From Where Does Love Come? Part Two

I Timothy 1: 5

“Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.” I Timothy 1: 5

Three characteristics of the foundation of love are mentioned. Explore this triad. First, love flows from the fountain of a pure heart, our present motive.

Heart in the Hebrew language was used in the O.T. because there is not a word for mind or brain. To understand a word in Hebrew it is proper to define it in association with words with which it is linked.

A “pure heart” belongs only to the person made right by the right relationship with Christ. Such a heart can then manifest the fruit of the Spirit, which involves love. 

Psalms 139:23, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts.” In this verse heart and thoughts are linked.

Satan subtly suggests sin is a better alternative than love for the Lord as the path to the good life. The wages of sin can be quite good in today’s competitive market, but there are no benefits and retirement is pure hell.

Matthew 15:19, “For out of the heart proceedeth evil thoughts…” Thus, from Hebrew and Greek it is seen that heart and thoughts are equated. Therefore, Timothy is appealing for followers of Christ to have pure thoughts, the right motives. This is needed for:

“Out of the heart are the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23).

“Man looketh on the outward appearance but God looketh upon the heart” (I Samuel 16:7).

God alone cleanses the heart (Psalms 51: 10, 11).

Pure means not double minded. It was a word used to describe purging an army of all potential traitors. It described milk with no water added to dilute it.

If there is bacteria in a substance it will grow. If there is yeast in bread it will multiply. If there is impurity of thought in a life, it will grow. The mind must be cleansed. It must be cleansed from self-centeredness if it is to have love for Christ.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart.” Literally, He said happy are the pure in heart. You will never find happiness apart from having an undivided mind, that is, God controlled thoughts. Only a pure heart produces love for Christ.

From Where Does Love Come? Part One

I Timothy 1: 5

“Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.” I Timothy 1: 5

Jesus said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God…”

He also said, “…love one another….”

Timothy wrote illustratively of three fountain heads of love. This is the first of two Posts on the subject. This one deals with the meaning of love, and the other the three fountain heads of love. 

The meaning of the word “love” needs to be established before considering its source. “Agape” is the Greek word translated love. It is the selfless, self-giving love of God.  It speaks of full loyalty to God and boundless good will to people. 

Love for God prompts us to let go of whatever we are holding to and latching on to God. Let go and latch on. There is no good in holding on to anything in time of a storm if it isn’t tied down. In the storms of life the only real and sure anchor is Jesus Christ. To love Him means to let go of the unanchored objects offered by the world and latching on to Him.

A baby isn’t born knowing how to love. It is born with the capacity to love, but learns to love or hate by the way the parent relates to it. Perhaps you were deprived of one or both parents who didn’t show you proper love as an infant and loving is difficult for you. There is good news. Along comes the Heavenly Father to show us love and thereby teach us to love.

“We love Him because He first loved us” (I John 4: 19).

Once we love Him and know how He loves us, we are well on our way to knowing how to love one another. He loves us with all of our faults, frailties, and failures. How are we to love others? As He loved us.

Satan subtly wants to divert our love, if not deceive us into not loving. In the intriguing “Screwtape Letters” by C. S. Lewis Satan gives his servant Wormwood advice on how to reduce the effectiveness of Christian love. He suggests dividing a person’s life into concentric circles. The inner circle represents a person’s will. Next is the intellect. Last is one’s fantasies. It is “out there” he suggests keeping a person’s love. The deceiver says to his disciple:

“Do what you will, there is going to be some benevolence, as well as some malice, in your patient’s soul. The great thing is to direct the malice to his immediate neighbors whom he meets and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know.”

In other words, it is easy to talk about loving people in other countries or different locales than we. That does little good. In doing so the deceiver channels our love into lakes of unfulfillment.  Jesus said, “Love your neighbor…”

How Many Contented People Do You Know? Are You One? Part Three

 I Timothy 6: 6 – 11

Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)

Thus, He asserted the reasons He left the glories of Heaven to come to earth. Each of them were with you in mind.

To aid our understanding He uses an analogy of sheep and notes His sheep “find pasture.” This is a reference to provisions. He is going to provide for you. “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory.” Do you really believe that? If so, you are a contented person. Are you?

Then Christ asserted He came to earth that His people, like the sheep of a shepherd, might have two things.

One, that you might have life. This is a reference to protection.

The other had to do with this quality of life which He called abundant life. It is a reference to life with super additives.  This is a reference to profusion. 

To achieve these blessings for us He said, “I lay down my life for my sheep.” (John 10: 15)

After providing us new life, He then desires to enable us to have a contented life. Yet, there are so few people who give any appearance of contentment.

