Christians do not love as Jesus loved because they cannot love as He loved.
Most Christians and churches do no reflect the love of Jesus because they have not His power for such love.
The love that is shown is either very weak or what is considered acceptable within Christian circles. It is a love that can be marketed, sold, and praised but not a love that is selfless and heart rendering offensive. Not a love that is a result of each disciple in Jesus having suffered in their bodies against sin.
Simply put, there is no room for God’s love to live because self would make all manifestations of His love impure. Something God will not and cannot allow.
And remember no one who is impure has “any” inheritance in Jesus. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person–such a man is an idolater–has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. (Ephesians 5:5)
Christians do not know the will of God that is associated with selfless love, because their minds are not transformed. There has been little or no suffering in their bodies for God to be able to work and will the mind of Christ.
Until there is an attitude of hating one’s life, while offering the body as a living sacrifice, God’s love cannot flow out of a person’s life. It is shocking to hear all the talk about laying down one’s life for another, compared to such sacrificing actually being manifested. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. (1 John 3:16) The lack of unity and obedience to all of Scriptures solidly proves that point. After all the love of Jesus is first demonstrated by obeying all of scripture.
This Is Gonna Hurt
It is time to rip the band-aid off that was placed there by wide road gospel calls, religious Christianity, and your own deceitful desires to avoid the offense of the cross.
As one reader of Even the Demons Believe wrote, it felt as if they were “cornered and faced off by their own attitude towards the Almighty.”
The reader assumed this was my goal in writing Even the Demons Believe but in reality that is the nature of the full message narrow gate gospel.
The true gospel call is so clear and conscience that one must squeeze through a narrow gate to get started.
Trouble is the Christian Church is overloaded with a wide gate Jesus message that promises “peace-peace” when there is no peace. The wound of sin, selfishness, and impurity are treated as though they were not severe matters. Ripping this band-aid off is gonna hurt because the scab of religious “peace-peace” must also be exposed if everlasting healing is to occur.
Most just do not desire to pick up their cross and suffer against ignorance, folly, pride, or just plain-old dispensation.
Everyone knows and quotes that the truth will set you free, but since we are talking about Jesus Truth this truth is gonna hurt. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)
Jesus Truth is not church denominational band-aid platitudes for a Christian life preacher proclamations.
We are about to rip the religious band-aid off, expose your sin-selfish wound to the healing Light of a holy God’s Truth.
They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. (Jeremiah 6:14)
If you are not interested in the Truth of Jesus that will set you free “indeed” you should move on right now. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36)
The following is offensive, and it is gonna hurt, because it is the offense of the cross brought sharply into focus. Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been abolished. (Galatians 5:11)
First, you will probably have to admit you have been short-changed by individuals, books, movies, and sermons that glossed over at a fast rate the seriousness of sin, while promising you the false religious peace of Jesus. Secondly, and this is where it really hurts, God is gonna come at you in a way you would never have liked to think is possible.
Abundant Life
The following is how one gains the promised abundant life Jesus came to bring.
I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly. (John 10:10)
The only way, let that be repeated, the only way to have the joy of Jesus flowing in your life is to allow, at the same time, the sufferings of Jesus to flow through your life. And not just flowing, but flowing in abundance the sufferings of Jesus.
For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. (2 Corinthians 1:5)
Jesus was comforted by the Living God because His Father considered Him to be a sheep for slaughter. Walking as Jesus walked means that God views you with the same love along with the goal to slaughter. Slaughter that is required if we are to selflessly love God, His saints, and a sinful dying world. Any other Christianity than this is not Christianity, but a religious mockery.
Yourself A Fragrant Offering
Would you like to find a church where everyone is really laying down their lives with the love of Jesus?
Then it starts with you.
Desire to live a life of love like Jesus? Praying for a church of purity?
Sick and tired of all the hypocrisy?
Weary of all the worldly talk, lukewarm love, and meaningless meanderings being promoted from the pulpit?
Pathetically worn out with entertainment that is called worship?
Looking for a Christianity with power, with holiness, and with striving for the Truth that is worth dying for?
Long to sense God’s love for you as a dearly loved child? Then you have to give up yourself as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
If you desire these things, then stop your complaining and praying. Instead, offer yourself to God to be slaughtered as a sacrifice.
Become a person that is actually striving to imitate a God that is pure love by walking as Jesus walked.
You will need to give yourself up totally to God every day in such a way, it is a fragrant offering of sacrifice, if you desire to express God’s love.
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2)
Desire to be like Jesus? Then offer yourself in such a way that you are fragrant offering unto God.
Desire to walk in the same powerful love as Jesus? Then it begins with you giving to God all in a fragrant manner.
Desire to learn obedience as Jesus learned to obey? Then take the first step and become a fragrant offering.
If you desire to be a fragrant offering to God, then prepare yourself because this learning curve is gonna hurt.
Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered (Hebrews 5:8)
Heaven is only made up of those who have overcome self with all its self-centeredness so that God’s holy love can fill them as they fellowship in heaven.
Like the first church in the New Testament, this is the love the world should see in the church.
A love so different, that some will persecute and others will be afraid to join that congregation on Sunday morning for worship.
