Love must prevail in the church life; we need to keep ourselves in the love of God and be constrained by the love of Christ to lay down our lives on behalf of the brothers, and we must beware of ambition and pride.
Among the co-workers, the elders, the responsible ones, and everyone in the vital groups (that’s all of us!) love must prevail (1 Cor. 12:31; 13:4-8, 13).
We may be very knowledgeable in the doctrines in the Bible, we may know a lot of truth, and we may love the Lord and enjoy the church life, but above all, love must prevail.
Merely knowing the truth and being constituted with the high-peak truth in God’s word is not enough; we need to love the Lord and love one another in the Lord.
We may serve the Lord and bear some responsibility in the church life; in all our service to the Lord and in the church, love needs to prevail.
We need to love the Lord to the uttermost, and we need to love the saints even as the Lord loves them.
This means that we need to spend time with the Lord and develop our love relationship with Him, and we need to allow the Lord as love to flow out of us as we meet with the saints.
As believers in Christ, we did not adhere to a set of doctrines and spiritual regulations; we believed into a living person, and the Lord Jesus lives in us as a person full of life.
The only way to apply and enjoy the Lord Jesus as a living person is by loving Him with the first love.
He is our life and our person, and we need to contact Him every day.
Day by day, especially in the morning, we need to contact the Lord, have a fresh touch with Him, and enjoy Him moment by moment.
When we contact the Lord, He as love flows in us and floods us.
His love is like a mighty tide, flooding us and rushing over us to take over us.
Paul testified that the love of God constrained him; we need to allow the Lord’s love to constrain us so that we may live to Him and no longer live to ourselves.
A very practical and enjoyable way to love the Lord and love the saints is to be those who desire and seek to dwell in the house of God all the days of our life to behold His beauty and enquire in His temple.
When we yearn to be in the house of God, beholding His beauty and enquiring in His temple, we converse with Him, His love in us grows, and we love the Lord and love one another.
May we learn to open our whole being to the Lord, again and again, allowing Him to flow in us and checking with Him about all things, so that we may both behold His beauty and inquire in His temple.
Love must Prevail in the Church Life: Keep ourselves in the Love of God to lay down our lives on behalf of the Brothers
We need to realize that, as believers in Christ, we have been regenerated to be God’s species, God’s kind (John 1:12-13).
God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), so we have been born of love, we are filled with love, and He as love is being infused into us to live in us and express Himself through us.
We are becoming God in His life and nature but not in the Godhead; therefore, we will become love – we will not merely love others but we become love itself. Wow!
We are God’s kind and God is love; we not only love others but we will become love itself. In the church life, love must prevail.
Love can prevail because we have God as love infused into us and poured out in us through the Holy Spirit.
We need to be filled and saturated with the innermost essence of God until we become love itself.
Amen, may we keep ourselves in the love of God and may we be constrained by the love of Christ to lay down our lives on behalf of the brothers (Jude 19-21; 2 Cor. 5:14; 1 Pet. 1:22; 1 John 3:14-16; 4:7-21).
Our love must be unfeigned brotherly love, loving our brothers from a pure heart. If we don’t love the brothers, we abide in death, for God is love.
If we say that we love God but we don’t love the brothers, we are in death, and we don’t know God, for God is love.
Love must prevail: we need to keep ourselves in the love of God and be constrained by His love to lay down our lives on behalf of the brothers.
God first loved us in that He infused us with His love and generated within us the love with which we love Him and the brothers (vv. 19-21).
For us to abide in God is for us to live a life in which we love others habitually with the love that is God Himself, so that He may be expressed in us (vv. 16-17).
Love must prevail in the church life; this love is not our human virtue of love but God as love, the divine attribute of love, being expressed through our human virtue of love.
The source of love is God Himself; we have no love in ourselves, for in our natural life we have only the likeness of love, the human virtue of love, which is empty unless God as love fills us.
