Ephesians 5:29“After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church.”

Maybe you haven’t noticed, but I am a month behind in my typical writing schedule. Many things in life have been happening at once, which has thrown a wrench in my usual newsletter routine. With that said, today I’ll be picking back up on the topic of why Christians need the Church. After this series, I plan to take a break from my bi-weekly posting schedule. I hope to continue writing on an irregular basis as I seek to prioritize other parts of life in this current season I’m in. I pray that the rest of this series will continue to be an encouragement to you as it has been for me, and I pray that God would be glorified as we study His Word together on this topic.

So far, I’ve talked about how the church isn’t perfect and about how God describes the Church—all believers—as a family. In today’s post I want to cover two other depictions of the Church from Scripture which reinforce the truth that Christians need biblical community. I’ll be discussing the Church as Christ’s bride and as His body. The passage I want to start with is where the opening verse for today’s post comes from, Ephesians 5:22-33.

Usually this passage is referenced when dealing with the topic of marriage. However, it beautifully connects the ideas found elsewhere in the New Testament that Jesus views the Church as both His bride AND His body:

Ephesians 5:22-33Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 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. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Rightly so, we often use these verses to explain the biblical roles of the husband and wife in a marriage relationship. But Paul makes it abundantly clear that this analogy is really depicting our Savior’s view of His redeemed people, the Church.

First, we see the description as Christ being “the head of the church, his body” in the instructions of how wives should submit to their husbands. Then we see even more key descriptions of Jesus’ relationship with His people in the lengthy commands for the husband. We see Jesus’ love being compared to that of how a husband should love his wife: “as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” and “husbands out to love their wives as their own bodies…After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body.” Finally, when quoting Genesis 2 on how a husband and wife “become one flesh,” Paul explicitly explains that this is a mystery “about Christ and the church.”

So what does this imagery have to do with the argument that Christians need the Church? This Ephesians passage emphasizes the connection between Jesus Christ our Savior and His people. It’s not saying that Jesus is personally like a husband to each individual believer. It’s not saying that each Christian represents Christ’s body on his or her own. Paul’s purpose in writing is to describe how valuable the collective, universal Church is to Jesus Christ. These truths show us how important the Church is to God, which point us to how important the Church should be to those of us who’ve been saved into it.

Where else do we see in Scripture these images of the Church being Christ’s bride and body? One passage from the book of Revelation, written by the Apostle John, helps reiterate the imagery of the Church being Christ’s bride:

Revelation 19:6-8Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.”(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

That passage comes from the vision that Jesus gave John about what it will be like when God comes to dwell once again and forever with His people in heaven. I love this picture of “a great multitude” praising the Lord together, all celebrating the wedding of Christ the Lamb and His bride the church. That day will be a celebration for all who have called on the Name of the Lord and have been saved. We should rejoice now that we are not and have never been alone in our faith—we are part of the bride waiting for her Groom, and we have the hope and promise of one day truly being united with Him and with each other for eternity.

The last passage I want us to read today is 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul gives us a much more in-depth description of what it means to be Christ’s body. I know it’s a longer one, but I think it’s so important in expressing why we need other believers.

1 Corinthians 12:12-27Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

…in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

What I love about this passage is that it is such an easy to understand metaphor. I’m such a practical person, and truths that are just plainly spelled out for us to understand are a real blessing to me. God created each individual believer unique and for a special purpose in His kingdom. Yet God also created each believer to be a part of the whole, to live in unity and love with the rest of His people. When we as Christians participate in a local church, we are more able to live out our unique roles that God designed for us. When we are a part of the Body, we experience more of the blessings God purposed for His Church.

So many things about our culture push us to focus on self, and isolation is even glorified at times. Yet this is not what we were saved into! We get to represent the beautiful bride of our Savior when we participate in a local church. We get to experience the fullness of being a part of Christ’s body. Blessings flow from acknowledging that God’s design for us is best for us. Living in biblical community enables us to come alongside others to recognize and fight sin, to encourage and pursue righteous living together, and to humbly walk in the realization that we can do nothing on our own. Praise God for all the passages of the Bible that demonstrate what being His people means!

In my next and last post of this series, I will be writing about a pretty popular topic: church hurt. I want to tie in the biblical reasons for why biblical community is worth it as we look to God’s Word to wrestle against our hurts and problems with the Church. Until then, thanks again for joining me in this series and for following Speaking Truth!

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1 John 3:1“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”

Most people would agree that families are not perfect. While ideally families should be safe places full of love and care for one another, that is not many people’s experiences. Families come full of conflict, disappointment, and even abuse. Some families know what it means to trust one another, while others have never earned it. Whether your experience with family has been mostly positive or mostly negative, I think you’d still agree with me that your family isn’t perfect. That fact is what makes this post a great transition from my last one, which acknowledged the imperfection of God’s people. While our families in this life may be imperfect, many of us still agree that family is important. This is even truer for the family of God.

