What does it mean to love one another?

"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love ... do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."" [Galatians 5:6b,13b-14]

In these words, Paul gets to the heart of the purpose of the Gospel, and Christ's liberating work through the cross and his subsequent resurrection. The goal is love, because as John, the 'apostle of love' reminds us, "God is love." Recently, I was having dinner with a group of our home church leaders and much of the discussion centered upon the characteristics of authentic community, and how we might attain to such a notion in our fast-paced culture. The same wise insight we see in the Scriptures was laid before us as someone commented, 'You can never have true community until there is a commitment to love one another'. For me, it brought to mind some other challenging words of the Apostle John, "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]

So that got me thinking this week about different characteristics of this kind of love and what it should look like. I wanted to share just one of these with you this week ... others may come later, and I also invite you into the 'discussion' (by replying to this posting). The characteristic that has been on my heart is UNITY (not uniformity!) Paul suggests in Philipp. 2:2 a connection between the love of Christ (which we are to reflect) and 'being one in spirit and purpose'. Unity in the body was always a high value for Paul - whenever that is being challenged he comes out fighting.

When different factions in the church in Corinth started to rally around different personalities (Paul, Apollos, Peter, Christ), his response is swift. "Is Christ divided?" Nothing less than perfect unity is to be settled for in Paul's thinking. Yet sadly the history of the Church down through the ages, has been one of bitter division and in-fighting. Even our labels today betray a similar following of personalities under a different guise ... Lutherans (Luther), Methodists (John Wesley), Pentecostals (the Spirit), Presbyterians (John Calvin), Anglicans (Henry VIII/Prayer Book), Catholics (the Pope), the list goes on.

However, the Spirit of God is still graciously working in the hearts of all those who truly belong to Christ, and that is the ultimate loyalty of the Christian. Our devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ overrides any devotion a particular denomination or nation for that matter. The kingdom of God transcends all these man-made structures. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." [Gal 3:28] I love the way that our simple model of church reduces the emphasis upon denominational labels or practices. It is not that these are irrelevant, just secondary. If I see my identity in being Anglican, or even belonging to BridgePoint, rather than in being "in Christ", then by definition I am advocating division at the very least in my own mind, if not in my lifestyle.

We belong to Christ ... and we belong to one another, not just because we attend the same fellowship, but because we have been baptized into Christ. We only have true life in him, and in connection with his body. We must find connection with the body - those with whom we commit to work out our salvation by laying down our lives for one another, in love. We must also seek ways to promote unity within the wider Church in Austin, all those who truly follow Jesus as Lord. So I encourage you to use your freedom to serve one another in love, get connected, open your heart to one another, preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace and let this be a testimony to the world that Jesus lives and reigns .... in US!

Grace, mercy and peace.
Mike.