Loving the Church

RIVERSIDE INDONESIAN FELLOWSHIP
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Loving the Church

Riverside Indonesian Fellowship
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2017 · 17 September 2017
Tags: 2017September

Let us study Acts 20:1-17. This describes the love of Paul for the church. In Ephesians 5:25-27, Paul wrote this, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

Paul says, "Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her." And Paul also loved the church and gave himself for it in terms of service. And by that I don't mean the institution, I mean the people who are the church. Paul lived for the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of the saints. We can see in the activities of him the depth of the love of the Apostle.

Paul saw himself as totally expendable for the sake of others. He said in Philippians 2:17, “if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.” In other words, if I give my life in your behalf, what joy that is for me. It was his life to see people saved, to see Christians come to maturity and be discipled to holiness.

In Romans 1:11 he said, “For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established.” In 2 Corinthians 7:1 he said, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own.”

Paul says in Ephesians 3:16, “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.” Ephesians 3:19-20, “to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”

To the Philippian church he expressed the same thing. In Colossian 1:9-10 Paul says, “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

Paul says, we exhorted and encouraged and charged every one of you as a father does to his children that you should walk worthy of God. This was his passion, he loved the church because he loved Christ. Look at 1 John 5:1, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.”

If you really love Jesus, you are going to love the people in the church that are His. And if you have trouble loving your brothers and sisters, then you have trouble loving the Savior. Because they are all His. He has an ongoing love affair with every believer! So if you have a problem with that, your problem is loving Jesus.

Paul didn't have that problem. He loved the church and was willing to give himself for it in terms of service. Remember what he experienced. 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 says, “Are they ministers of Christ? I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.”

25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness.”

Contrast this with our own attitude. Sometimes it is real difficult for us to just get up and go and help someone or to pick up someone or to listen to a cry for help. Let alone to have this kind of love for all the people in the church with no exception. Now what is amazing to me is that as Paul went through this he still remained a believer in total grace.

This is the outpouring of service of a man who was totally aware that everything he had, he had by the grace of God. And he did it out of love. But on top of all of that stuff, the thing that really got to him was verse 28, “besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.” For Paul all those external sufferings are somewhat incidental to his real love for the people.

It was just in his heart. Nobody put him in charge of a church; he just went and started them. The greatest griefs that Paul gained in his life were not those that came from being beaten or being shipwrecked or being stoned. The greatest griefs were those people that defected from the church. What tore his heart up was the situation in Corinth where he knew which people left.

And when he got to Troas, he was anxious for Titus to report about Corinth. He couldn't stay in Troas so he crossed over to Macedonia just waiting for Titus. And when he finally met Titus and received the news that everything in Corinth was great, he just gave a great big sigh of relief. His burden for the church was lifted. The greatest pain he ever knew was the pain related to the church.

1 Corinthians 4:11-16, “To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. 12 And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure. 13 being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the off-scouring of all things until now. 14 I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you.

15 For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16 Therefore imitate me. And for this cause," verse 17, "I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.” Paul said, "Be followers of me as I am of Christ."

So here is the heart of the man where his emotional reactions were only faith and joy. What did he do in Philippi when he was in the inner jail? He sang. On other occasions when he was in difficult situations, he just trusted God. Did he ever cry? Yes, he cried a lot. Look at Acts 20:19, “serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews.”

Where did the tears come in? Go to Acts 20:31, “Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.” The dominance of tears in the life of Paul came, not through his physical pain, but through the anxiety of teaching the saints. When Paul left Ephesus he said in Acts 20:29, “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.”

There are two things that make a great church, great teachers and great Christians, love and sound doctrine. And here was Paul who had great doctrine, but he also was a man who had great love. Look at Acts 20:1-2, “After the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and departed to go to Macedonia. 2 Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece.”

Let's look first at his affection. Now you know there was a riot in Ephesus. The silversmiths, who made little idols of Artemus were getting uptight because their profits were going down. So Christianity affected Ephesus economically as well as politically, socially and religiously. And so a riot ensued. And they all stood in the theater there for two hours screaming and the whole thing was quieted down by the town clerk.