Put the zoom lens of your mind on I Timothy 6: 6. Now bring it into focus the word “contentment.”  It translates the Greek word “autarkeia” meaning “carrying the secret of happiness in itself, completely independent of outward things.” It means to have inner resources that enable you to be unflappable in the face of external circumstances. 

When this secret is discovered and applied, you break free of the bondage to things. You are set free of servitude to things.

However, the devil has set a very appealing snare called materialism.  “The love of money is the root of all evil.”  (I Timothy 6:10)

Money as used here refers to all things material. The desire for material  things is a desire for security that can never be obtained by them. Our society suffers from a “more syndrome.” More is always better, but more is never good enough.  The satisfaction coming from more is short lived at best.

Contentment is basic according to verse 8. The Greek word “autarkeia” translated content has further meaning “to possess unfailing strength that can ward off anxiety and worry.”

Back to the basic premise that  “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory.”  Jesus  also taught that the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of riches tend to choke God’s Word and keep people from contentment (Matt 13:22). Daily choices enable contentment. You choose. 

What Is “Yourself” Worth? 5/23/99

II Timothy 3:1-5

Jesus Christ was asked what is the first and greatest commandment. He answered: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22: 37 – 39).

With incredible agility we have managed to hurdle the first two commandments and make a third to which our generation is inclined to give full devotion. It is the “as yourself” part where we pause and express devotion.

Self-esteem is the issue of the hour. It is the latest educational fad sweeping the country. This movement, which professes to help students make better grades and people in the work force be more productive, began in California. Because of the notoriety given the program, the state of California commissioned a study entitled, “The Social Importance of Self-Esteem.” In part, the critical study revealed “One of the disappointing aspects…is how low the associations between self- esteem and its consequences are in research data.” NO connection was found between promoting self- esteem and enhanced educational performance. The study did expose a false assumption and showed there is no consistent link between low self-esteem and other factors commonly thought to be associated with poor academic achievement, such as child abuse, teen pregnancy, crime, welfare dependency, and substance abuse.” (Marietta Daily Journal 2/27/91, as reported from the “Providence Journal”).

No persons in our society have a greater reason to enjoy a good healthy self-image than Christians. Knowing we human beings are the object of God’s uninhibited love should give dignity and a sense of self-worth like nothing else can.

One of the most thrilling thoughts to course across my mind is, “I am loved — by Almighty God.” W-O-W!

Self-esteem is based on how we perform and what people think of us. It is performance based.

With the rash of violence sweeping our nation answers are being sought. Even some national news casts have made positive reference to the need for a return to moral values. Comments have been made regarding the removal of prayer and the Bible from schools. The removal of virtually any acknowledgment of God and Biblical moral values coupled with the self-esteem indoctrination has left many frustrated.

In the history of the English language the term self-esteem didn’t emerge until early in the 1970’s.

The removal of a Biblical world view has deprived youth of the concept of self-worth. It is needed because none of us can look, perform, and speak sufficiently to gain the approval of the majority. That being true it is inevitable that sooner or later some persons are going to lack self- esteem. At this point they look for some way of gaining popularity.

They confuse being popular with gaining attention. They think that by getting attention they will have good self-worth. Let me illustrate in an absurd way the difference. If I were to have come out on this platform wearing nothing but my yellow polka dotted bikini, I would have gotten your attention. That would not have necessarily made me popular.

A good, wholesome self-image is crucial to mental and social stability. Two extremes afford snares that entrap us and rob us of a balanced self- image. One is egotism; an inflated opinion of self. The other is self-effacement; an inability to accept self. Both are brutal and unforgiving attitudes.

A low self-image is common. Many modern influences dehumanize human beings and make people feel worthless.

Sooner or later self-esteem breaks down.

There is a self-image that gives stability at all times. It is called self-worth. Recently on national TV a golfer leading the field approached the final hole and was spoken to by the commentator. Hear this well. It is what is meant by self-worth. The commentator said the change in his game occurred in 1985 after a dismal round. At that point he and his wife sat in their old car and he changed his spiritual values. He noted the golfer said he had always thought of himself as a golfer and gained his self- esteem from that. When he changed his spiritual values he began to think of himself as something more than a golfer.

What the commentator was saying in closely guarded terms was He became a Christian and as a result came to see himself as being of infinite worth in the eyes of God and that gave him a sense of self-worth. You —- every person —- is of great enough value to God that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. That means a golfer who plays good or bad has a stable sense of self-worth.

Until that moment of transformation the golfer’s self-esteem rose and sank depending upon his golf score.