In my first post on this topic of why Christians need the Church (see "Church Is Worth It”), I walked through Scriptural evidence pointing to God’s design for a people. Today I want to build on that idea by focusing on some of the New Testament passages that refer to believers as God’s children and heirs, meaning His redeemed people, the family of God. Believers need to view the Church as their family, otherwise we will miss understanding the importance of why we need to be a part of a local church.

First, I wanted to point to how Jesus describes His disciples, His followers, as His true family:

Matthew 12:49-50Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

In a parallel passage in Mark 3:34-35, Jesus goes beyond calling just His immediate disciples family. In verse 35 He says, “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Those who are saved, and therefore doing God’s will by living for Him, are considered siblings of our Lord Jesus Christ—part of God’s family.

Paul in Romans 8 talks about how God not only foreknew who His family would be, but He also predestined us to be conformed to the image of Christ as His brothers and sisters:

Romans 8:29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Paul also, when writing to his friend and brother in the faith Titus, rehearsed the truth that those who are saved through Christ’s sacrifice also become heirs of eternal life.

Titus 3:4-7But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Being an heir means receiving an inheritance, and that only happens if you are part of the family or have been adopted into it.

Ephesians 1:4-5For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.

Romans 8:14-17For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

We are Christ’s brothers and sisters. We are co-heirs with Christ of eternal blessing from God. We are God’s family, His redeemed people. He planned for us, and He paid for our sins. We are His Church, and we are important to Him and to each other. We looked at a lot of passages today making statements about who we now are in God through Christ. But what does that all mean?

Well, as we seek to view ourselves as part of God’s family, part of those He has chosen to love and know Him, it should help us see the Church as important. We can’t ignore our brothers and sisters. We can’t ignore that the inheritance doesn’t go all to us. Part of the blessing of being saved into God’s family is getting to be a part of a family. And while here on earth Christians are still imperfect, one day we will be fully made into the likeness of Christ.

2 Corinthians 3:18And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

We all. Not just me or you. As believers we must think of our identity in Christ as intricately linked to the family of God because it is. We are not saved to live out our life of faith alone. Being a part of the Church is not an optional part of being a Christian. Our families here on earth will never be perfect, but because of our eternal inheritance in Christ, one day the Church Family will be made perfect in His image. What beautiful hope that is!

For me, I’m thankful for how God has used both my earthly, physical family to teach and grow me. I’m thankful for a family who cares for me. But for 9 years now, I’ve lived far away from that family, yet I’ve never felt alone. God has blessed me with an incredible church family here in Indiana, and I can’t imagine my life without it. These are the people who know my struggles and come alongside me in them. They are the ones who challenge me and point me back to the Cross. They are the ones I get to do daily life in and out with. We’re family not because we were born into it, but because we’ve been saved into it.

I hope this has been an encouraging picture of what the Church is meant to be. But that’s only one way God describes His people in the Bible! Next time, I plan to look at some other descriptions of the Church found in Scripture, to help us continue to see the great value of being a part of local churches and being with other believers. Until then, thank you for listening or reading to Speaking Truth!

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Matthew 9:12-13“…Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick… For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”

In today’s post, I want to acknowledge something that is common knowledge to all people who’ve ever been in, around, or who’ve known a church: churches are not perfect. I believe it’s important for us to study this fact when considering why Christians need the Church, since many believers choose not to be a part of the Body of Christ because of the people in it. I started this series last time by sharing two reasons from Scripture about why the Church is important. However, even after reflecting on biblical truths like that, it can sometimes be hard to reconcile those truths with our personal experiences.

People often hurt or disappoint us, and for the believer it’s too often those who are supposed to be our brothers and sisters in Christ. Praise God, though, that there are many passages in the Bible that help us wrestle with this concept—passages that confirm the truths of the current imperfection of the Church and that we are still called to be a part of it. This post will dive into just a few of the places in Scripture that discuss the imperfection of the Church.

So let’s start by looking at the context around the opening verses from Matthew 9. I love this passage because it is Jesus, our Lord and Savior who loves His Church, discussing the people He came to save into it.

Matthew 9:10-13While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Is the Church made up of perfectly righteous and holy people? No! Jesus explains here how He came not to save those who are already “healthy,” or righteous by the world’s standards, but to save the “sick,” the sinners. Jesus never gave the impression that those who follow Him will be perfect. They—we—are all sinners! We need His righteousness in order to have a relationship with God and to grow to “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

As I discussed in my last post, one of the beautiful means that God gives us for growing in Christ-like righteousness is through other believers in His Church. A great passage for us to consider today is Matthew 18, where once again we see Jesus acknowledging that His Church will not be perfect.

Matthew 18:15-17“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”

Not only did Jesus explain how His followers would not be perfect, He also told us that we as believers are given the responsibility to help others fight and deal with sin. Those verses in Matthew 18 are often used to instruct on how church discipline should occur when there is sin amongst a group of believers. We can also take these verses as a personal call to care about others and realize one of our purposes is to lovingly confront sin and imperfections. But without being a part of the Church, you are not able to benefit from this aspect of our sanctification journey—you won’t have the gift of others intentionally pursuing you, and you won’t have the privilege of getting to come alongside others in their struggles and victories.

