"Love one another with brotherly affection...since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart."
(Romans 12:10; 1 Peter 1:22 ESV)
One of the most important discoveries that I have made in regards to Christian living is that the commandments of God are not only about behaviors and desires, but also about feelings and emotions. Once I read Jonathan Edwards Religious Affections I began to understand and experience a whole new dimension to my life. If you have never read this, you are truly missing out on a monumental Christian work. This treatise will not only challenge you in the way you think about your own salvation, but it will challenge you to think more deeply about everything in your life. In many ways, reading Edwards for the first time is like discovering a world which you knew very little about. His thoughts are profound and very much worth the time and effort to understand. Edwards said "True religion, in great part, consists in holy affections."
Paul Webb defines Religious Affections this way:
Religious affections —
have a divine source;
are caused by the nature of God alone, not self-interest;
focus on the beauty of God’s righteousness;
are based on an intellectual understanding of what is Godly;
have a reasonable basis for a belief in the reality of the divine;
are not proud, but humble;
change our inner being;
express the gentle temperment of Jesus Christ;
create a tenderness of spirit;are balanced in expression;move us to be Godly;cause us to be Christ-like.
This helps us to understand the nature of God's commanding us to feel. He commands, "Delight in the Lord" (Psalm 37:4). He commands, "Rejoice in the Lord" (Phil. 4:4). He commands, "Weep with those who weep" (Rom. 12:15). He commands, "Be thankful" (Col. 3:15). He commands, "Be miserable and mourn and weep" (Jam. 4:9). He commands, "Fear the one who after he has killed has the power to cast into hell" (Luke 12:5). And so on.
Here in Romans 12:10 He commands us to feel affection towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is radical. He is not just commanding us to speak loving words and do loving acts; He is commanding us to FEEL loving feelings.
There is a very common and popular way of looking at God and our own wills and emotions that says: God will not command of us what we cannot do. And since we cannot by an act of will start feeling affection for someone, God would not require this of us. Or to put it another way, "I'm not a feeling or affectionate person by nature, therefore, God would not ask me to do something that isn't my nature to do." I find that most people are people are consciously and unconsciously controlled by that particular view of things.
John Piper describes how it works,
"So we read a command like, "Love one another with tender affection," and, without even thinking, we excuse ourselves on the basis of the fact that we cannot at this moment produce by an act of will such tender affection. Therefore we conclude it cannot be a real command, and we are not guilty if we don't have the affection because we are not really responsible for the spontaneous affections and emotions of our hearts...This is a deeply defective way of seeing God and of understanding your own emotions."
The truth of the matter is that if God is God then God has a right to command that we feel anything we ought to feel whether we feel it or not! The fact is that our hearts are so distorted by sin that we often times don't feel what we ought to feel. Not only are our behaviors and words sinful; so also are our emotions sinful. God has every right to command what is right and good and fitting for us to feel. We are responsible to feel what God commands us to feel. God has the right to tell you what you should feel toward others, and you and I are accountable for our emotions.
How can you begin to feel affection when you don't feel affection? How can you obey the commands to feel certain things? To become the kind of person who loves believers with affection:
1. You need to know that God commanded you to Love one another with brotherly affection..."fervently love one another from the heart."
2. You need to know that these things belong to the very nature of your newness in Christ. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. "(2 Cor.5:17)
3, You need to admit that you can’t be this kind of person without divine enablement (you can’t create real affection) "For apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)
4. You need to remember and preach to yourself the love that God has felt for you in Christ. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies (literally, in view of God's mercies) of God” (Romans 12:1). Wake up to God's love towards you. Revel in it. Revel in mercy. And affections for God’s people will grow and you will love to love them. Preach to yourself,, "By the mercies of God, I will love others with brotherly affection.
5. You need therefore to pray earnestly and regularly that God would do whatever he has to do to make you more and more into this kind of affectionate and honoring person. "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples." (John 15:7-8)
Perhaps you are balking that God might birth affection in your heart for God's people. Remember how the angel Gabriel came to Mary and told here that as a virgin she would get pregnant with the Son of God. She balked, like you may be balking now—that God might birth in you affection for God's people. But he said, "Nothing will be impossible with God." Do not deny the power of God in your life. Remember what Paul said in Philippians 4:19,
"I can do all things (this means I can affectionately love my brothers and sisters) through him who strengthens me."
So I plead with you be more serious when you read the commands to feel certain kinds of emotions and feelings. I call you to it. Let's pursue it together for God's glory and our joy.
Longing for a deeper, wider, higher, and more affectionate love towards others,
Pastor Bill
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