I TIMOTHY 1:4b-6 – THE GOAL OF THE COMMAND IS LOVE
“These promote controversies rather than God’s work – which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk” (I Tim. 1:4b-6).
INTRODUCTION
QUESTION: Does God want us to fulfill the Old Testament moral law?
“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing” (Gal. 2:21).
“… Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness…(I Cor. 1:30).
“… he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. … Love does no harm to his neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law”
(Rom. 13:8,10).
“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2).
THE FALSE DOCTRINES AND MEANINGLESS TALK IN EPHESUS WERE SIDETRACKING THE CHRISTIANS FROM THEIR MAIN WORK (PREACHING THE GOSPEL) AND THEIR MAIN GOAL (LOVE).
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Mt. 22:37-39).
1. PAUL’S DESCRIPTION OF THE LOVE THE LAW DEMANDS
a. It comes from a pure heart (5)
i. QUESTION: What does an impure heart look like?
“ He that has cleans hands and a pure hart, who has not lifted up his soul to vanity nor sworn deceitfully” (Ps. 24:4).
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things” (Mt. 12:35).
b. It comes from a good conscience (5)
i. We can have an evil conscience – “let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb 10:22)
ii. We can have a seared conscience “…whose consciences have been seared with a hot iron” (I Tim. 4:2).
c. It comes from a sincere faith (5)
QUESTION: What does “insincere faith” look like?
2. LOVE FOR GOD
a. The Great Commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind….
b. “I Love My God”
I love my God, but with no love of mine,
For I have none to give; I love thee, Lord; but all the love is Thine,
For by Thy life I live.
I am as nothing, and rejoice to be
Emptied, and lost, and swallowed up in Thee.
Thou, Lord, alone, art all Thy children need,
And there is none beside;
From Thee the streams of blessedness proceed
In Thee the blest abide, —
Fountain of life, and all-abounding grace,
Our source, our center, and our dwelling-place.
(Jeanne Marie De La Motte-Guyon, 1648-1717)
c. Only God in us can enable us to love God perfectly
“I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same produces much fruit: for without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
3. LOVE FOR THE FAMILY OF GOD
a. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves.
QUESTION: Who is our closest neighbor?
b. What does love look like?
According to I Cor. 13 and Gal. 5:22, if we love our Christian brother or sister as our self we will be patient, kind, good, faithful, and gentle with them. We will not boast around them or be proud nor will we envy them. We will not be rude to them nor easily angered by them. We will be sad when evil things are evident in their lives. We will be glad when the truth wins out in their lives. We will not keep a record of their wrongs. We will always seek to protect them, trust them, hope the best for them and persevere with them through all situations. If we love like this we are fulfilling the law because love is the fulfilling of the law.
c. “One another” verses
Jhn 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
Rom 12:10 [Be] kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another;
Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loves another hath fulfilled the law.
Rom 15:7 Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
Rom 15:14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only [use] not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
Gal 6:2 Bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Eph 4:2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
1Th 5:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
Hbr 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin
Hbr 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Hbr 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
1Jo 3:23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment
4. LOVE FOR THE NON-CHRISTIAN WORLD
a. We must love our neighbor as our self.
QUESTION: What examples did Jesus give us concerning this matter?
QUESTION: What is the most valuable asset a non-Christian person possesses?
And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul? (Mt. 16:26).
QUESTION: What is the greatest way we can show love to the non-Christian people of the world?
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Mt. 28:19-20a).
5. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE GREAT COMMISSION IS NOT CONSIDERED AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE GREAT COMMANDMENT?
Illustration: The Amish of Pennsylvania – Came out of the Reformation, strongly believed only in adult baptism. The Mennonites were first formed and then the Amish, followers of Jacob Amman.
Love for God: Consistent in Christian activities, church membership, worship, separation from the world, moral qualities. They read many Christian books like Guideposts, Springs in the Desert. Focus on key verses in the Bible like Romans 12:1-2, The Beatitudes, etc.
“It is difficult to explain in a few sentences what the Amish people believe. This is a very simplified statement. As Amish, we believe that God loved the world so much that he gave his only son to die on the cross and that through faith in the shed blood of Jesus we are reconciled to God. We believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, that as Christians we should live as brothers, that the church is separate from the State, that we are committed to peace, and that faith calls for a lifestyle of discipleship and good works.
Community: Help each other with barn raisings, a member has financial needs, sickness. They truly care for each other.
But no great commission… and thus no lasting impact on the world. Only a tourist curiosity, quaint and growing only based on birth.
If we truly practice Biblical love, we will have a passion to learn how to love God will all our heart, we will have a life goal of growing in the art of loving our neighbor and our greatest concern will be that the non-Christians of the world hear the Gospel message.