In John 13:35, God shows us how we are to have love for each other. It is supposed to be how people distinguish us as Christ's disciples. It is the root and ground of our existence (Ephesians 3:17-21), meant to be expressed with passion and fervency (I Peter 4:8) It is a quality that we are to "abound" in more and more (I Thessalonians 3:12), always getting better at it, becoming increasingly defined by it. Now, let us look into these scriptures and see what God is saying.
John 13:35, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." The distinguishing mark of discipleship is not programs or signs, wonders or eloquence or ecclesiastical power, but Christ's love in us that allows us to love one another. This does not mean these men were to become a self-centered, ingrown clique. That may be caused by sentimentality, but not by Christ's love shared among His people. The world will always confront Christ and have to deal with Him if His people love one another as He has loved them.
Now, Ephesians 3:17-21, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, Ephesians 3:18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; Ephesians 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Ephesians 3:21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." "That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (Ephesians 3:17) is Paul's second petition. And this is the lodestar of Paul's theology—that a person may be "in Christ" and thus live in the Spirit and in the power of the living Lord who indwells.
In I Peter 4:8,"And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. " This fervent love for one another should be a top priority of Christian lifestyle. Verse 1Peter 4:8 says that our love should be "above all things." We cannot afford to let it slip or slide. This love must flow without ceasing. The faucet of love should never be turned off or even partially restrained. It should be flowing at full strength. This is the will of God for us.
How many problems which take place in our lives, in our families, in our churches, and in our communities could be easily resolved if Christians kept their love for God and each other at full strength. "There is nothing love cannot face; there is no limit to its faith, its hope, and its endurance" (1Corinthians 13:7, NEB).
I Thessalonians 3:12, " And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:..." Paul is not willing that such love be contained within the Christian community. It is to abound to one another "and to all" How easy it is for us in our groups and in our relationships to become exclusively involved in our own concerns and interests. This is the point where group life stagnates. Again and again, we are discovering that groups need to find avenues of service to others to sustain their vitality. The principle of self-giving love applies to groups as well as to individuals. Abounding love has no borders.
In Proverbs 16:1-33, "Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, are from the LORD. Pro 16:2 All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits. Pro 16:3 Commit thy works to the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established. Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yes, even the wicked for the day of evil. Pro 16:5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. Pro 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. Pro 16:7 When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. Pro 16:8 Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues without right. Pro 16:9 A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps. Pro 16:10 A divine sentence is in the lips of the king: his mouth transgresseth not in judgment. Pro 16:11 A just weight and balance are the LORD'S: all the weights of the bag are his work. Pro 16:12 It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: for the throne is established by righteousness. Pro 16:13 Righteous lips are the delight of kings; and they love him that speaketh right. Pro 16:14 The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it. Pro 16:15 In the light of a king's countenance is life; and his favor is as a cloud of the latter rain. Pro 16:16 How much better is it to get wisdom than gold? and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver?
Pro 16:17 The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul. Pro 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Pro 16:19 Better it is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. Pro 16:20 He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoever trusteth in the LORD, happy is he. Pro 16:21 The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning. Pro 16:22 Understanding is a well-spring of life to him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly. Pro 16:23 The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips. Pro 16:24 Pleasant words are as a honey-comb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. Pro 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right to a man, but the end of it is the ways of death. Pro 16:26 He that laboreth laboreth for himself; for his mouth craveth it of him. Pro 16:27 An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire. Pro 16:28 A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends. Pro 16:29 A violent man enticeth his neighbor, and leadeth him into the way that is not good.Pro 16:30 He shutteth his eyes to devise froward things: moving his lips he bringeth evil to pass. Pro 16:31 The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it is found in the way of righteousness. Pro 16:32 He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city. Pro 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap: but the whole disposing of it is from the LORD." From the beginning God's people have lived under the authority of the King and the kings. Dual authority we recognize—divine sovereignty and human government. Dual authority but not equal authority. The students in Proverbs needed to mark that difference. They were confronted regularly, as budding leaders, with the competence and caprice of monarchs. During Judah's heyday they watched the pendulum swing from righteous kings to foolish ones, from rulers who trusted God to those who tested Him. When the Babylonians crushed Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C., Judah's king was dragged off to the banks of the Euphrates, and the political authority was vested in a foreign governor. The Persians, after 539 B.C., maintained the same system but with more class and less cruelty. Throughout this entire period, the time when the proverbs were part of the curriculum for training government administrators, the young officials had to be submissive to the central authority that regulated their labors. Apparently, they found the teachers' maxims were applicable in almost any political context.
Happily, necessarily, the sages, as true members of the covenant community, had incorporated in the collections a whole set of sayings that dealt with the authority that outranked royal rights. Side by side with proverbs that taught respect and regard for the earthly sovereign were those that focused on the power and glory of the heavenly Sovereign. The checks and balances were thus in place for the leaders of a people that for almost all the time from the Babylonian Exile to the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948 has lived in the tension between God and Caesar, the tension of which Jesus spoke so plainly when He gave His prescription for dealing with dual authority (Mark 12:13-17; Matthew 22:15-22; Luke 20:19-26). Proverbs 16 more than any other section of the book brings together the two types of sayings—those that describe proper royal behavior and correct comportment of the ones who serve the kings and those that depict the King of kings, always to be reckoned with in His ultimate authority and hegemony in human affairs. Israel's young leaders, like all who wield authority in any place or time, lived under the eyes of their Lord and before the face of their king. How they did so is the subject of this chapter.
Dependence on God
What has bubbled under the surface of this collection of Solomonic sayings beginning at Proverbs 10:1 has now erupted with the prominence and power of Yellowstone's Old Faithful geyser. All along we have been noting that the key assumption of Proverbs is that wisdom is discoverable and teachable because Yahweh has built order and purpose into the creation. The sages' task is to discover it, frame it in memorable words, and set it before their pupils. But much of the time until chapter 16, the divine presence has been implicit, except in those places that call on the hearers to do their living in fear of Him. The necessity and the meaning of that fear become clearer here than ever before. Fearing God is necessary because His sovereign presence hovers over all of life to determine the success or failure of human plans and programs. Fearing God is meaningful because those who do so can count on His care in any circumstance they meet. "The Lord's eyes" is a shorthand way to express the dependability of His presence and the versatility of His care. That presence and that care, according to our catalog of the proverbs.
