Take the Risk – Love the Saints

 

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in

Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,”

Colossians 1:3-4 

Right now, the enemy of the church is working overtime to create division within our ranks.

We have always had Baptists, Pentecostals, Lutherans, Charismatics, Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians and on and on.

Each has their own doctrinal distinctive which can often serve better to divide than unite.

We have pre-tribulation and post-tribulation rapture camps.

We have always had the feuds about music styles and what kinds of instruments are acceptable in worship, what is the local churches role in the community, the work and evidence of the Holy Spirit in the church and so forth

There are very few days that pass that we don’t hear of some church that has split because of this or that but now - 

We have the masked and the unmasked

We have the vaccinated and the unvaccinated

We have the go to church crowd and the stay at home crowd

It seems like we have a whole new set of reasons, another whole layer added just so we can disagree and in turn, struggle to love all the saints.

But this challenge is hardly new.

Look at the division that existed in Jesus’ day between Jews and Samaritans.

The Samaritans were looked down upon as ‘half-breeds’ by most Jews.

And if the Samaritans were considered unworthy by the Jews consider the even more intense rift between Jew and Gentile.

How about the divisions among the rulers of the Jews? It seems the only unifying theme between the often feuding Pharisees and Sadducees was their mutual hatred of Jesus.

There were divisions between genders, between Romans and Jews and on and on the list went even back then.

So let’s not think that Paul’s recognition in his letter to the Colossians of their love for all the saints was somehow easier back then than it is today among different folks.

Few things in life are riskier than love.

Perhaps loving all the saints is a risk for you.

Let me be even more direct, sooner or later, loving all the saints will require risk and maybe even a bit of faith on your part!

Perhaps, like me, you are not normally a risk taker.

You like to play it safe.

Left to your own devices you would surround yourself only with others who are like you in so many ways. You try to create a risk free zone around your life but in so doing you must carefully consider that a risk free zone can also be a love free zone.

God Loves You – A Saint-in-Progress

 

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in

Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,”

Colossians 1:3-4 

Here’s a provocative question, so after I ask it, I hope you’ll still love me...

after all I am also a saint-in-progress just like you!

So here goes with my question -

Are there any prostitutes, deceivers or murderers reading this post?

I ask that rhetorically of course!

We must understand that God used some people maybe just a little different from me and you...and maybe just people who were a little tougher to love.

He used a prostitute (Rahab) to hide some spies and then, knowing her past, still He put her in the bloodline of the Messiah

He used a schemer and deceiver named Jacob who basically stole his father Abraham’s blessing. Yep, he’s in the bloodline too! 

God used an accessory to murder, Saul of Tarsus, and yet after his conversion he wrote a huge portion of the New Testament.

Keep in mind though that God loved each one of them while they were yet sinners!

So what has any of that got to do with loving all the saints?

Everything really!

If each of us is a work in progress then maybe, just maybe, we are called to love less than perfect people.

I know, I know, it sounds obvious but in practice it is very easy to forget. 

But here’s a fair question for you to ask:

“Since we are also called to love even our enemies wouldn’t loving the saints be a whole lot easier?”

You would think so but...

Not always.

You see we often keep our enemies at arm’s length, not so that

‘saint of a sister’ or that crazy saint brother in the seat behind me in church!

This question may be wearing on you but...

Do you have love for all the saints?

You Mean I Have to Love THAT Saint?

 

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in

Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,”

Colossians 1:3-4 

 

Here’s that pesky question yet again -

Do you have love for all the saints?

Maybe it’s not such a simple question after all!

It’s much easier to just answer yes but always a little tougher – no make that – a lot tougher to actually do it.

Here’s something I’ve discovered along the way and you would probably say “Me too”:

Among all the saints are some people who hold very different views on any number of topics than you do...

Well imagine that!

When you consider them, do you still have love for all the saints?

Among all the saints are some people who come from a significantly different culture...

Well imagine that!

When you consider those people you know, remember now it’s believers I’m speaking of, whose cultural traditions may be quite different from yours, tell me - do you still have love for all the saints?

Follow me now on this next one -

Also among all the saints are some people who may have hurt or offended you...

Ouch, well imagine that!

Sometimes saints can be so easily offended.

So, when you consider those ‘saints’ who have hurt or offended you,

can you still have love for all those saints?

See, I warned you this might not be such an open and shut question to consider!

In answering the question it might be helpful to consider Jesus.

In particular these words taken from Romans chapter 5 and verse 8:

“...while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Or how about Hebrews 12:3 – Let me read that to you from the English Standard Version –

“Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself,

so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

So, while we were dirty rotten scoundrels in the presence of a holy, perfect, loving God, He sent His Son to die for us.

“...while we were yet sinners...”

You and me were in that group of ‘yet sinners’ but now we are part of ‘all the saints’.

How exactly did that happen?

Must have been amazing grace!

So, even after considering the grace that has been freely and lavishly applied to your life let me ask you one last time –

Do you have love for all the saints?

That is, for those offending, hurtful, culturally unlike and different point of view kind of saints?

Those are the saints I’m talking about!

Those are the saints we are commanded to love.

Those who were also ‘yet sinners’ like you and me.

 

A ‘Work-in-Progress’ Saint

 

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in

Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,”

Colossians 1:3-4

Scripturally speaking, the “saints” are the body of Christ,

Christians, disciples of Christ, believers, you and me.

