We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded by your direct support for ReKnew and our vision. Please consider supporting this project.
The All-or-Nothing of Kingdom Living
Nothing is more central to the kingdom of God than agreeing with God about every person’s unsurpassable worth and reflecting this in how we act toward them. Nothing is more important that living in Christlike love for all people at all times. In fact, compared to love, nothing else really matters in the kingdom.
In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul says that all the most impressive religious and humanitarian activity in the world is completely worthless, except insofar as it expresses love. Let’s explore these.
A person may speak in tongues—even the glorious tongues of angels—but if his speaking isn’t motivated by love, it’s just religious noise.
A person may have the gift of prophecy and be able to proclaim the word of God in ways that dazzle audiences and build incredible mega churches. But if the use of these gifts isn’t motivated by love, they are, from a kingdom perspective, utterly worthless.
It doesn’t make a least bit of difference that a person has breathtaking insight into all mysteries or that they posses all knowledge. This would undoubtedly impress crowds and maybe even get them on the cover of your favorite Christian magazine, but if they aren’t motivated by a desire to ascribe unsurpassable worth to all people at all times, it’s meaningless.
Nor does it matter that a person has faith such that they can command mountains to be relocated and the mountains actually obey. This sort of miracle-working ability would certainly land them a nice spot on Christian television and would undoubtedly make them an excellent fund-raiser. But, according to Paul, it’s complete devoid of value unless it’s fueled by an agreement with God that every person alive is worth God himself dying for.
Finally, and perhaps most surprising, even if a person gives every single thing they own to the poor and endures great hardships in the course of their ministry, if there actions aren’t motivated by a love that looks like Jesus dying on the cross, it accomplishes absolutely nothing.
Let me go so far as to say this: If this is true about love—if the kingdom is nothing without it—then it seems to me we should regard the command to love to be the ultimate test of orthodoxy. To fail to love like Jesus is the worst form of heresy, regardless of how true one’s beliefs are. Demons believe true things, James tells us, but their true beliefs are worthless because they are not accompanied with works that reflect God’s love.
Love is the all-or-nothing of kingdom living. The “only thing that counts,” Paul says, is faith expressing itself through love.” We are to “do everything in love,” he says. Love is the primary expression of the kingdom life. Where God truly reigns in an individual or community, they will look like Jesus, sacrificially ascribing unsurpassable worth to all people, no ifs, ands, or buts.
—Adapted from The Myth of a Christian Religion, pages 51-52, 60-61
Photo via VisualHunt.com
Category: General
Tags: Kingdom Living, Love
Verse: 1 Corinthians 13
Related Reading
The Kingdom Stance Toward Enemies
Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane, when a group of temple guards showed up to arrest him. Peter immediately drew his sword and started swinging it, cutting off a guard’s ear. From the world’s point of view, this violence was justified. Peter was simply defending himself and his master. Yet Jesus rebuked him,…
William Wilberforce and the Possibility of “Christian” Politics
William Wilberforce was a passionate Christian who entered politics for the sole purpose of ending the slave trade. For more than thirty years he passionately and courageous labored to get Parliament to outlaw the practice. His life’s dream was fulfilled a month before he died in 1833. It’s no surprise, therefore, that Wilberforce is frequently…
What About the Arizona Anti-Gay Bill?
HumanSeeHumanDo via Compfight The recent anti-gay bill in Arizona which was passed last week by the state’s Legislature and now sits on the desk of the Governor, would allow companies to deny service to or discriminate against gay people based on the religious beliefs of the business owner. In response, Greg has tweeted: “The governor…
What’s Wrong With The World?
Hartwig HKD via Compfight The reports coming out of Fort Hood this morning once again highlight that our world is messed up. And it often feels like we are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic as we try to find answers to address the problems we face. Here are some reflections by Greg on…
God is Love: Full Stop
Not many Christians would disagree that God is love, but many would quickly qualify that with some other kind of attribute such as justice. But love is not just one of the attributes of God alongside all others. Love is the essence of all the attributes of God. If you’d like to hear the entire sermon, you…
Put on the Armor of God
The whole of the Christian life is an act of war against the enemy as we follow Jesus in storming the gates of hell (See post.) No passage better illustrates this than Paul’s metaphor of spiritual armor from Ephesians 6. He writes that Christians are to “be strong in the Lord and in the strength…