Other New Testament writers build on Christ’s teaching about our role in helping others fight sin and to grow spiritually. Paul writes in Galatians 6:1-2,

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Jesus knew His Church wouldn’t be full of perfect people, and the early Church fathers like Paul experienced that. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul is having to combat false teachings through loving confrontation and pointing them back to the Gospel. Paul could have given up or let them deal with the consequences of following wrong doctrine on their own. But he didn’t—instead, he sought to restore them and help carry their burdens. Paul followed Christ’s example in loving sinful, imperfect people by choosing to step into their mess, rather than avoid it.

In a later post I plan to talk about a struggle that many people I know who are not actively involved in a local church bring up: church hurt. But before we get there, I want to continue painting the picture of who and what the Church is called to be, so that we realize more and more how much we need it. My goal today was to start laying a foundation of thinking through how the Church can be imperfect, and the following posts will dive more into the simultaneous truth that every believer is still called to be a part of it.

I look forward to continuing this study of the Church with you, and I want to thank you again for choosing to read or listen to Speaking Truth!

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Philippians 2:1-2“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.”

This next series of posts will be all about why Christians need the Church. In a world that seems to become more divided and divisive every day, I want to encourage other believers to value their relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ. My goal of this series isn’t to sugarcoat what it means to be involved in a church or to pretend that churches have no problems. Instead, I want to paint a picture of Christ’s beautiful bride, the Church, and why we are called to love her as our Savior does, even in her imperfect state here on earth. Church community is necessary so that we can stand strong on the Word of God and keep pointing each other back to the Cross.

While life is full of many different priorities and distractions for each of us, church community should not be neglected or an afterthought to everything else going on. It is worth it to prioritize church community because God created the Church for His purposes and for our good through our shared union in Christ. The opening verses from Philippians 2 challenge us to love others and pursue unity as believers in light of that union to our Savior. That is just one of many times in the Bible where God calls us to love and value His people. There are many reasons given in Scripture that explain the importance of the Church, but today’s post will just focus on two.

1) The Church demonstrates God’s design for a people

One of the reasons why church community is important for a believer is because God created and redeemed a people for Himself, not just a person. This is demonstrated throughout redemptive history. In the beginning, God created Adam and Eve to live and make Him known by increasing in number (Genesis 1:28). Later we see that God called Abraham and said He would have community with Abraham’s descendants, which would outnumber the stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5). Throughout the Old Testament, God protected and guided His people, Israel, a community of those He had made a covenant with.

In the New Testament, we see Jesus building a close community around Him through His disciples, and a larger community with all those who chose to believe and follow Him during His earthly ministry. Before He ascended into Heaven, He promised that where He was going, He was preparing a place with many rooms (John 14:2), space for a community of people to live together with Him some day.

In Revelation we see those who are saved described as a “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9). From the beginning to the end of God’s Word, we see God calling and saving a people for Himself. This design is intentional and studying these stories can be a great way to understand the value of Church community.

2) Church community is necessary for growing in obedience

Another reason we need the Church is because biblical community is integral to obeying God’s commands. Throughout the Bible, it is clear that God expects us to live in community! First, we see this in the Mosaic Law given to the Israelites. Consider the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:12-17): 6 of the 10 commandments involve our relationship with others, specifically within the community of God’s people. These commands directly impacted the way the Israelites treated and lived with one another. The rest of the Law of Moses gave extremely specific directions for how God wanted His people to interact with each other and with outsiders as a testimony to the One True God (Deuteronomy 4:6-8).

The New Testament is full of instruction on what Church community should look like now for the Christian—how we are to live as His chosen people (1 Peter 2:9). Jesus taught about how to relate to others and the purposes of church community (Matthew 18), and one of the most detailed set of instructions comes from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. The other New Testament writers expand on His commands with more specific instruction and application for the Christian life (Galatians 6:10; Hebrews 10:24-25; Colossians 3:16).

Considering all these teachings, how can we obey all of God’s Word if we’re not living in community with other believers? The answer is: we can’t. It’s impossible for believers to live out the life that Christ has called us to live apart from being a part of His Church. Believers who choose a more reclusive or antisocial way of life, or believers who simply don’t go to church or have a church home, must recognize how that doesn’t align with what God’s Word teaches. The passages I’ve referenced today are just a few that can help us see the beauty of living life with Christ’s Church. Only in Church community can we find others to speak truth into our lives, which helps us grow in maturity.

In the following posts in this series, I’ll be focusing more specifically on how we are to live out community among groups of imperfect people, as well as on some of the common descriptions of the Church and what that means for us. I’ll look at more detailed purposes for the Church in the Bible, as well as where “church hurt” fits into the picture. My prayer is that the Scriptures we’ll cover together will help us see just how wonderful our God is for saving us into His family. As always, thank you for listening or reading to Speaking Truth!

