Expressing Faith Through Love

Last Sunday we were exhorted from the Word of God of the importance of joyfulness in Christian living. Today we are looking at the importance of expressing faith through love.

It's very possible that Christians can labour in vain with no real benefit to themselves or the cause of Christ.

Servants of Christ  need to know what counts and what really makes a difference; that what we spend our time and energy doing is a game changer. Christian activities and spiritual pursuits must count for something. How dreadful the thought that all that we have done is religiously vain, and of no value to Christ and His Kingdom.

Psalm 127:1 "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain."

The very idea of labouring in vain was the Apostles worst nightmare. Nothing irked him more than to know that his time and energy spent was for nothing.

Galatians 4:11, "I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you...what happened to all your joy? And then he goes on to say...it is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be always and not just when I am with you." (v.15, 18)

In Isaiah 49:4 it reads, "Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing, and in vain..."

Note these are not the words of Isaiah, who was called by God at a mature age. No, they are Christ's own words, spoken by One "called...from the womb; from the tummy of my mother...The Lord...formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, (and to gather Israel)" (49:1, 5)

This maybe just too much for us to comprehend; but how wonderful! Our Lord is like us! He expressed His feelings about wasting His strength and labouring in vain. It was our Lord's concern! He was concerned that his mission would be for nothing. It's said in the gospel of John 1:11 "he came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him."

Matthew 23:37, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who sent to you, how often have I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing."

Isn't this an expression of despondency...admission of failure...that the mission to revive Israel wasn't going so will...that His mission was appearing as a decimal failure?

Christ came into the world to fulfill the will of God by revival Israel. And He did just as He was commanded, with not a single word spoken or deed performed except as directed by the Father. Jesus was at the very center of the will of God, given total authority and the most powerful message. But Israel rejected him: "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." (John 1:11)

Think about this: Jesus preached to a generation that saw amazing miracles: blind eyes opened, deaf ears able to hear, the lame made to walk. Yet His miracles were repudiated and belittled, and his words were ignored, unable to pierce the people’s hardened hearts. In fact, His preaching only angered the religious sect.

His own disciples decided His words was too difficult to understand and walked away from Him. In the end, even his closest friends, the chosen twelve, forsook Him. And the nation that Jesus came to gather back to the Father cried, "Crucify Him!"

To any human eye Christ failed utterly in His mission. We find Him at the end of His ministry weeping over Jerusalem, lamenting over rejection, weeping over His apparent failure to gather them, His hopes seemly dashed. But wait a minute!

Let's go back to Isaiah 49 where it says "I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing."

Now look at the last part of that verse. It says, "Yet what is due me is in the LORD's hand, and my reward is with my God."

Now with all that said, it's The LORD who determines whether or not our Christian activities are fruitful, of purpose and in vain. He is the judge of everything.

Galatians 5: 6b,

The bottom line is here church is that "The love of Christ" must be our compelling force; this to be our motivating principle in Christian service. Much of Christian ministry is success driven rather than love driven. Our primary duty is love: Love God, love Jesus, love the church, love the lost, and love your neighbor.

All too often the worth of Christian ministry is weighed on the scale of success. Success is not the most important issue in Christian service. The Apostle Paul said, "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."

For some "The only thing that counts is adhering to some religious rule expressing itself through conformity." For the Galatians it was imposition of circumcision. That was Paul's deep concern; as matter of fact, he was diametrically opposed to it. He said, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1)

Serving Christ is not a burden...it isn't a yoke...it is freedom expressing itself in love. Bitterness is burden. Hatred is a yoke of slavery. But love is purposeful, wonderful...delightful and beautiful.

Read 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8 (end with love never fails, love never gives up...never quits...never losses hope...it keeps on ticking...)

How often have you been tempted to throw in the towel and give up? We all have been at one time or another. I'm sure it must have crossed the Apostle mind.

When you are thinking "what's the use?" or "what's the point of it all?" "Why am I doing this anyway?” Ask yourself is this: "Do I love my Lord? Do I love the people around me?" "Do I love souls and those who are lost and on the road to hell?"

Do I serve because I love or is it for some other reason? If it's love you will persevere and you will keep trusting and you will remain faithful and continue in His grace.

Many great servants of God throughout history ended up feeling they failed in their calling but the truth is no one should be considered a failure when their faith is expressed through love for Christ and His church.

John Calvin, one of the fathers of the Reformation, had awful experience. He said in his dying hour, "All that I have done is of no value."

Saint Bernard endured this terrible despondency. He wrote in his latter day, "I have failed in my purpose...my words and my writings have been a failure."

David Livingstone was the world's most useful missionary, his achievements recognized even recognized by the world. Livingstone opened up the African continent to the gospel, sowing much seed and used by God to awaken England for missions. Yet, on his twenty-third year on the mission field, Livingstone expressed awful doubts as other great servants. He too had felt his ministry had been all in vain. He said, "All that I have done has only opened up Africa to the slave trade. The mission societies bear no fruit after twenty-three years of labour. All work seems to be in vain...I have laboured for nothing."

Another great missionary by the name of George Bowen who turned from wealth and fame to become a missionary in Bombay, India in the mid-1800.He gave up his mission support and chose to live among the very poorest. He dressed as the Indians did, and embraced poverty, living in humble dwellings and subsisting sometimes only on bread and water. He preached on the streets in smelting weather, distributing gospel literature and weeping over the lost.

This amazing devoted man went to India with high hopes for the ministry of the gospel.

And he has given everything toward that end, his heart, mind, body and spirit. Yet, in his forty-plus years of ministry in India, Bowen had not one convert. It was only after his death that mission societies discovered he was one of the most beloved missionaries in the nation. Even heathen idol-worshipers looked to Bowen as the example of what a Christian is. Yet like so many before him, Bowen endured a terrible sense of failure. He wrote, "I am the most useless being in the church. God bruises and crushes me with disappointments. He builds me up, and then permits me to fall back to nothing. I would like to set with job, and I sympathize with Elijah. My labour has all been in vain."

Whether or not we agree with someone having those feelings because it sounds like unbelief, it is the language of many great men of faith.

Feelings come and feelings go but the one thing we need to know is this, "the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love."

The reason we stay the course and persevere and stay with the program is "Christ love compels us...his love controls us. His love overmasters us because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died." (2 Corinthians 5:14)

His love is the reason for Paul's extraordinary zeal. He was influenced by the love which Christ has shown and dying for all people. Paul speaks of "His dying for all" as the reason why he was urged on to the course of self-denial. He gave himself to his great work impelled by the love which Christ has shown.