cynddylan Jones, sent a letter to the Western Mail (December 22nd) to warn off the eloquent professional evangelists. Even the friendly journalists, Awstin, said these outsiders’ long speeches were embarrassing. Evan Roberts never really solved that problem. How could one say, “You all have full liberty in the Spirit to speak as you are prompted, but you are not to make speeches which trespass on the liberty of others.”
    (61-62)
         The last night of this visit to Aberdare was like a pageant of praise, prayer and testimony. The formerly closed frontiers of age, sex, language and social background were crossed time and again. At length, Evan Roberts stood up in the big seat, a pew usually reserved for deacons. Then he opened his New Testament and slowly and emphatically read the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. In a quiet and solemn voice he emphasized the words, “If I have not love I am nothing––nothing––NOTHING,” and then he sat down. That was all, but it was enough.
    (46)
         On Thursday morning, which happened to be free, a small group accompanied Evan to the snow-clad Rhigos mountain above Hirwaun. Mr. H. Roberts, his walking companion, recalled:

    We were all on pleasure bent and each one of us enjoyed the morning in a different way according to each one’s temperament. It was a fine morning in January. Snow covered the mountains round about and we longed to be as pure as the white flakes that lay thickly at our feet…[The description of the climb continued ...]

    When we made our way to the top, the scene was magnificent. We bowed our heads in prayer to Him who made us all. Evan and one other person made public supplication to the Throne of Grace. . . . I have omitted to tell you that on the way up, Evan Roberts wrote on the snow a word which denotes the key to this revival: L-O-V-E.
    (77-78)

    James 2:1  My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

    Romans 15:5  May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6  that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7  Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

    Holy Father, Send the Spirit of Your Son to work in me the love for You and for Your children that I ought to have as Your child.
    May I not grieve, quench or limit Him.



    Related:

    Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  • quick update/prayer requests – June 1, 2010

    Dear friends in Christ,

    I’ve found myself in the midst of writing another post on transparency and intimacy in our relationships within the Body of Christ as a follow-up to these:

    I’d appreciate your prayers for writing (as usual).

    However, as I’ve been working on this post, as sometimes happens, the Holy Spirit convicted me once more of my lack of love for my brothers and sisters in Christ. (Blogging for my own sanctification = Priceless. As has been said, if the preacher is not preaching the message first to himself, then what kind of effect can his message really have on his congregation, what kind of life will inhabit his words if the words haven’t broken him first?)

    How could I not be convicted when I found myself writing and then asking myself questions like these (I’m not actually sure these will make it to the final post or not…I’ve been changing it up a bit since I first wrote these, but haven’t gotten to editing this section of the post yet):

    When we don’t have such fellowship with our brothers and sisters who are in the light, can we say we are God’s beloved children?

    When we don’t have such fellowship with our brothers and sisters who are in the light, can we say we are walking in love toward them?

    When we don’t have such fellowship with our brothers and sisters who are in the light, can we say we are loving them as Christ loved us?

    When we don’t have such fellowship with our brothers and sisters who are in the light, can we say we are a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God?

    The Lord once again caught me in my impatience toward, lack of love for, and judgmental attitudes toward those in the Body who may not believe exactly the same as I do. I’m not talking about differences in essential doctrine. To tell you the truth, I’m pretty sure I’ve never met anyone who believes exactly the same as me on the nonessentials. Even though I highly value unity in the Body, I still keep tripping up and trying to remake people into my own image. Grrr! Make war against self! Make war against the lust to scheme and manipulate! Yes, I am so much a Jacob. *sigh*

    Sure, there are things I can pray for people that I believe they ought to be growing in, but I can’t be the Holy Spirit to them. And besides that, who’s to say my understanding is 100% correct. Please! Self-centered much?! All I know is that I’m to lift up Christ, to present the Word of God as the Spirit shows me and empowers me, and to do so in love (it’s not really the Spirit’s work if it’s not bathed in love, is it?!), to pray expectantly (yes, pray more!) and to be patient and to trust the Lord to work as He wills and not maneuver and usurp the Holy Spirit’s unique place in convicting, teaching and guiding His people into all truth – that’d be His truth, not my version of it.

    Once more I Corinthians 16:13-14 came to mind:

    13  Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14  Let all that you do be done in love. 

    Yes, we’re to be watchful, stand firm in the faith, and be strong…but along with that we’re to let all we do be done IN LOVE!

    Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner…I have a hard time loving like You loved me.

    I John 4:20  If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21  And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. 

    Um, brain drain…there was something else I’d wanted to share here, I think, but I can’t remember it right now. Well, this is plenty, and this is plenty important.

    So, I guess this is my small step of obedience into a little more transparency. (Practice what you blog, or rather blog what you practice, right? Isn’t that part of what James was talking about ~ James 3…)

    Thank you for coming here to read. I thank and praise God for each of you and very much appreciate your prayers and your kind words and support. 

    If there are any ways I can be praying for you, please let me know.

    Yours in Christ, a sinner saved and sustained by His grace alone,

    Karen