disciple - cmi sealed orders #5 - "who do you think you are?"

“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:35

Dave Simmons tells about a day he took his kids to a local mall.  His daughter Helen was eight years old and his son Brandon was five.  On the way into the mall, they saw a sign for a petting zoo.  Both kids begged to go inside.

The father gave each kid a quarter and they disappeared into the zoo, wanting to spend every moment possible with the furry creatures.

After a few minutes in the store Simmons turned around to see Helen patiently waiting for him. 

He asked her, “Why aren’t you at the petting zoo?”

She replied, “It costs 50 cents, so I gave my quarter to Brandon.”

After the shopping was done they both stood outside the fence, watching Brandon on the inside run with glee from goat to rabbit and back again.

Knowing his daughter loved animals, Helen’s dad waited for her to ask for another fifty cents.  But she stood quietly and patiently, watching her brother enjoy the animals. 

In a small way that day, Helen had learned the lesson of sacrificial love.

On the night before Jesus was handed over for suffering and death, he told his disciples, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 

And in the next few hours he gave up everything, not just to provide salvation for us, but also to show what real love was all about.

What do you have that you are willing to give up to show love to someone?  In what small way can you show how much God loves them?

Use the remaining moments to ask God to continue to disciple you and to show you something that you can give up to show love for someone in your life.

Deeply, From the Heart

These are the Bible study notes for Wednesday, September 22, 2010, covering 1 Peter 2:13-25.

What piece of practical advice would you give to the next generation?

Review:
We learned something about Peter and who he is writing to.  What do we know so far about his audience?

Peter’s Advice:
Read 1 Peter 1:13-16.  What instructions does Peter give these scattered aliens?  What reason does he give to follow these instructions?

Does the situation the audience is in make it easier or more difficult to follow the instructions? 

What about your life makes it easy to follow the instructions?  More difficult?

Read Leviticus 11:44-45.  Who is speaking in these verses?  What reason does he give for being holy?

The Author of Hope:
Read 1 Peter 1:17-21.  What do we learn about Jesus in these verses?

What do you need to know about Jesus that will help you face life’s challenges?

Living and Enduring:
Read 1 Peter 1:22-25.  How do we purify ourselves?  Why do we purify ourselves?

What words does Peter use to qualify his command, “love one another?”  What do you think he means?  Do we need those qualifications?  Why?

Is loving one another deeply, from the heart, easy or difficult?  Why?

What lasting item can we now add to last week’s list?  What responsibilities do we have concerning the word of God?  How can we live that out?

Homework:
Read 1 Peter 2:1-12.

Putting it Together

Charles Spurgeon once wrote, "Faith goes up the stairs that love has built and looks out the window which hope has opened."  In this brief statement, he gave us a snapshot of what the relationship looks like between Faith, Hope and Love.

After all, as I stated in an earlier post, Faith moves.  It must move, or it is dead.  But without Love, even with all the Faith in the world, we are nothing (1 Cor 13:2).  Love has made the connection and created an avenue for our faith to move.

In another post, I explained that Hope sees.  When faith moves, it has a target or a focus for us to concentrate on.  Again and again in scripture, we are encouraged to focus on heavenly things (Colossians 3:1-2, 2 Corinthians 4:18).  When Faith moves, Hope gives it a target.  When I taught my children to ride bicycles, I told them to look at a point down the sidewalk.  It might have been a road sign or a tree, but when they took their eyes off the pedals and looked at their "target," they kept better balance and rode in a straighter line.  We need to use Hope that way.

And Love paves the way for us to hope.

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

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Husband Under Construction

This weekend, I celebrate Valentine's Day again with Beth.  This is number 22, counting our dating life and over 20 years of marriage.

What a fantastic time I have had with Beth.  We have lived our adventure together in nine states, are almost done raising two wonderful daughters and reluctantly enduring two dogs.  As with any relationship, there have been difficult times.  Most of those have to do with my own stubbornness, selfishness and pride.  But we seemed to weather through those.  In fact, the last few months have seemed to be the start of a new chapter of our married life.  We seem to be more in tune with each other and trusting each other more lately.

Perhaps it is due to our perseverance through recent health challenges, or maybe we are finally changing patterns of dealing with crises from before.  Whatever it is, I have really grown to appreciate Beth more than ever lately.  At the risk of not sounding very romantic, she really is my best friend, and I'm more glad than ever that I married her.

I suppose that the key to this kind of success comes from following the advice in Ephesians 5:25-28:

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.

I have a lot of improving to do, and I appreciate Beth's patience.  But I'm glad that I've come this far and learned the lessons I have.

I sure do love you, my Valentine!

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Always Perseveres

In the Love Chapter of First Corinthians, Paul tells us that love "always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (1 Cor 13:7)

As I meditate on that verse, I envision a child who is learning to walk.  For a while, he holds onto furniture as he navigates the room, confined to the narrow path around something - anything - to hold onto.  The coffee table provides protection for him until he is steady enough to take a step on his own.  Eventually, his trust and hope prevail (with a little help from Mom and Dad), and then the whole room is his.  Which means that fragile objects need to be relocated a little higher, baby-proofing the house to a new level.

As I get closer to what Paul is saying, I feel stronger that love is like a bridge - it connects.  Especially in situations that seem hopeless, love is able to break through and make a connection where none was before.

I had a small run-in with a neighbor.  Nothing big, but it had big potential.  Potential to be a big fight.  Potential to form a strong relationship.

Does that mean that where there is no division, there is no love?  What is the opposite of love?  

As I anticipated the next encounter with the neighbor, I was tense.  I was tempted to allow a rift to create greater separation between us.


The Apostle John explains, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)

The opposite of love is fear.

I was experiencing fear.  And if I let fear rule me, there would be tension on our street because fear divides us.

Does fear keep you from connecting with those around you?  It does for all of us.

As I finally met with our neighbor, I decided to find ways to connect with them.  If found a lot that we had in common - our kids went to the same high school, we both have two dogs, and on it goes. 

Are you stuck at the edges of the room in your relationships?  Are you letting fear keep people at arms' length?  Maybe it's time to let love - God's love - rule in your life.  Love will drive out fear and allow you, even inspire you, to connect with others.

Love always perseveres.

Like what you are reading? Consider the following: Subscribe to my blog (there is a link for that on this page). "Follow" me on twitter.  It's a free account, and a great way to meet like-minded friends.  My link is: http://twitter.com/tommccomb. Leave a comment (I love your candid feedback and might use your ideas in future posts) Tell someone else about this blog.  There is a "Share" link to help you do that. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you soon.