Evolutionists’ thought that we consequented from some green slime in a primordial swamp gives no dignity to our origin. The idea you are created in the image of a loving God is lofty and refreshing.

Ethologist (one who treats origins and relationships of human beings) Desmond Morris tells us we are nothing but animals. The Bible tells us we are to have dominion over them.

Behaviorist B. F. Skinner says we are only machines programmed to make automatic responses to external stimuli. The Bible says we are created by God and have a free will.

I cannot assert strongly enough my support for a good self-image. However, self-esteem suggests narcissism. That is, an inordinate love of self. In some instances, it may be just a matter of semantics, but often it is much more.

NARCISSISM is a colorful synonym for egotism. The word was coined for a fictional person who had an inordinate love for his own beauty. Before the advent of mirrors he would frequent a bridge over a pool. Leaning over, he would admire himself in the reflective pool. One day he became so enthralled with his beautiful image, he lost his balance and fell in and drowned in his own image. There is a little limerick which states:
“There once was a nymph named Narcissus,
Who thought himself very delicious;
So he stared like a fool
At his face in a pool,
And his folly today is still with us.”

There is even a manner of speaking today called “selfist jargon.” It involves terms that express preoccupation with “Me-ism.” Paul Vitz, in his book “The Cult of Self-Worship,” cites the following as a summary statement of this cult: “I love me. I am not conceited. I’m just a good friend of myself. And I like to do whatever makes me feel good….”

The two commandments given by Christ need to be considered:

Grammatically. Jesus did not say “the second and third commandments are that we are to love our neighbor and our self,” but that the second commandment is to love our neighbor as our self. This marks self-love as a fact to be accepted, but not a virtue to be accented.

Linguistically. AGAPE love means self- sacrifice in the service of another considered precious. Therefore, it cannot be self-directed.

Theologically. Self-love is Biblically considered sin. Our text speaks of persons who have inordinate concepts displeasing to the Lord and one is that they are “lovers of self” instead of “lovers of God” (II Tim. 3: 2a & 4b).

The Bible speaks on several occasions about esteeming others but has nothing to say about self- esteem. It is a worthy manual on Self-worth.

Having reservations about the term “self- esteem” because of some of the ways it is being used today by New Age advocates, I want to talk about the vitality and virtue of self-worth and a good wholesome self-image. Strange as it may sound, aids are:

I. SELF-DENIAL
In an era when there is a mindset expecting life to serve our every self-centered emotional need or whim, self-denial is unpopular. Self-absorption defines the climate of our culture. Narcissism has become one of the central themes of autobiographies.

Self-denial is ridiculed by advocates of the “me” and “now” orientation as is the loss of concern for others and the future.

Self-fulfillment, not self-denial, is the message of the hour.

The more we focus on self, the less we are available to God.

Jesus said, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Matt. 16:24).

This verse suggests three steps in self-denial:

1. Making up your mind = “IF any man will…”

2. Giving up your autonomy = “let him deny himself”

3. Taking up Christ identity = “take up his cross”

Get yourself off your mind and your mind off yourself.

Jesus said, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me, will save it” (Luke 9:24).

Self-denial is a synonym for self-discipline. One of the fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:23 is “self-control,” that is, self-discipline.

Our text notes those who are lovers of self are without self-control (3:3).

Through the course of history, a few people have forgotten themselves into immortality. Those who forgot themselves are the ones we remember.

We love the music while often failing to apply the lines by Francis of Assisi:
“It is in giving we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

Many egotists have a poor self-image because they know their gluttony, greed, selfishness, and covetousness isn’t right, and that produces guilt.

Self-denial doesn’t simply mean not permitting our self to have a few luxuries or some favorite wholesome activity; it means denying we own ourselves and admitting we are bought with a price. It is simply a personal acknowledgment that we belong to our loving Christ and our fulfillment is found in pleasing Him.

There is a difference in denying self a few things and denying self.

To truly deny self is to disown, that is, crucify everything within our self that is incompatible with Jesus Christ. Nail it to the cross. True self-denial is the denial of our fallen or false self. This does not mean to deny the reality. It means to disallow the control of it over your life. This isn’t the road to self-destruction, but the road to self-discovery.

II. SELF-AWARENESS
No person who has objectively read the Gospels could conclude Jesus had a negative opinion of people or ever encouraged a negative opinion. Consider:

A. HIS TEACHINGS. He talked about our value. He said we are “much more valuable” than birds or beasts (Matt 6:26 and 12:12).

He taught that you are worth more than the universe when He said, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?” (Matt. 16:26).

In 1975 a delightful little book came out entitled, “The Christian Looks at Himself.” The author, Anthony Hoekema, tells of a young man, who in his fight against inferiority, put a banner on his wall reading: “I’m me and I’m good, ’cause God don’t make no junk.”