We need to be infused with God as love. We need to be transfused with God as love by remaining under the divine dispensing so that the agape love, the divine love, would saturate us.
As God is being dispensed into us, something is generated in us – this is love, and with this love, we love the Lord back.
The Lord wants us to love Him with His love that He poured out into us; we love because He loved us first, and we love the brothers with this love.
Love must prevail in the church life; we love others habitually with God as love, for we practice loving them with God as love.
We need to build up the habit of loving the Lord and loving the brothers. We need to build up the habit of enjoying the Lord, loving Him, and allowing Him as love to flow out of us to others.
As we practice the divine love, we love others as a habit; when we do this, God is expressed.
May we give up our striving to love others with our own love and may we simply contact the Lord and be infused with Him as love so that we may love the Lord and love the brothers with Him as our love.
Lord Jesus, may love prevail in the church life. Thank You for regenerating us to make us part of the species of God, the kind of God. Hallelujah, God is love, He loves us, and He pours Himself as love into our hearts so that we may love the Lord and love the brothers with Him as our love. Amen, Lord, we open to You today. Infuse us with Yourself as love. May Your love in us grow. We want to practice loving You and loving the brothers until we love God and love the saints habitually! Lord, we want to keep ourselves in the love of God and be constrained by the love of Christ so that we may be able to lay down our lives on behalf of the brothers! Save us from not loving the Lord and from not loving the brothers! may love prevail in us and in the church life!
We need to Beware of Ambition and Pride, and We should not Revile others
On one hand, we need to come to the Lord to be infused with Him as love so that love would prevail in the church life.
On the other hand, the antithesis of love is ambition and pride; we need to beware of ambition and pride.
Whether or not we will be useful in the Lord’s hands for the long run or whether or not we will bring in the blessing of a lasting time depend on how pure our heart is.
We need to have a pure heart (Matt. 5:8), a heart that is purified from any form of subtle ambition in intention, purpose, motive, and action.
Being useful in the Lord’s hands is determined first by our loving the Lord and the brothers, and second on being pure in heart.
Being pure in heart means that we love nothing else but God alone.
We have no other intention, motive, or purpose but God Himself.
We may be in a certain city and live in a particular country, labouring for the Lord there or simply having a job and living the church life; in all these things, we need to be pure in heart and beware of ambition and pride.
Pride means destruction; when we are proud, we are a top fool. Humility saves us from all kinds of destruction and invites God’s grace (James 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5).
Pride is anti-love; when we love someone, we are not proud but we deny ourselves to put that person first.
Love must prevail in the church life; when love prevails, we will not be prideful but full of love.
When we truly love, there is no pride.
We should never hunt to be the first in any work for the Lord (3 John 9).
Anything that would uplift ourselves, anything that will make us think we’re better than others, and anything in us that is competitive or rivalrous in nature is not love.
Rivalry in the Lord’s work is not only a sign of ambition but also a sign of pride.
When we refer to our capacity, our success, our perfection, and our virtue, we are carelessly expressing our pride (Luke 17:10; Phil. 1:16; Gal. 5:25-26).
When we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, we express our pride (Rom. 12:3).
Some other expressions of pride – ugly and base expressions – are self-boasting, self-exaltation, self-glorification, self-will, self-justification, self-righteousness, and lusting after vainglory.
May we beware of pride and ambition in our Christian life and church life.
When we want or desire to be great and not to be a servant of others, and when we yearn to be the first and not to be a slave of the brothers, we express our pride (Matt. 20:26-27).
Instead of desiring to be first or being proud of what we are and have, we should pray for one another, have an intimate concern for one another, and cover one another.
May we always speak well of one another out of love for the Lord and for the saints, and may we never expose one another’s failures and defects (2 Cor. 7:2-3; Eph. 1:15-16; Philem. 4; 1 Cor. 13:4-7; cf. Matt. 24:49).
Even more, may we learn to forgive one another and seek to be forgiven by one another as love prevails in the church life (Col. 3:12-15).
