SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/15/2014 9:23 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Love Each Other More
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1
Thessalonians 4:9-10
Message of the
verses: “9 Now as to the love of the
brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are
taught by God to love one another; 10 for indeed you do practice it toward all
the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still
more,”
We are looking at the first of four practical
exhortations for life until Jesus comes.
We looked at the introduction to this section in our last SD from the
book of 1 Thessalonians and you may want to refer to it to better understand
more about this subject.
6/15/2014 9:28 AM 6/16/2014 11:56 AM
When we look at the phrase “Now as to” we can see that
the apostle is making a change in what he has been writing and as we have been
looking as sexual morality and now changes to looking at the love of the
brethren, which is quite a change. I
suppose it would be fair to say that before they were saved that they had a
completely different idea about love for there is a Greek word that speaks of
physical love, but Paul is not talking about that for that word is never used
in the Bible. He is talking about love
of the brethren which is the word “Philadelphia” which was originally referred
to affection for blood relatives but as John MacArthur states “but is always
used in the New Testament in reference to Christian affection (Rom. 12:10; Heb.
13:1; 1 Peter 1:22; 2 Peter 1:7). True
biblical love, a recurring New Testament theme, always expresses itself in acts
of service—meeting needs and doing things sacrificially to benefit
others.” This is a far cry from the
other Greek word that speaks of sexual love.
We see again that Paul mentions that he has no need to
mention the fact that these believers were showing this kind of love because
they were taught by God to love the brethren.
As we look at Romans 5:5b we see “because the love of God has been
poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” This is what happens to a person when they
are truly born-again, for they have the Holy Spirit in them to show them many
things, but in this case to show them how to love the brethren. John writes about this in his letters: “But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees
his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God
abide in him? (1 John 5:17) “20 If someone says, "I love God," and
hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom
he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that
the one who loves God should love his brother also (1 John 4:20-21).” “1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him (1
John 5:1).” In these verses we see that
John is telling his readers that if you are truly born from above that you will
love the brethren. You could say that
this is a kind of a test to shoe that you are really born-again.
MacArthur writes:
“Love is from the familiar verb agapao,
related to the noun agape. It expresses the purest, noblest form of
love, which is volitionally driven, not motivated by superficial appearance,
emotional attraction, or sentimental relationship. Paul was convinced that they indeed (in
reality, without question) were exhibiting this love toward all the
brethren. The Thessalonians demonstrated
agape love not only in their
congregation but alos for the other brethren (Christians) who were in all
Macedonia.” We know that this statement
is true as we have already looked at 1 Thessalonians 1:8 which states “For the
word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia,
but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have
no need to say anything.”
We know that their love was not perfect, just as ours in
not perfect so Paul wants them “to excel still more.” This phrase has also been seen before and it
means that as believers we need to continue to grow in the Lord. I have heard it said that if you are not
growing in your walk with the Lord that you are going backwards, so Paul tells
them that they still have room to grow in their walk with the Lord, in their
love for the brethren.
MacArthur finishes this part of his commentary by writing
“Thus, in view of the truth that Jesus is returning, Paul urged the
Thessalonians to love others more, not less.
As they had in the past, they were to live in the hope of the Lord’s
return, yet never lose sight of the priority of love.” We will get into more about their priorities
and what are priorities should be in light of the return of the Lord as we
continue to study this wonderful letter.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Excel still more.
6/16/2014 12:26 PM
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