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Authors: Jerry Bridges
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GROWING IN LOVE
It is obvious that the love we have been considering can be produced in our hearts only by the Spirit of God. Paul wrote to the Thessalonian believers, “You yourselves have been taught by God to love each other” (1 Thessalonians 4:9). And yet just a few words later Paul says, “Yet we urge you, brothers, to [love] more and more” (verse 10). Once again, and especially as we draw to the close of these studies on godly character, we must review this principle: Godlike character is both the fruit of the Spirit as He works within us and the result of our personal efforts. We are both totally dependent upon His working within us and totally responsible for our own character development. This is an apparent contradiction to our either-or type of thinking, but it is a truth taught over and over in the Scriptures.
How then can we fulfill our responsibility to love “more and more”? Recognizing that love is an inner disposition of the soul produced only by the Holy Spirit, what can we do to fulfill our responsibility? First, as we have already seen, the Spirit of God uses His word to transform us. Therefore, if we want to grow in love, we must saturate our minds with Scriptures that describe love and show its importance to us. First Corinthians 13:1-3, for example, tells us of the emptiness of all knowledge, abilities, and zeal apart from love. First Corinthians 13:4-7 describes love in terms of specific attitudes and actions. Romans 13:8-10 describes love in terms of fulfilling the law of God in our lives. We have already looked at the two passages in 1 John in terms of giving and forgiving. Do you truly want to grow in love? Then you must begin by meditating on some of these love passages.
The second thing we must do is pray for the Holy Spirit to apply His word to our hearts and to our daily lives. Paul did not just exhort the Thessalonians to grow in love; he looked to the Lord to work in their hearts: “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you” (1 Thessalonians 3:12). As we see instances in our lives of failing to love, we should confess them to God, asking Him to help us grow in those specific areas and be more sensitive to such occasions in the future.
Finally, we must obey. We must do those things that love dictates. We must do no harm to our neighbor (Romans 13:10); we must meet our neighbor’s needs and forgive our neighbor’s wrongs against us. We must put his interests before our own, and we must reach out and embrace our brother in Christ. But we must do all this in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, who works in us to will and to act according to His good purpose.
Does this all sound too methodical? Can we in fact structure love? No; nor can we structure the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But we can structure our responsibilities in seeking to grow in love. We can decide to meditate on Scripture—and set aside a time to do it. We can decide to pray over our need to grow in love—and set aside time to do it. We can think of people who need our time, our interest, or our money, and plan to meet those needs. We can admit our failures to love in specific situations and bring those failures to God in confession and dependence upon Him for His help in the future.
All these things we can do, and we must do, if we are to grow in the grace of love. But we must do them all in the utter realization that only God can cause love to grow within our souls. And we know that it is His will that we grow in love.
As we do our part, we can count on God to perform His, not because our working obligates Him to work, but because He is a gracious and loving God, and He wants us to become gracious and loving children of His.
18
Reaching the Goal
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race,
I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7
The practice of godliness is a discipline. It requires serious commitment and persevering effort to reach the goal. Writing to the Philippians near the end of his life from a Roman prison cell, Paul acknowledged that he had not yet reached it. He was still running the race of godliness; he still wanted to know Christ more and become more like Him.
What kept Paul going as he strained toward what was ahead? What motivating factor did he count on when he wrote to Timothy, “train yourself to be godly,” fully knowing that such training was an arduous task, full of difficulties and discouragements? Someone has remarked that desire without discipline breeds disappointment, but discipline without desire breeds drudgery. Was the pursuit of a godly life a drudgery to Paul? Did he expect Timothy in his discipline toward godliness simply to grit his teeth and endure the Christian life?
PAUL’S MOTIVATION
Paul’s description of his own practice of godliness, in Philippians 3:12-14, answers these questions. He was deeply motivated. There is no suggestion of either disappointment or drudgery. He was running a disciplined race, but he was running it with strong desire. What was the source of Paul’s motivation, the object of his strong desire? Let’s take a close look at the passage in Philippians:
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Paul admitted that he had not obtained the goal of godliness. He had not yet been made perfect; he was still running the race. Note the intensity, though, of his running. He declares, “I press on ... straining toward what is ahead.” The word translated “press on” is the same word translated “pursue” in such passages as 1 Timothy 6:11, 2 Timothy 2:22, and 1 Peter 3:11. It is also the same word for “persecute,” which means to track down and harass or torment. It is a word of great intensity. “Strain toward” brings to our minds the attitude of the runner with his eye fixed firmly on the goal, his body bent forward, every muscle and nerve in his body straining to reach the goal. Anyone who has ever seen the look of agony on the faces of runners straining for the tape can readily recognize the intensity conveyed by the verb “strain toward.” Yet this intensity was Paul’s experience, day in and day out. Paul never had an off season; he never slacked off in his efforts. It was a lifelong discipline. How could he sustain such intensity? Was it because of his intense personality, and thus unique to him and those of like temperament? Or was there a motivation in Paul’s heart that should be the common experience of every Christian?