On one hand, we should have a clear sight of the people for whom we care with much discernment; however, on the other hand, we should be blind spiritually (Isa. 11:1-4).
If we are always looking for flaws and mistakes, there are a lot of things to find, both in others and in ourselves.
We need to be blind in a certain sense yet with discernment; we should not look for mistakes and flaws in others.
Let’s see the good and praiseworthy things in our brothers and sisters.
Let us not have an eye for what is wrong with our brothers but see the positive things in them. We should not speak reviling things (Gal. 5:14-15, 25-26).
![Therefore I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you and your love to all the saints. Eph. 1:15 Do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention [of you] in my prayers. Eph. 1:16 I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers. Philem. 1:4](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Therefore-I-also-having-heard-of-the-faith-in-the-Lord-Jesus-which-is-among-you-and-your-love-to-all-the-saints-683x1024.webp?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "Therefore I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you and your love to all the saints. Eph. 1:15 Do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention [of you] in my prayers. Eph. 1:16 I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers. Philem. 1:4")
To revile is to rebuke or criticize harshly and abusively.
To revile is to assail someone with abusive language; it’s not only to rebuke someone but also to sharply wound him and stamp him with open rudeness or contempt arising from arrogance. Oh, Lord Jesus!
Even in the church life in the Lord’s recovery, it is possible for some to revile others.
May we realize that a reviler along with the idolaters and fornicators have no inheritance in the kingdom of God.
Reviling is a serious matter; it will cause us to miss the kingdom.
Revilers are those who beat their fellow slaves, which means that they habitually mistreat fellow believers (Matt. 24:45-51; 1 Cor. 6:9-10); revilers will not inherit the kingdom of God.
We should not be those who revile and we should not listen to the reviling words spoken by others.
Don’t give ground for these reviling words to spread by being a listener; just stop it and reject it.
The consciousness of sin comes from knowing God; in the same way, the consciousness of reviling words comes from the knowledge of the Body (1 Cor. 1:10).
Reviling words are opposed to the testimony of the Body.
We may say we love the church and the Body of Christ, yet we revile someone when he is not here; if we do this, we do not see the Body or care for the Body.
Love must prevail in the church life, we need to beware of pride and ambition, and we need not listen to, speak, or spread reviling words.
Lord Jesus, we love You and we love the brothers. We want to be useful in your hands; purify our heart and grant us to be pure in heart. Purify us from any form of subtle ambition in our intention, purpose, motive, and action in the church life. Save us from being a top fool by being a proud person. May we be those who are humble so that we may be saved from all kinds of destruction and invite God’s grace. Oh Lord, save us from thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. Save us from any self-boasting, self-exaltation, self-glorification, self-will, self-justification, self-righteousness, and lusting after vainglory. May love prevail in us and among us. May we be those who pray for the saints, care for one another, and have an intimate concern for the saints. May we be those who always cover one another and not seek to expose others’ faults or mistakes. Dear Lord Jesus, save us from reviling others or speaking reviling words. May we have the knowledge of the Body and reject any reviling words. Fill us with Yourself as love and be expressed through us as love!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “How to be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations,” ch. 4, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Loving the Lord and loving one another for the organic building up of the church as the Body of Christ (2022 fall ITERO), week 1, entitled, Loving the Lord and loving one another – the most excellent way for us to be anything and do anything for the organic building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
- Hymns on this topic:
– I love my Lord, but with no love of mine, / For I have none to give; / I love Thee, Lord, but all the love is Thine, / For by Thy love I live. / I am as nothing, and rejoice to be / Emptied, and lost, and swallowed up in Thee. (Hymns #546 stanza 1)
– Give yourself to love the Lord. / No other way is so rich, / And so full, oh so full, of enjoyment. / Each morning we must rise up and say to Him, / “Lord Jesus, I love You.” (Song on, Give Yourself to Love the Lord)