Is this what your church is known for?
If not, it is because the membership is not offering themselves to God to be slaughtered.
No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. (Acts 5:13)
How God Views You
When someone becomes a Christian, God begins to mold them into the image of His most beloved Son. Such a Christian is set apart, or holy, unto God having a divine quality of holy love. Definition of holy 1: exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness 2: DIVINE for the Lord our God is holy — Psalms 99:9 (King James Version) 3: devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity a holy temple holy prophets 4a: having a divine quality holy love
Indeed, we are called to walk as Jesus walked in a holy love for God and mankind. To be clear as possible, the Apostle John wrote in 1 John 2:6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
So, how did Jesus walk in love?
Jesus was always walking toward His death upon a cross, laying down His daily life, and, finally, His life nailed on a wooden cross.
God, who is love, considered His most beloved Son to be a lamb prepared for the sacrifice of death on behalf of repentant mankind.
Are you starting to get a hint of where this is heading?
God wasn’t interested in Jesus’ middle class lifestyle. God was not the least interested in being sure Jesus voted conservative. God was not remotely interested in whether Jesus, if He were to have children, whether they went to college or not. God did not care about Jesus’ promotion and increased income at the carpenter workshop. God was not concerned with glorifying His name by letting Jesus play sports on a winning football team.
How God viewed Jesus, and all true disciples who are picking up their cross, hating their life, and following the Spirit, is how He can sacrifice them.
As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” (Romans 8:36)
Until you can show, declare, and rejoice in the fact that you are being slaughtered by God; you have a long, long, long way to go when claiming to believe in Jesus.
The only thing God wants to do with you is sacrifice you. You are in God’s eyes a sheep considered as one to be slaughtered. Your wife, your son, your husband, your daughter, all who claim the Name are a focus of God’s attention for sacrifice. Your savings account – object of sacrifice. Your prayer life – sacrifice. Your me time – sacrifice. Your pleasures and comfort – a thing to take and sacrifice. Your safety, your very life, not to mention your sins, will be sacrificed for His glory in the way He chooses and wills.
Life of Love
A life of love is only possible if God can find sheep that are willing to be slaughtered. Is not Jesus known for doing God’s will to the point He was beaten, mocked, and nailed to wood? In the same way you cannot become a person who is a vessel for God’s love until you are surrendered to the slaughter.
There are many reasons why God views His sons and daughters and sheep to be slaughtered, but the ultimate reason is that God is love. Just as Jesus walked on earth with perfect selfless love for others, so too, only those Christians who let God slaughter them really live a life of love. The fact is, until your flesh wrestles out this offense and surrenders to the crucified life you will be unable to love others.
One example out of many, that could be explored, is that of your money. Until you personally let God teach you to both hate and despise money, you will never be free to love others with that money.
Until God can find fifty individual disciples, following according to the full message of the gospel, the church will always be known for the eye that it keeps on money, rather than having all things in common. “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life.” (Acts 5:20)
In the same way as these fifty individuals, as a church, let God slaughter their opinions they will be known, for not the nonsense to agree to disagree, but for being perfectly united in heart, mind, and even the way of thinking.
Think of it, perfectly united. When was the last time you saw that in a church? How about I go out on a limb and say, “never”? The reason is simple, no one wants to give up their thoughts, Bible doctrines, or church dogmas; let alone desire God slaughter their opinions on all matters.
It is remarkable that the Baptist, Mormons, or Church of Christ and so on expect others and the world to repent of their unbelief, but they are unwilling to let God slaughter their Bible studies. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. (John 5:39-40)
I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. (1 Corinthians 1:10)
The reason the world is not blown away by the purity and power of love of the church is because those sitting in pews follow Jesus for what they can get from God.
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” (John 6:26)
Smack Dab
Romans 8 sells books by the thousands.
Romans 8 brings in warm bodies to sit on the pews. It packs the pews of those looking for some cheap solace in life.
Romans 8 is used to provide a cheap pick-me-up, a fleeting sense of false peace.
Romans 8 does the above for all who leave out the offense of the cross. Look carefully. Smack dab in the middle is the key to the surrounding promises. Here is the smack dab – As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
Unless you are letting God lead you into hardships, dangers, persecutions, purification from sins, and sacrificing love for others you have no legit claim that God will protect you from trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Put another way: no one has the right to expect God to protect them if they are not walking in the sufferings of Jesus.
Only those who consider their life as sheep to be slaughtered can expect God to protect them from, or through,
-
- Charge of guilt.
- In trouble.
- In hardship.
- In persecutions.
- In famine.
- In nakedness.
- In danger.
When the sword, or any government power, approaches only those who have sought out God’s will on what to do can expect divine help. As Jesus slipped through angry crowds, or overcame the Pharisees and Sadducees, in the same way you will have to go out and face the crowds while confronting the religious, if you want to be given the power of the Holy Spirit.
Only those facing death to self all day long, like God’s sacrificial sheep, are allowed to claim the promise that God will protect them from angels, demons, the present, or the future.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?