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Ephesians 3:20-21“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Before I move onto another series for this newsletter, I wanted to write a post reflecting on what God has done in me and for me over the past year—and on the beautiful truths He’s been teaching me in this season of life. Most of what I’m going to share isn’t necessarily new for me and probably isn’t new for you either. However, I believe it is so important for us as believers to just take moments to remember the goodness of God in our lives and to share it with others. That’s the goal for what I’m sharing today.

As I’ve reflected on many hard things happening around me, I am blown away by how God continues to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” This season of life has been one where many of the people around me are hurting, struggling, or going through some kind of trial. Many of my family and friends are dealing with physical illnesses, relational issues, financial problems, or work stress, and most are dealing with a cocktail of trials and suffering. It is so hard to watch those I love go through so many hard things. It’s hard because I want to fix whatever “it” is for them. It’s hard because we so often can’t see the good in the middle of suffering. It’s also hard because I want to offer comfort in situations I haven’t been through myself. And it’s hard because, well, I don’t like hard things.

But in all of the hard, God has reminded me again and again that He is always good. Bad things may happen, but that doesn’t mean it’s not for a good purpose. Because we have a good God in control, hard and bad things are not pointless. In this season of doing life with many who are hurting, I have had to grow in truly trusting the One who is completely and perfectly good. The opening verses from Ephesians 3 help my heart choose to trust God—because it is always “His power that is at work within us.” And when I look back at hard situations that have passed, I really do see how God used it for good.

God has lovingly reminded me that it is always worth encouraging a brother or sister in Christ with the truth that comes from His Word. It’s not about me having the right words to say in a hard situation, but about being willing to say the only Right Words that ring true in any situation—Jesus’ words of loving comfort.

Matthew 11:28-30“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

It’s also not about me doing the right thing in a specific situation, but about me doing what’s right in all circumstances—crying out to God in prayer. Prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of requests, and prayers of lament. And praying for and with people in the moment.

Ephesians 6:18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Even when I feel like I don’t know what to say or do, I’m learning that speaking God’s Words of love and stopping to pray with someone is always the right thing to do. Pointing someone back to the Cross and their Savior and crying out to Him on their behalf is needed in every trial or suffering. I can’t change my family or friend’s circumstances, but I can remind them of the One who is there in the middle, in the dark, in the hard with them. And while that is not always going to be received with joy or thanks from those we’re trying to love, it is always a way we can serve them.

I also titled this “Reflecting on the Hard” not just because I’ve been doing life with those who are struggling, but also because of what God has been teaching me in my own trials. This season of life has been hard in the sense that my family has been going through a lot of change, learning, and growing. My husband got a new job, we both have new and old responsibilities serving at church, and we started fostering (and parenting) for the first time—just to name a few of the things we’ve been handling right now and over the past year. And while I definitely do not believe the weight of these trials compares to a lot of the suffering my loved ones are going through, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t hard.

I have had to learn how to reprioritize my whole world since becoming a foster parent. I’ve also had to adjust to my husband’s new work schedule and both of our ministry responsibilities, which means saying “no” a lot more. I’ve seen my sin come out in new ways and old ways in all of these circumstances. And I’ve also realized the importance of continually seeking out others for fellowship and accountability, not just in the middle of crisis or struggle. In all of these hard things, though, I can look back and praise God for the work He is doing in my life to conform me more into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). Every struggle, every weakness helps me remember my need for a Savior, and reflecting back shows me how God has already gotten me throw so much more than I could have imagined. When I stop to look, I truly see the ways God is sanctifying me—and I’m so thankful that He is far from done!

While some seasons of life may seem easier, life in this sin-cursed world is never going to be easy. There will always be hard days, hard jobs, and hard people to face. Even in writing this week I wrestled with many hard things, like jetlag, sickness, and fighting my own sin while trying to parent well. I constantly have to ask God to help me desire to be like Him more than anything else. If it wasn’t for the hard things, I know I would struggle more with pride and self-righteousness, rather than seeing my need to put off sin and put on Christ-likeness (Ephesians 4:22-24).

It truly is a blessing to have so many people I get to love and do life with, and it’s a gift to get to walk alongside them in the hard. I’m not a perfect friend, wife, mother, or co-worker, but I pray God will keep giving me opportunities to point others to the good He has done and is doing in my life and theirs. I’ve been praying more and more often, “God, help me want to be like Jesus to those around me more than anything else!” because Jesus is the only thing I can offer that truly gives hope and help. It’s a privilege to be saved in the family of believers, into Christ’s church, and I pray that in all the hard going on in this world, I will keep seeking to live for my Savior.

“…to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Thank you as always for listening or reading to Speaking Truth!