B. HIS ATTITUDE. He loved everybody. His love cut across races and ages. He loved the sick, the prostitute, the thief, the religious bigot, the leper, the poor, the hungry, the rich and society’s outcasts. He accepted those the world rejected. He accepts you also. As a child you may have been rejected by a parent, you may have been an outcast in your social order, or you may have been spurned by your peers, B-U-T Jesus loves you. That should do something for your self-image.

C. HIS MISSION. He came to serve and to save (Mark 10:45).

Your worth should be based on what you are worth to God, and that is a remarkably great deal because Jesus died for you.

III. SELF-FULFILLMENT
Christian psychologist, Lawrence J. Crabb, Jr., describes our need in this manner: “The basic personal need of each person is to regard himself as a worthwhile human being.”

Knowing that not all of us will win an Olympic gold medal or have our name entered in the Guinness Book of World Records, how can we be enabled to feel fulfilled?

Sculpture these three concepts on a granite wall in the corridors of your memory:
1. It is not important that you be the best at anything, but that you be your best at everything.
2. Avoid comparisons. You can always find someone you are better than and get an ego buzz. You will always find someone better than you and that leads to depression.
3. God does not call on us to be successful, only faithful.

If our happiness hinges on “doing,” we will inevitably be miserable. Biblically, it is contingent on “being.” It is found in being all that God wants you to be. These are internal traits.

If you have the capacity of being a “C” student, be the best “C” student you can be. If you have the ability to be an “A” student, be the best “A” student you can be.

If you are an hourly laborer, be the best hourly laborer you can be.

If you are a corporate executive, be the best corporate executive you can be.

The only standard against which you should be measured is the “you” God made you to be.

Christ said He came that we might have abundant life (John l0:l0). The secret to that abundant life is not your ability, but your response to God’s ability.

Resolve: “God I want to be all you want me to be. I want to become all you saved me to become.”

Your self-worth is closely tied to your awareness of your worth to God.

Our worth lies in the fact that our sins were paid for by Christ’s blood; therefore, you can be reconciled to God — accepted by Him. We are accepted by Him on this basis alone.

If God will accept us, if in His sight we are of infinite worth, surely, we can accept our self.

God rejoices when we accept His acceptance. Then we can accept our self.

The Cultivation of Contentment: Part Two

I Timothy 6: 6 – 12

Our text emphasizes there is nothing bad about being rich. It can be, and often is, very good. It is our attitude toward material goods that is at question.

Verse 9 opens the door for consideration to be given some unreasonable ways of seeking to gain wealth.

There is the snare of borrowing your way to wealth. Avoid the bondage of debt. The Bible does not prohibit borrowing. However, in borrowing we must make certain in advance resources will be incoming that can retire the loan on time. When the time passes without the note being paid, the person is in bondage.

Our drive to get ahead often gets us farther behind.

Neither security nor comfort is wrong. Both are admirable, but neither is obtainable apart from godliness. Some have become so driven by material ambition that they have “strayed from the faith in their greediness” (Vs. 10b).  Avoid people who think gain is godliness. (Vs.  5) Some persons, especially preachers, have used false godliness as a means of gain. They have prostituted the gospel, commercialized Christ, and merchandized false doctrine for personal gain. From such “withdraw yourself.” A strategic withdrawal is expedient.

If you desire contentment, don’t try to use godliness as a means to an end, but as an end in itself.

Accept a primary axiom.  (Vs. 7) “We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”  That closely parallels Job 1: 21, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return.”

There is an old expression: “There are no pockets in a shroud.”

A wealthy person died and someone asked, “How much did he leave?” Someone answered, “Everything.”

It is said that the casket of Alexander the Great, conqueror of the known world, had holes in each side with his open hands protruding through them to indicate he, too, died empty-handed.

Avow God is the giver of every enjoyable thing. (Vs. 17c)

This verse addresses those who have already obtained wealth and offers three warnings:

Don’t be haughty, don’t trust in your wealth, and do trust in God.

“God gives us richly all things to enjoy” and that includes wealth.  It is enjoyed when there is a proper attitude toward it and a generous spirit related to it.

The ultimate delight, which far exceeds earthly and material blessings, is “eternal life.” (Verse 19c)

Verse 12 appeals to us to “Fight the good fight of faith.” This indicates the Christian experience is a perpetual challenge. This is an appeal for discipline and determination.

Verse 19c challenges us to “lay hold on eternal life.” The Greek term describes a completed reality, a single happening. Thereafter it affords contentment.