– Now in all the churches flowing, / Brotherly love. / Light and life and love bestowing, / Brotherly love. / In the oneness all believing, / Fellowship with all receiving, / Nevermore the Spirit grieving, / Brotherly love. (Hymns #1277 stanza 1)
About aGodMan
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To fulfill the obligations of a co-worker or an elder, you need to have a pure heart, purified from any form of subtle ambition in intention, purpose, motive, and action in the Lord’s recovery…Only those who are humble without ambition can be used by the Lord, can receive gifts from the Lord, and can be entrusted with the Lord’s ministry. We should never hunt to be the first in any work for the Lord. In the church, sometimes we need to arrange for certain ones to bear certain responsibilities. Those who are not assigned may act outwardly as if they do not care, revealing nothing either in their tone or in their expression, yet inwardly they are depressed and unhappy. This is the insidious work of hidden ambition to compete with others to be the first. First, we need to beware of ambition, and second, we need to beware of pride. Pride is an attribute of our fallen nature by birth. God has His attributes, and we have ours…Who is not proud? Whoever is not proud is good for nothing. In the Lord’s work, however, we must try our best to guard against pride. Always remember that humility saves you from all kinds of destruction and invites God’s grace for you. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). If you are humble, grace comes. If you are proud, grace goes away; you have hindered grace…To be proud is to be a top fool. Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations,” pp. 270-271
We have been born of God, and God is love.
We need to be infused with God as love and love God and love one another.
Also, we need to beware of ambition and pride.
Pride makes us a top fool.
Wow brother isn’t it amazing. To love God is to enjoy Him.
As we love Him by enjoing Him, He is being infused into us as faith.
God increases within us, faith grows in us and our love increases, and we love the Lord and one another more and more for the organic building up of the church as the Body of Christ!
Hallelujah!
Amen! O Lord Jesus we love You!
Since the life and nature of God is love, we who have been regenerated have also been infused with this love.
We love because He first loved us. Such love is the expression of who God is so we too ought to be love in all our dealings with our fellow slaves – covering and forgiving one another. O Lord!
Furthernore we need to guard our hearts and ambition in our work for the Lord realising that in ourselves we have no capacity.
This will keep us from pride and any rivalry in our service in the church.
Brother may the Lord have mercy on us to give us a pure in serving him and may he shine in our being any ambition and pride
may the Lord humble us so that we may be willing to be made last and even desire to serve him in the most lowliest way
this will save us from being ambitious and may we also see that we are nothing, and we are no one and we can do nothing apart from being one with the Lord
this will save us from being proud in any way
may the Lord save us being blinded by ambition and pride, which will hinder us from enjoying the Lord’s grace
Amen Lord thank you we can love because you first loved us! May we be those who are infused with your love to build up your body! May we love the church the same way you love her
God created us according to His attributes, the first of which is love.
This means that love should be our primary human virtue. But this love has to be a love that emanates from God Himself.
For God’s love to be expressed through us, we need the grace of God. However, we must beware of the things that hinder grace from flourishing.
Such things as pride, ambition, rivalry, haughty thoughts and wanting to be great will be resisted by God.
God’s attributes are choked by the works of the flesh and we are left as an empty shell that contains the life of God without any discernible outward expression.
May the Lord save us from being merely the appearance of the kingdom.
On the one hand, we should have a clear sight over the people for whom we care with much discernment, and on tbe other hand, we should be blind spiritually – Isa. 11:1-4a
I see God made us originally in his image to contain him and infuse his love for us.
However through the fall Satan was instilled in our flesh. Praise God we in our regenerated spirit are saved and filled with God’s love. We are now overcomers who defeat Satan who is the origin of all ambition and pride and the ruler of the world’s systems and government.
Amen.
Amen yes Lord constrain us in our living and keep us in your love ,and that we may love the brothers, make us aware of pride and ambition, for you resist the pride and give grace to the humble.