Commentary on "The Fruit of the Spirit is Love"

RICHARD PEIFER

 

Day 6: Thursday, January 7, 2010

 

Overview

“Be honest. What kind of lifestyle changes should you make so that you can become a good Samaritan to others? Whom do you know right now who is at this moment on the other side of the road in the world of hurt? How much death to self will it require for you to treat this person as a ‘neighbor’?”

 

Observations

Both of these lessons (Day 5 and 6) are about applying love in the real world. That’s fine. But again, they approach the issue from the standpoint of the Old Covenant, using Jesus’ words out of context.

Jesus taught under the Law. The vast majority of His teaching was intended to prove that we never will measure up to God’s standard—absolute perfection. Toward the end of Matthew the disciples finally began to understand the futility of trying to live up to the Law. After Jesus’ interchange with the rich young man, they asked “Then who can be saved?” (Matthew 19:25).

Both Jesus’ teaching on loving our enemies and serving others were in this same vein. Are we called to do both? Absolutely! Are we capable of either? Absolutely not!

It does no good to write page after page exhorting each other to love more and to love better when the only means offered for doing so is, “Jesus told you to.” Jesus was not pointing people back to the Law in order for them to learn how to keep it; He pointed them there in order to condemn them. And then He offered Himself as both our Substitute and our Surety, so now, in Christ, there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1).

Apart from the indwelling Christ, any discussion of love is hopeless gibberish, including everything I’ve written regarding this lesson.

We love solely because Christ loved us first. He initiated this love to us. Our response is to offer it back to Him.

This is not unlike how hail forms in a thunderstorm. A drop of water begins to fall, but the updraft of the building storm prevents it from escaping the cloud. The drop rises many thousands of feet, freezing as it does so. When it runs out of updraft, it begins to fall again, picking up more water as it falls. The updraft grabs it again, and the process repeats. The process continues until the piece of ice is heavy enough to spill out of the cloud.

So it is with us. God loves us. We respond to Him. He loves us more, and we respond back to Him more. His love continues to grow in us until we simply cannot contain it anymore. At that point, He brings someone into our lives who needs what only He can offer and we spill His love out on them. What this loves looks like at the time is as varied and creative as the people we meet need it to be, because it is God Who “works in [us] to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).

Loving our enemies and being a neighbor is nothing more nor less than this. If we abide in Him, He will produce the fruit. If we don’t abide in Him, all “fruit” will be cheap, imitation and tasteless.

 

Summary

1. The test of love is not what we DO to or for others. It is what we allow God to do through us for others. This is not nit-picking. It is the core of the difference between Law and Grace.
2. Acting in love is the result of God’s love growing in us until we can no longer contain it. It always is His initiation to us, followed by our response to Him. We don’t need to run around asking, “Who is my neighbor?” Nor do we need to ask guilt-inducing questions regarding what we’ve accomplished recently for the poor and down-trodden. God does not keep score. Rather, He brings people and situations into our lives designed to enable us to express what He has already worked into us. This is all by faith, never by works.

 

GO TO DAY 7

 

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