All believers are considered saints.

Now chew on this for a moment:

All Christians are saints (present tense)—and at the same time are called to be saints (future tense).

So what’s going on here?

It’s simple really, we are saints positionally due to the finished work of Christ in us but we are also “saints-in-progress” through the process of sanctification.

First Corinthians 1:2 states it clearly:

 “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy…”

The words “sanctified” and “holy” come from the same Greek root as the word that is commonly translated “saints.”

So I suppose I could paraphrase 1st Corinthians 1:2 this way by substituting the word ‘saints’ where it now reads ‘sanctified’ and ‘holy’ and still keep the intention of the writer.

Here is what it would say:

To the church of God in Corinth, to those saints in Christ Jesus and called to be saints...

We see then both the positional status and the sanctification process in that one verse.

Christians are saints by virtue of their relationship to Jesus Christ.

Christians are called to be saints, that is to increasingly allow their daily life to more closely match their position in Christ.

This is the biblical description and calling of the saints.

So I ask you –

Do you love all the saints?

Do you love the work-in-progress believers that each one of us is?

Does your love allow for some immaturity as well as some imperfections

 in your fellow saints as well as in you?

Remember we are all a ‘work- in- progress’ saint!

 

Saints Alive!

 

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in

Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,”

Colossians 1:3-4

  

“...Love that you have for all the saints.”

Just eight words to consider.

But as we do I want to pose this question and challenge each of us with it:

Do you have love for all the saints?

Just exactly what do I mean and who am I talking about when I use the word ‘saints’? 

I’ll give you a hint; I’m not taking about a football team down in New Orleans.

When I use the term ‘saints’ I am not speaking about a bunch of dead people who are long gone and who have been immortalized with statues and halos.

You know the type.

I will be speaking using the biblical understanding of a saint and not just the few people that some consider saints through their traditions or man-made religious thoughts. 

What exactly then is a ‘saint’?

Are you a saint? Am I a saint?

The word “saint” comes from the Greek word hagios, which means

 “consecrated to God, holy, sacred, pious."

In scripture it is almost always used in the plural, “saints.”

Let me give you a few examples of its use:

"…Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to your saints at Jerusalem" (Acts 9:13).

"Now as Peter was traveling through all those regions, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda" (Acts 9:32).

"And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons …” (Acts 26:10).

So in each of those cases we saw the plural use of the word ‘saints’.

There is only one instance of the singular use, and that is in Philippians 4:21

"Greet every saint in Christ Jesus…" 

But even in this one instance a plurality of saints is in view: notice that it said “…every saint…”

The definition, then of the word “saints” is a group of people set apart for the Lord and His kingdom.

And please note that these people are very much alive!

There isn’t a dead one among them.

SAINTS ALIVE!

A New Command?

 

“A new command I give you: Love one another.

As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:34-35

  

            Have you ever wondered why Jesus would tell the disciples to love one another and then call it a new command?

What was so new about loving one another?

I thought that command was around forever?

I believe the key lies in the very next verse when Jesus says: “As I have loved you.”

We are told in Romans that God demonstrated His love for us.

How did He do that?

Through Jesus, the Word made flesh.

Jesus became a living display, a demonstration of the Fathers’ love.

The love of the Father, as revealed through His Son, had not been seen before.

So Jesus links together for us the new command of not simply loving one another but loving one another as Jesus loves us.

His love was evident by His actions.

His love was to lay down His life for us. 

Not simply to surrender it to a force greater than His but to voluntarily lay it down.

That was a new command indeed.

Under the law, I might be persuaded to leave some crops in the field for the poor to glean but certainly not lay down my life for those less fortunate than me, not to mention laying it down for my enemies!

And yet, Jesus demonstrated the love of the Father, while we were yet sinners. 

In other words, Jesus displayed Gods’ love to His enemies – He extended Gods’ love to His enemies – including you and me.

A hot topic in the job market now is personal branding.

Labeling and marketing yourself in a way that sets you apart from everyone else.

What ‘brands’ you and makes you unique?

As disciples, we should be ‘branded’ by our love.

Love for the Lord, love for one another, love for our neighbor and love for our enemies.

In doing this we make a personal declaration to the earth that we belong to Christ.

“A new command…As I have loved you…”

God Reveals Himself to Us

 

Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

John 14:23

 

I have always appreciated the way that the King James Version translates the word ‘show’ in the verse above.

It uses the word ‘manifest’.

Manifest is defined as: to make clear or evident; show plainly; reveal.

We find then that the verse above links two things together; love and revelation.

But if you examine it again, note that it is not two things linked together but three.

We also find revelation is tied to obedience because the one who truly loves the Lord will obey His commands.

Maybe you can think of it as a three stranded cord: love, obedience and revelation.

My love for God is evident by my obedience to Him.

As I love Him. As I obey Him, He reveals Himself to me. God manifests Himself, i.e. God makes Himself clear and evident.

To the one who loves Him and obeys Him He plainly shows Himself.

Jesus said, in John 17:3, that eternal life was knowing the Father,

the only true God and His Son Jesus Christ.

So we understand a second purpose in Gods’ love.

Previously we spoke of a purpose of His love was that we would be a dwelling place for Him on earth.

Today we see that another purpose of His love is that He might reveal Himself to us.

Thus we are not simply containers for His glory.

He desires us to be in intimate relationship with Him!