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John 13:34-35“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

In my introductory post on this topic of “What Is Love?", I gave my three-fold answer: love is an emotion, an action, and a part of who God is. Over the past several posts, I’ve shared some of the ways the Bible describes God’s love: His love is faithful and just; it’s a gift; and His love is redeeming. Most of us are already familiar with love as an emotion or feeling, so now I want to step into studying the way the Bible talks about love as an action. Today’s post will look at some of the commands from Scripture where we are called to love, as well as how we are called to love.

To start, I want us to reflect on the opening verses of John 13:34-35. This is Jesus giving final instructions and encouragement to His disciples on the night before He died. He tells His disciples that He’s giving them a new command, to love one another. While we may not initially think that “love others” is a new command, Jesus goes on to say we are to love others as He has loved us. Jesus is explaining that the love He has demonstrated through His life is different from the love offered by the world. He even says that everyone else will know who His disciples are by the way they love one another. Two chapters later, Jesus continues His lesson by explaining how the disciples should love one another:

John 15:9-13“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Before we can love others, we must love Jesus. Loving Jesus means we obey His commands—and the command He gives here is to “Love each other as I have loved you.” How did Jesus love them? He laid down His life for them. He died so that we could live in a restored relationship with God. We are called by our Savior to love others like Jesus loved us—sacrificially. In another one of Jesus’ famous teachings, He phrases this same command in a more specific way:

Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus replied: “‘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.”

So how do we love others as ourselves? How do we love in a way in which we are laying down our lives for others? How do we love sacrificially? Thankfully, we are not left in the dark for these questions—God’s true and perfect Word gives us clear, actionable ways we are called to love. In the New Testament, there are many “One Another Commands” where we are instructed to treat others a certain way out of love for God and for them. For a longer (but still introductory) list of those “One Another Commands,” you can go check out my post called “What Are Friends For?” from back in July 2024. For the rest of this post, I want to highlight two specific passages from the New Testament that both give actionable ways we are to love others.

First, let’s look at 1 Peter, where one of Jesus’ twelve disciples teaches the church on how to love. Peter gives us some very practical ways we can love others:

1 Peter 4:8-10Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

* First, “love covers over” sins. This is not teaching us to ignore sins, but rather to be motivated by a heart of forgiveness to extend love and grace towards those who’ve sinned against us. Are you quick to forgive, or do you hold onto wrongs done to you? Having a heart that is ready and willing to forgive is one way we can love others.

* Second, “offer hospitality to one other without grumbling.” How easy is it to view hospitality as a chore or inconvenience? It’s so much easier to just take care of ourselves or just our families, rather than trying to figure out how to bring other people into our daily lives. Yet that goes against the way we are called to love and live—we are to be hospitable to others in the same way that God brought us into His family through sending us His Son.

* Third, Peter explains how we are to use our gifts “to serve others as stewards of God’s grace.” When we choose to use the gifts, talents, and abilities God has given us to serve others, we get to help distribute God’s grace to those around us. I know I too often develop a complaining attitude towards those I’m serving, rather than an attitude of gratitude at the fact that I get to dispense God’s grace to others. This command is also a privilege for those who obey it!

Next, I want to look at one of the passages where we learn about how to love others from the apostle Paul. Here Paul details what it looks like to “live a life worthy of the calling” we’ve received:

Ephesians 4:1-3As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

* First, we learn here that being “humble and gentle” is a way to love others. What does this look like? Well, being humble means caring less about ourselves and our needs and caring more about the needs of others. We can love others by checking in on them, asking them about themselves, and seeking ways to serve them personally. To be gentle with others means to be kind in how we treat others. Are we quick to criticize and get annoyed? Or are we able to gently respond to others when they disappoint or irritate us? Seeking to be humble and gentle towards everyone is a huge way we can demonstrate the love of God to others.

* Second, we are to “be patient, bearing with one another in love.” This goes hand-in-hand with having a humble and gentle attitude towards others. Honestly, patience is not something that comes naturally to me, and I can become so task-oriented that my patience runs thin when it seems that others get in the way of my plans. But yet our God is so patient with me! He bears with me, patiently loving me even as I fall back into sin again and again. If we choose to be patient with others, we are reflecting the image of Christ to the world around us.

* Third, we are also supposed to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit.” God calls us to work hard towards keeping peace between our brothers and sisters in Christ. Instead of pushing for our own agenda in the ministries we’re involved in, do we first consider what others are planning or desiring? Are we quick to push our own method of living out a biblical principle onto others if they differ from us? Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:9 that “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Seeking to live at peace with fellow believers is another heavenly picture of God’s love here on earth.

I wanted this last post in this series to point you to the practical instruction that the Bible provides for how we, who are loved so much by God, are also called to love. I pray you will be challenged to go to Scripture to find more ways we can love others. Love defined by God’s Word is so much more beautiful, precious, and applicable to our everyday lives than love defined by the world. I pray you continue to grow in your love for God and others as you continue to seek after Him and His ways. Thank you for joining me through this series on “What Is Love?”, and I look forward to studying more of the rich truths found in Scripture with you next time on Speaking Truth.