Well after the uproar ceased, Paul calls the disciples to him and embraces them. Now the word embrace refers literally means ‘to draw to oneself’. So it's an intimate word in that sense. It was used to refer to greetings that were customary among eastern people. For instance in 2 Samuel 19:39 where the king “kissed Barzillai and blessed him.” This was a demonstration of affection to break down barriers.

This is described in the Greek word philama or phileto which is a friendship love and it means a kiss of friendship. It was a kiss you would give to a relative or to one who was a very close friend. There are at least six occasions in the New Testament where you have the statement of greeting one another with a holy kiss.

There's another Greek word that is used for this and it is ‘cata phileo’ which means to kiss fervently and affectionately. That was used to describe the embrace and the kiss of the prodigal son who came home and embraced his father. Luke 15:20 says, “But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.”

Also in Luke 7:37-38, “And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.” Here she kept on affectionately kissing His feet.

Do you think Jesus appreciated that? Sure He did. He wasn't a God that was distant from the people. In fact He gives a mild rebuke to Simon for not kissing Him. It is easy sometimes for people in places of spiritual leadership to become standoffish. That is not the nature of Jesus and Paul. The woman kept on kissing Him and Jesus just put her up as an example of what should have been done.

Acts 20 also tells me that Paul loved the church because secondly, the church gives. That is one of the greatest ways to measure love, by giving. 1 Corinthians 13:5 says, "Love does not seek its own,” it always gives. So in Ephesus, he writes that he was going through Macedonia and he is going to come to you and collect this money that the churches are giving.

And he had several reasons for that. One, he was a man of integrity. When the Jerusalem leaders approved of him, they sent him out with one request, that you remember the poor of Jerusalem. And secondly, he knew that there was a real need there. James 2:5 says, “Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” He was talking about the poor in Jerusalem.

And all the time he is collecting for the poor Jerusalem church, everybody is telling him, Paul, you're going to get into trouble. Do you know what Paul answered in Acts 21:13, “For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” He knew there was a need and at all costs to himself he met the need. That's giving, that is love defined.

Well there was another reason, he loved the church in its unity. He saw that the giving of all this money from the Gentile churches to the Jewish church in Jerusalem would be a beautiful picture of the unity of the body of Christ. Because there was always that problem of Jew and Gentile. They will see the love of the Gentiles and it will tie the churches together.

In 1 Corinthians 16:2, Paul tells them how to get the money together, “On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.” It is interesting that he said to plan ahead. And then he says in verse 5-6, "I'll pass through Macedonia and I'll stay with you for the winter." Verses 8-9, “Even though there are many adversaries, I will stay.”

Now Acts 20:2, “Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece.” Somewhere, either at Troas or Macedonia, he writes 2 Corinthians. Listen to 2 Corinthians 1:8, “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life.”

But Paul was totally committed to the needs of others. In 2 Corinthians 2:13 he says, "I had no rest in my spirit." Why? Because Titus was not there. The Corinthians had received the first letter and Paul wanted to know whether they cleaned up the mess. “So taking my leave of them, I went from there to Macedonia." In 2 Corinthians 7:7 Titus came with the news that they believed the letter and they repented. That is what Paul lived for.

A third thing in Acts 20 that tells me how much he loved the church is his teaching. Verse 2 says, “he came into Greece or Achaia," that's where the Corinth church was. In his heart he knows that he is not coming back. His teaching was with much interaction, much communication, much sharing, much speaking, teaching, exhorting and much writing. Paul wanted to perfect the saints.

Jesus bought the church at the price of His life and the price of His blood. He is committed to the care of every saint, who ministers to every other saint. Do you love the people in the church? God, help us to see the church as a ministry that we are to give ourselves too in total love to the sacrificing of our own lives. At the end of verse 2 Paul got to Corinth and went to Gaius house. He had a little project, he wrote the book of Romans.

Do you love all the people in your church? And the measure of your love for his people is how much you desire their maturity spiritually. Ask for the power of the Holy Spirit in imitating Paul and Jesus every day! Well, let us pray.



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