Thursday: A Legacy of Love
Daily Lesson for Thursday 11th of April 2024
Read John 13:35 and 1 John 4:21. What do these passages reveal about Satan’s challenge against the government of God in the great controversy? What do they tell us about the essence of genuine Christianity?
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Love was the norm of Christian communities in the first few centuries. Tertullian, an early Christian theologian, claimed: “It is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. See, they say, how they love one another.”—“Chapter 39,” in Apology, trans. S. Thelwall, https://www.logoslibrary.org/tertullian/apology/39.html (accessed October 10, 2022).
One of the greatest revelations of God’s love was demonstrated when two devastating pandemics plagued the early centuries around a.d. 160 and a.d. 260. Christians stepped forward and ministered to the sick and dying. These plagues killed tens of thousands and left entire villages and towns with scarcely an inhabitant. The unselfish, sacrificial, caring, loving ministry of Christians made a huge impact on the population. Over time, thousands, and eventually hundreds of thousands, and then millions in the Roman Empire became believers in Jesus during these two epidemics. Love, outgoing concern, and organized, selfless care of the sick and dying created an admiration for these believers and the Christ they represented.
Rodney Stark’s The Rise of Christianity is a modern historical narrative portraying these historic events in a new and improved light. In it he describes how during the second epidemic the whole Christian community, which was still heavily Judeo-Christian, became a virtual army of nurses, providing the basic needs for the suffering community to survive.
“At the height of the second great epidemic, around a.d. 260, . . . Dionysius wrote a lengthy tribute to the heroic nursing efforts of local Christians, many of whom lost their lives while caring for others.
“Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains.”—The Rise of Christianity (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), p. 82.
What is the obvious message for us here? How do we learn to die to self so that we, too, can manifest this same selfless spirit? It’s not easy, is it?
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The rise of Christianity in its first three centuries is accompanied by the development of care for the sick and needy. While the Greek and Roman philosophy of health was that care was largely reserved for the rich, the early Christians believed it was for the poor and needy, and even for non-Christians. As the lesson author shows, Christians stepped in where the others refused to be involved.
Medical care was fairly primitive in those times and the understanding of disease and health was very limited, but these folk offered compassion and that goes a long way in the healing process. There is also evidence that these early medical workers used local knowledge in seeking out medicines to help the sick.
The tradition of compassionate care has been associated with Christianity right from its outset. Even today many of our private hospitals still carry names associated with church organisations. And though they have to work in the highly commercialised environment of current medical practice, there is often that underlying philosophy of compassionate care.
There is a popular saying “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Leaving a legacy of love, means that we die to self daily, and love others the way Christ loves us. It is not easy because it goes against our carnal nature, BUT GOD has provided all the resources to make us successful.
I do believe there is a higher chance of converting a non believer and bringing them to Christ by simply showing them love and caring for their needs. Sometimes our actions, empathy and love are the big sermons that some people need in order to come to Christ. We necessarily dont have to hold big crusades share powerful sermons in order to bring people to Christ
[Moderator Note: Please supply a last name since "Andrew" is a common name. Thank you. ]
It was love, "love in action" that brands them. It was love, "love for GOD and love for neighbor" that made them to be in history, in books and in the great book (Bible). It was love, "true love of Christ" that created people's admiration for these believers and the Christ they represented. Love, Love, the Love that they inherited from Christ!!!
My question is...
What brands you?! What brands us as a church?! What are we known for as modern Christian?! Do we have that love?! I mean that kind of love which will make make people admire us and our JESUS?
Lastly if there is something special we have to inherite from Christ, 👉 it is LOVE.
Be blessed...
Lynn Mecky, thank you for you question on branding. It caused me to stop and ponder my life and its branding. What do others see when they see me?
From my vantage point it seems as if the brand of the Seventh-day Adventist church is becoming obscured and fractured. Other then sabbath worship there doesn’t appear to be much that separates us from other denominations. Then you have the present truth preachers vs the non present truth preachers. In calamities I never hear about ADRA for some reason. Small groups of Adventist here and there are known for their love. The Seventh-day Adventist Church as a denomination, I’m not so sure that love is the branding we are known as.
Interested in other opinions on this.
Often its a case of you see what you look for. As an older church member I could fall into the trap that the church is not what it was like in the good old days. But, I prefer to see the good things. I also like to think of the church as a bit like cooking soup - the longer you cook it the better it tastes. The Church is a work in progress and its the dynamic of the Church members interacting together under the quidance of the Holy Spirit that is going to see in progress and remain relevent in our community. We do not need to agree on everything but we must learn to work with one another.
