“WE EXIST TO PROCLAIM THE REIGN OF JESUS CHRIST OVER ALL THINGS; GLORIFYING AND ENJOYING GOD, NOW AND FOREVER!”

8 – Love One Another … Pt. 2

The Greatest of These Is Love

Your understanding of the Church, the Body of Christ, and your love for your brothers and sisters in Christ reveals more than you might possibly imagine! Jesus made it clear that He was calling His disciples into a relationship with our Father in heaven, by His Word and His Spirit, that would result in a special and unique relationship with other believers in whom His Spirit is also at work. The evidence of our oneness in Christ and the indwelling presence of His Spirit would be and is our love for one another. Jesus told His disciples that this was a “new commandment” (John 13:34) and that it was by their love for one another that the world would know that they were His disciples! (John 13:35). For many today the church (“little ‘c’”) is more like a social club than a “called-out assembly” in whom the Spirit of God is powerfully at work! Amid the calls to “Love everybody,” there is little or no understanding that the fellowship (“koinonia”) of brothers and sisters in Christ holds any special significance; in fact, we are told that we are being arrogant to think that we are different and are accused of believing that we are “better than others.” Yet Jesus and the writers of the New Testament understood the privilege of being part of Christ’s Body and called all who believed to express their faith in Jesus Christ and their oneness in the Spirit by loving “one another.” As John writes, “By this WE know that He abides in us!” (I John 3:24). Understanding this special relationship is vital to our life together as the Body of Christ!