In verses 12 and 14, Paul speaks of two motivating factors. In verse 12 he presses on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of him. In verse 14 he presses on to win the prize for which God had called him heavenward in Christ Jesus. The first speaks of God’s
objective
for him; the second speaks of God’s
reward
for him. Let us look at each of these to see how they so strongly motivated Paul.
objective
for him; the second speaks of God’s
reward
for him. Let us look at each of these to see how they so strongly motivated Paul.
CHRIST’S OBJECTIVE FOR US
Paul pressed on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of him. He earnestly strove to reach Christ’s objective for him. What was this objective? Titus 2:14 tells us that Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” Christ Jesus’ objective in dying for us was to redeem us
from
sin—not merely from its penalty, but from its power and dominion. The same thought is expressed in the word purify, which speaks of the inward cleansing from the pollution and defilement of sin.
from
sin—not merely from its penalty, but from its power and dominion. The same thought is expressed in the word purify, which speaks of the inward cleansing from the pollution and defilement of sin.
Ephesians 5:25-27 expresses the same idea of Christ giving Himself for His church “to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” That is Christ’s objective for us. That is why He died. That is the purpose for which He took hold of Paul on the Damascus road and for which He takes hold of us individually to bring us to faith in Himself. He died to save us not only from the guilt of sin, but from sin’s power and pollution. He died not to make us happy, but to make us holy.
But there is still more to Christ’s objective for us. Titus 2:14 also speaks of us as “a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” A people of “his very own” refers to His Lordship in our lives: “You are not your own; you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). “Eager to do what is good” refers to the working out of the fruit of the Spirit, the traits of godly character in our lives.
This, then, is the objective for which Christ Jesus took hold of Paul, and for which He has taken hold of us: He intends to make us holy—to purify us from the pollution of sin in our lives. He intends to be Lord of our lives, and He intends that we exhibit the traits of godly character.
That was Paul’s objective also. That was the goal toward which he pressed, the aim of his strenuous effort. It would have been unthinkable to Paul to pursue any other aim in life than that for which Christ Jesus had taken hold of him.
Note how God-centered Paul’s motivation was. It was the keen awareness of Christ’s objective for him that caused Paul to press on with such intensity. How different we so often are from Paul. All too often we are motivated by desires other than Christ’s objectives for us. As I have observed earlier, we may often be motivated by a desire for “victory” or a desire to “feel good about ourselves,” or a desire to conform to the lifestyle of the Christian fellowship with which we have become associated. We may even be motivated by pride, by a desire for a good reputation in the community, especially in our church or Christian group.
None of these motivations will sustain a daily “pressing on” such as that which characterized Paul’s life and which should characterize ours. Some of them, such as the desire to conform and the desire for reputation, focus on goals that fall far short of Paul’s goal of godly perfection. These goals can be easily met; we don’t have to deal with inner corruption, only outward acts. Other goals such as a desire for “victory” or “feeling good about ourselves” are basically self-centered goals. Instead of spurring us on, they all too often discourage us because they set up within us a struggle between two self-centered desires: the desire to feel good about ourselves and the desire to indulge ourselves.
The currently popular desire to “feel good about myself” is quite distinct from genuine godly self-respect, however. The former focuses on self; the latter focuses on God. The former depends upon our own efforts or the affirmation of other people; the latter depends upon God’s grace. Godly self-respect is possible when we realize that we are created in the image of God, that we are accepted by God solely on the merits of Jesus Christ, that nothing we will ever do will cause Him to love us more or love us less, and that He has a plan for our lives and will enable us through His Spirit to live out that plan. The person with godly self-respect freely admits that nothing good lives in his sinful nature. But he also knows that nothing—not even his sin or failures—can separate him from God’s love. He has decided that since God has accepted him on the basis of His grace, he will accept himself on the same basis: God’s grace. He therefore looks outside of himself to Christ to find his self-respect. He strives toward the goal not to win acceptance, but because he has already been accepted.
The first of Paul’s motivating drives, then, was the desire to take hold of that for which Jesus Christ took hold of him. He desired perfection in godly character, though he knew he would never attain it in this life. But he knew it was for this purpose that Jesus died for him, and he longed for that purpose to be fulfilled so Jesus Christ might be satisfied. This same earnest desire should motivate each of us today.
BOOK: The Practice of Godliness: Godliness has value for all things
10.92Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads
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