I have always been concerned about some of the issues that you raised in this post. There was a good reason why the early believers stood out from the rest:The 💛.These days we seem more concerned with other less significant, albeit important, distinctives--so much so that we forget that God says the world will know that we are His because of this one characteristic feature: our love for one another.
Three people came to me at different days, different time and one it was just on Wednesday this week and said, "I regret being in this church, I miss my old church and i think i want to go back there". I asked, why?! They said, the things they found in church, they didn't expect to find them and so on.
One asked, "Why are you even in this church?! A church that gossip about others, a church that is doing unclean things, a church that has no love" why are you in this church?!
Friends may be you there are good. But us in Africa, things are not that good at all in our churches. Just a note
So my answers was 👇👇👇
My answers was; I am not here for them. There is nothing in them that would convince me to stay here.
But, why are you still here?! He asked.
Me; I am here for JESUS. He is the reason am here. His love is the only thing that convince me to stay here. I started told him what happened in my life, in my life church, and what people inside the church did to me (the bad things) and so on. But i also told him what JESUS did in those days. The truth is if JESUS wasn't with me those days, everyday, I would have given up already (I mean quit church already).
What am trying to say is, "If everything fail, stay for JESUS". After all, we have a person relationship with JESUS. Let that relationship be the reason for you to stay in the ship till the end. I know there evils, there disappointments inside church and we should not ignore this, because we have seen it, those things have happened to us. But you know what?! 👉 we fail, we get disappointed because we don't have a relationship with JESUS. But if we have that personal relationship with JESUS, nobody will disappoint us, nothing will take us out of the church! Why?! Because we have the reason to stay, and that reason is JESUS.
The church members may hurt you, but did JESUS hurt you?! What I know is, JESUS know what is going on in the church, and in that case He is dealing with His people alone now. He did that to me, He will also did to you. Just be faithful to him
Be blessed.
did satan have a role in heaven now because their is a fight between God and him?
Satan does not have a role in heaven. He and his followers were cast out. Now the battle for hearts abd minds of humankind is playing out here on earth so that watching universe can see the true character of God (which was defamed by satan) and that of the deceiver.
By humbly acknowledging God’s sovereignty, we ‘love God with all our heart and love our fellow man’. Being touched by God's love, one's humbleness directs the heart and mind to seek God’s council. In my observation, all spiritual admonishments have this same purpose – to guide our heart and mind to find the true source of all that is good – our Creator God – Matt.22:36-39.
When using our own resources and imaginations, we play into the hands of the adversary of God; become entangled in his web of lies and deceptions, becoming confused about who enables man to do good – Eph.2:10; James 1:17. We should always remember that God’s Love is the operating agent in our life as a Christian.
I try my best to understand God's Truth when following its guidance. God’s singular focus on demonstrating His Love for man, our love for Him and the love toward our fellow man, leads me to conclude that being with God is the believer's final destiny. With our life we embody Christ in us through the acts of loving and caring. Being in Him, we worship our heavenly Father in Spirit and Truth through Love.
Well in relation to the last question, we do need to die to self to love the way God intends but I don't think focusing on the dying part is really the answer. It becomes very self-absorbed.
I prefer to focus on the positive - choosing to follow Jesus and spend time with Him each day. When we do this we'll become more like Him and we will die to self because we're following the One who died to self more than any of us ever will. I also think of John 15 and the guarantee that if we abide in Christ we WILL bear fruit. We don't work at fruit bearing. We work at abiding.
That doesn't mean there aren't situations that are a struggle because we want to be selfish. We have to cooperate with God. But as we grow with Him, these situations don't stay as hard. We more and more become slaves to righteousness because the grip of self becomes weaker. That's good news.
Thankx
I've learnt a lot and my question is answered..Thanks to all
By loving those who surrounds us, it motivates them and they desire to know more about your God, your place of worship and how to worship.
By this they believe and eventually becomes chrisians
I love the contribution of all
Dying to self can be achieved by contemplating God's sacrifice for us. Jesus is the answer to the counterpoint of self.
When someone does wrong that affects me, my mind may spin and act out many awful ways to respond. To follow these thoughts would always spill out much pain.
I have learned to understand that when this happens, its source is focused on self. This is walking in the flesh. When I realize I'm doing this, I dismiss it, knowing that it isn't God's way. Then I pray for how God wants me to react. He always takes my focus off of myself and onto others. Forgiveness became automatic over time, and I find myself overlooking many faults in others. I would never have been able to do this without Jesus. His direction works through me to love. Loving others this way brings great joy. Hating people because of their actions usually brings pain and suffering, and that is the result of self-centeredness. That is the way of the world.
Some scriptural references: Romans 12:2; Philippians 4:8; 2 Corinthians 10:5.