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Ephesians 1:7-8a“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.”

Today I want to focus on the hope of God’s redeeming love because of what He did for us in Christ Jesus. You will notice that the verses I want to study with you in this post do not necessarily have the word “love” in them. However, I believe that these New Testament passages clearly demonstrate the message of God’s love toward us by illustrating how we are redeemed through faith in Jesus.

So what does it mean to be redeemed? Outside of Christianity, “redeem” and “redemption” have really only one main use: to earn something or win something. For example, we redeem coupons or loyalty points at stores to earn money off our next purchase or some free bonus item. Or you redeem airline miles to get a free flight for your next vacation. You might occasionally hear the adjective form of this word used when talking about someone’s or something’s “redeeming quality”—a characteristic of a person or thing that gives it value even though it would otherwise be perceived as negative or bad. Within Christianity, though, “redeem” has a much different meaning. Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary does a great job describing how Christians use “redeem”:

2: to free from what distresses or harms: such as a: to free from captivity by payment of ransom b: to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental c: to release from blame or debt : clear d: to free from the consequences of sin

As the opening verses from Ephesians 1 say, we as Christians are redeemed through the forgiveness of our sins by the grace of God. We are freed, extricated, helped, cleared, and released from the consequences of our sins because of God’s great and gracious love towards us. In other words, being redeemed means we are washed clean from the guilt and death that sin brings.

Ephesians 1:7-8 also expand on the idea of God’s love being a gift, like I discussed in my last post. These verses explain that because Jesus died for us (“through His blood”), we have redemption through being forgiven for our sins “in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.” Being redeemed, or cleansed, from our sins is the ultimate gift we can receive. It is grace being lavished on us—what an amazing, undeserved gift! Our hope as Christians is not based on what we can do or achieve, but on what we’ve been gifted.

And just as God’s love is given to us through the person and work of Jesus Christ, He is also the embodiment of our redemption from sin:

1 Corinthians 1:30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

Because of God’s love, we are able to be saved into Christ who becomes our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. The context of this verse is Paul explaining that God is the one who chose this plan of redemption for us. Our hope is in who HE is and on what He has done out of His great love.

Galatians 3:13-14Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

Here in the middle of a discussion on faith versus works of the law, Paul again uses language of Christ redeeming us by taking our place on the Cross. He became a curse for us so that we may have the blessing of faith and receive God’s Spirit. This is what true love looks like! It is being given a second, third, and umpteenth chance that we can never earn on our own. This is the only way to have real, lasting hope—through Christ’s precious, redeeming blood:

1 Peter 1:18-19For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

To show our love, we often give people valuable or precious gifts. Jewelry made of silver, gold, or other precious metals or gems is one way throughout history that people have tried to demonstrate the value of love in the gifts we give. Yet we were redeemed by something so much more valuable, so much more precious—the love of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Christian friend, what hope we have in our Savior!

How often do you think about having been redeemed? How often do you cherish the invaluable gift of Jesus in your life? How often do you rest in the hope we have because of the blood of Christ? I know that I do not consider these things enough. I so often focus on the everyday tasks set before me or the trials in my life and others’, rather than taking time to stop and remember these Gospel truths. Studying these passages on God’s redeeming love helps me reorient my heart to cherish the hope and promises found in Christ. These verses turn my soul to praising Him for His love, grace, and work in my life, no matter what else is going on. My prayer is that you are encouraged to take time to do the same!

In my next post I will walk through some of the ways we have been designed and called to love. I can’t wait to study more of what God’s Word has to say about how His love should change us, and until then, thank you for joining me here on Speaking Truth!

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John 3:16“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.”

Are you a gift giver? Or do you prefer to receive gifts? We commonly use gifts as a way to show our love for someone, yet I think we often take for granted that love itself is a gift from God. God’s faithful and just love is embodied through the ultimate Gift—Jesus Christ our Savior. In John 3:16, the word “gave” demonstrates God sacrificially giving His love to a whole planet of people who don’t deserve a thing. In today’s post, I want to spend time reflecting on what the New Testament has to say regarding this incomparable gift of God’s love. Viewing His love as a gift should shape our heart responses to Him and His Word, which then goes on to impact every other area of our lives.

The essence of a gift is that it is not earned or deserved—we use gifts as an act of love to show others what they mean to us relationally. Because God is love, He has made a way for us to escape our sin and guilt—through faith in Jesus alone. God’s love is a gift because it shows His desire to have a relationship with us.

Ephesians 2:8-9For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

1 John 4:9-10This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Romans 5:8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God’s love was purely demonstrated through the gift of Jesus Christ and salvation by faith in Him alone. It is up to us to either accept this gift with a heart of gratitude or to toss it aside because it doesn’t match our desires. Anyone who claims they can work their way to heaven or believe in another god is blatantly dismissing the one true act of love—Jesus’ sacrifice for us. It’s like a child who opens a present just to throw it away and complain it’s not what they wanted.