It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:28-39)
The only reason Paul can say, “No, we are more than conquerors”, is because his life had demonstrated he was offering himself as a living sacrifice for the will of God. Paul was physically offering his life to a living God for slaughter. And Paul bids us to follow him as he follows a Christ that daily picked up His cross that was finalized by actually being crucified on a cross. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1)
Therefore, the question begs itself. Do you really want to be around a pastor, a preacher, or fellow church members who are being sacrificed to the Lord daily?
Nothing in all creation will keep you from the love of God, as you learn obedience just as Jesus did from suffering, if you offer yourself to God to be slaughtered each hour of the day.
Ready to turn back? Many did.
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” (John 6:60)
Do not bother claiming God’s protection, wisdom, and help if you are not letting Him directly lead where you need to suffer against doing what you desire to do. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. (Galatians 5:17) In fact, do God a favor and stop attending church.
Offer Your Body
This is why in the same book Paul writes that each disciple following Jesus should get into the prayer closet and offer their bodies to God. Yes, their bodies. This is no spiritual platitude, this is Paul who faced all kinds of physical sufferings in order to love a sinful world.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)
This is also why Peter stated that if you want to deal with your sins, if you really want to overcome your sins, prepare your mind that your body will suffer.
Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. (1 Peter 4:1)
Christian preaching and Christian living that does not weary the body in suffering against sin, as the Holy Spirit leads, is not of Jesus.
A Christian church that is not the result of everyone offering their bodies to God to be daily slaughtered is not a church with the ability to genuinely love each other in Christ.
Living Sacrifice
Is the following your morning prayer time?
Is this what you mean when you worship at church?
When you get dressed for the day are these your spiritual clothes?
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)
Your…
-
- your talent – sacrificed
- your time – sacrificed
- your family – sacrificed
- your savings – sacrificed
- your timing – sacrificed
- your money – sacrificed
- your favorite sermons – sacrificed
- your fun and pleasures – sacrificed
- your aunt, uncle, and grandma – sacrificed
- your material things – sacrificed
- your rights – sacrificed
- your wisdom – sacrificed
- your need to be fulfilled – sacrificed
- your me time – sacrificed
- your good points – sacrificed
- your dignity – sacrificed
- your constitutional rights – sacrificed
- your future college hopes – sacrificed
- your career goals – sacrificed
- your opinion about medical shots – sacrificed
- your marriage plans – sacrificed
- your staying single plans – sacrificed
- your desire to win an election – sacrificed
- your horse, dog, cat, or cow – sacrificed
- your political affiliation – sacrificed
- your sexuality – sacrificed
- your church events, potluck, and all – sacrificed
- your opinions – sacrificed
- your home address – sacrificed
- your athletic ability – sacrificed
- your trophies, awards, and boasts – sacrificed
- your artistic talent – sacrificed
- your oath to the Constitution – sacrificed
- your loyalty to the police family – sacrificed
- your identity that defines you – sacrificed
- your desire as a woman to be a man in a man’s world – sacrificed
- your desire as a man to be a woman in a woman’s world – sacrificed
- your racial identity – sacrificed
- your hatred, racisms, and social justice – sacrificed
- your ministry – sacrificed
- your entertainments – sacrificed
- your music – sacrificed
- your hopes for the future – sacrificed
- your ministry goals – sacrificed
- your hobbies – sacrificed
- your youth and vigor – sacrificed
- your safety – sacrificed
- your comfort – sacrificed
- your depression – sacrificed
- your self-pity – sacrificed
- your way of dress – sacrificed
- your day off – sacrificed
- your heart – sacrificed
- your boat, home, car, rv, motorcycle, fishing – sacrificed
- your peace – sacrificed
- your retirement – sacrificed
- your energy – sacrificed
- your hot bath – sacrificed
- your Bible opinions – sacrificed
- your hatred of Judas that will enter your life – sacrificed
- your gossip – sacrificed
- your doctrinal thoughts and beliefs – sacrificed
- your willpower and endurance – sacrificed
- your natural faith and trust – sacrificed
…your all of all of everything – sacrificed
This is the true life of faith that trusts God to fulfill or not fulfill, any, all, or none of those things. God might allow your freedom to be taken away, but He will give you His peace. Or you might live a life free to roam the land, but you will be a prisoner for the Lord nonetheless.
Are you praying in the Spirit as Jesus prayed, just before going to be crucified?
The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (John 12:25)
If the love of God did not spare His only beloved Son from always heading towards the cross, He is not going to spare you.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Not only is God not going to spare your little life and selfish sin-stained interests, but those who treasure the love of God would have it no other way.
It hurts to go to the cross, it hurts to die on the cross, but without being slaughtered for God there is no resurrection.
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day–and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:6-8)
Let all who will surrender all to God, offering their bodies as living sacrifices to be poured out in love for others, be of good cheer. For those who have fought the good fight of spiritual worship by being slaughtered for God, who have kept the faith even though God considered their life a matter to be slaughtered, who ran the sufferings of Christ’s race as the Holy Spirit willed, will receive the crown of righteousness.
To everyone else enjoy your “peace-peace” now because it is not going to last.
T. Williams
A curse be on anyone who does not love the Lord.
1 Corinthians 16:22
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