The choice to receive and believe God’s gift of love or to reject it is the difference between judgement and condemnation that comes with our sin nature, versus grace and righteousness that comes from our new life in Christ:

Romans 5:15-17 NLTBut there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.

While the curse of sin came to all through one man, the gift of God’s love and freedom from sin came through the One Man, Jesus. From the beginning of His Word, God promised His people that He would make His love known someday through faithfully coming down to live among us and facing the justice that we deserve. The Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah were fulfilled in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. God sent His one and only Son to live a perfect life for us so that He could suffer and die as the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

2 Corinthians 5:21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Philippians 2:6-7Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Both of these passages refer to Jesus, God Himself, setting aside His heavenly glory to be born into a sin-cursed world. He did this to show how much He loves us, how He wants us to choose a restored relationship with Him. Can you even imagine a more perfect, wonderful, or undeserved gift than our Savior? I know I can’t. When I meditate on these beautiful truths describing God’s love, my heart is moved towards loving God in return and towards loving others like I’ve been loved. And boy do I need those heart reminders!

I pray that these Scriptures have increased the joy and gratitude in your heart for your Savior and Lord, the only Gift that we’ll ever need and never deserve. I pray you will also experience the gift of His love more deeply each time you reflect on what He has done for us in passages like we read today. Next time, I plan to look at another aspect of God’s love for us to consider found in the New Testament, and I can’t wait to study and share that with you. Until then, thank you again for listening or reading to Speaking Truth!

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Exodus 34:7 NLT“I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin.But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren;the entire family is affected— even children in the third and fourth generations.”

Today I’ll be talking about ways we see the justice of God’s love in the Old Testament and how it is intertwined with His faithfulness. If you recall, I opened my last post with Exodus 34:6, where God described Himself as compassionate, merciful, slow to anger, and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I did not touch on the context of that passage in my discussion on the faithfulness of God’s love, but I think it’s important to consider now as we jump into a discussion on the justice of God’s love. I want to use this passage to help us see the beauty and wonder of God’s just and faithful love demonstrated throughout Scripture.

Exodus 34:7, which I opened with today, is the continuation of God’s speech to Moses on Mt. Sinai, after He called Moses to return with two new stone tablets. In it, God continues to describe Himself in this way: lavishing unfailing love to a thousand generations; forgiving iniquity, rebellion and sin; but not excusing the guilty. God tells Moses about His unfailing love for His people involves the punishment of sins. You see, Moses had broken the first two stone tablets of God’s commandments in anger when he discovered the Israelite people had so quickly made a golden calf statue to worship, all because Moses took “too long” on the mountain with God. While God did punish the people for their idolatry and many died, He did not completely destroy them because Moses pleaded with God on their behalf.

In Exodus 34, both the faithfulness and justice of God’s love are displayed: He lavishes love “to a thousand generations” while also punishing the sins of someone who is unrepentant to “the third and fourth generations.” God destroyed many of the Israelites because of their idolatry, but He also chose to “go with” the people to the Promised Land even after their sin. We see other pictures of this balance in God’s love throughout the rest of the Old Testament:

* When Adam and Eve chose to sin in the Garden of Eden, God sent them away but provided clothes for them.

* When God decided to destroy the world by a flood to punish sin, He chose to preserve Noah and his family.

* When Abraham and Sarah decided to use Hagar to try and get their promised son, God still blessed them with Isaac even though they had sinned and not trusted.

* When the Israelites got to the Promised Land and were afraid, God made them wander for 40 years but still brought their descendants to it.

* Once in the Promised Land, God used judges to repeatedly rescue and turn the people back to Himself after committing idolatry again and again.

* In the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, God continued to show His just discipline towards the people’s sin by allowing enemies to defeat them when they strayed from following Him, and then He faithfully restored them when they and their kings chose to repent.

* Because of the kings’ and people’s continued unfaithfulness to God’s commands, eventually Israel and Judah were conquered by evil nations, but even in those times of discipline God preserved His people and restored Jerusalem and its Temple.

Time after time in the Old Testament, God demonstrated that His love for His people is both faithful and just, and that while He does not abandon those who love Him, He also cannot ignore sin. Listen to another passage where God describes Himself:

Isaiah 61:8“For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing.In my faithfulness I will reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them.”

God is faithful, and His justice proves His righteous love and ways. Here are a few other beautiful passages describing our good and loving God for you to reflect on:

Psalm 33:5The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.

Deuteronomy 32:4He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just.A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

Psalm 89:14Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.

Many people have criticized God’s character in the Old Testament because of the way He punishes whole groups of people for sin. But our God proves Himself completely righteous and good through demonstrating both His faithful pursuing of those who choose to obey Him and His consistent discipline and justice exercised against those who hate His commands. True, pure, perfect love does not ignore sin and evil. God’s love is made known to us in that He chooses to be faithful to us at all. We completely deserve the just punishment of our sins—what we don’t deserve is His wonderful faithfulness to His people and the grace He shows the world.

1 Corinthians 5:21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

The mind-blowing truth of this is that God did this for everyone, even those who will never trust in and follow Him. In Jesus Christ’s life and death, God’s faithful, just love was perfectly displayed. And for those of us in Christ, we have such beautiful hope that “it is finished.” God’s just love has been made complete for all who would turn to Him. Hallelujah for that reality!

I have absolutely loved looking at the faithfulness and justice of God’s love found in the Old Testament, as that helps me understand how much greater Christ’s sacrifice for my sins means. In my next posts on this series on God’s love, I want to dive into more ways we see God’s love in the New Testament. I can’t wait to study more examples of what God’s love means for us, and until then, thank you again for reading or listening to Speaking Truth.

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Exodus 34:6 NLT“The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out,‘Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy!I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.’”

While there are so many different things I could focus on when trying to write about the love of God, two aspects stick out in my mind especially as I read through the Old Testament—God’s love is faithful and just. There are so many passages and psalms of praise to go to for those two characteristics of the love of God! However, I want to take some of the most vivid images from the Old Testament to highlight God’s loving faithfulness and God’s loving justice. To do so, I’ll be focusing this post on how His love is faithful, and in my next post I’ll move on to how His love is just.

God repeatedly demonstrates His faithful love to His people in the Old Testament, yet too often God in the Old Testament can be depicted as harsh, judgmental, or even cruel. Many people who study the Bible (whether believers or not) can’t equate the “judgmental” God they see in the Old Testament with the compassionate God who sent His Son to die for our sins in the New Testament. I think focusing on God’s faithfulness before His justice helps bridge the gaps in our understanding of what the true love of God looks like.

I also think studying the faithfulness of God’s love is important because it’s very unlike the love we show one another. Because of sin, we can never be 100% truly faithful when we love. Yet because God is without sin, He is 100% faithful all the time in His love. But what does it even mean “to be faithful?” When I consider the quality of faithfulness (or being faithful), I think of never giving up, never failing, never ending, and remaining true or steadfast. When we read the Old Testament, we are blessed with so many wonderful examples of God’s perfectly faithful love.

First, let’s look at God’s faithful love towards His creation. Starting in Genesis 1 and 2, we see God’s careful work in all of creation as we repeatedly read the words, “And God saw that it was good.” Not only did He create plants, animals, and people, but He created everything that this world needed to survive: air, water, the earth. And once sin entered the world, He faithfully continued to sustain His creation. He demonstrates this faithful love towards the whole world in the story of Noah, where He purposely saves a remnant of people and all other living creatures:

Genesis 9:12-17And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

I love how God promises to be faithful by remembering His covenant with “the earth,” “all living creatures of every kind,” and “all life on the earth.” It’s hard for me to imagine wanting to faithfully sustain the people who chose sin over following me, let alone caring for the rest of the world so that those same people could continue living! But that’s the kind of faithful love God has which is so beyond our understanding. The Psalmist was also taken aback by the beauty of God’s faithfulness:

Psalm 36:5-7Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

We also have the story of Job, where God allows much pain and suffering into Job’s life, yet Job continues to trust in the faithful love of His God:

Job 12:7-10“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you.Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”

In the midst of losing all his earthly treasures and people he loved, Job still pointed his heart back to the faithful God who cares for all of creation.

Now to end this post, I want to reflect more specifically on God’s faithful love towards His people. Here I’m going to just going to give a high level overview of the faithfulness God demonstrated towards His people in the Old Testament:

* God’s love in creating mankind in His image, even when they would sin (Genesis 1:26-28)

* God’s covenant to Abraham to bless him and the whole earth through his family (Genesis 12:1-3; 17:1-8)

* God’s love in protecting Israel through Joseph in Egypt (Genesis 45:1-11)

* God’s love in rescuing His multitude of people from slavery through the Exodus (Exodus 12:31-42; 19:1-6)

* God's love in giving Israel the Promised Land (Joshua 3:9-17)

* God’s love in promising the Messiah (Isaiah 9:6-7; 11:1-4; Micah 5:2-4; Psalm 2:7-8)

* God’s love in rescuing His people again and again throughout the Old Testament, each time after they had turned away from Him

When I think of all these stories, all these examples, all I can do is praise God for His undeserved faithful love towards us. Time after time, even though we have failed in our purposes to be image-bearers of God, to give glory to Him, to obey and love Him—He still remains faithful. He never takes His love away forever, and His promises towards His people always remain.

1 Corinthians 1:20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

Praise Him who has been faithful since the beginning, and who proved His faithful love to us once and for all through Jesus Christ!

I look forward to diving into the justice of God’s love with you next time, especially when you consider that so many passages about God’s love include the descriptors “faithful” and “just” together. I pray this series helps you see and realize more of God’s great love for you! Until next time, thank you for choosing to read or listen to Speaking Truth.

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