For me, everything about today’s passage is anchored on that
first verse – “Let all that you do be done in love.” That’s really what it all
comes down to. Jesus himself summed up all of the law and the prophets by
saying something very similar - “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your
neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27).” This is the great secret. This is the
answer to the problems of the world. If people would spend more time loving
others and be less obsessed with themselves, the results would be positively
world altering. And I know you could easily sit there and make a list of the
people you know who need to do a better job of loving God and others, but what good
is that going to do? You can’t control their actions…you can’t make them become
more loving. But you do control your own actions. You do control the amount of
love that you are pouring into this world. Every one of us as Christians needs
to be asking, “Do I let me love for God and others form the foundation of
everything I do?” Is that the driving force behind your life? It should be. As
Christians, we become a living testimony to the world about the love of God, by
embodying the love of God in our everyday lives. Not by pointing out how
unloving and flawed others are. Let ALL
that you do be done in love.
Paul even goes so far as to give us practical example as we
see this Christian ideal lived out in the verses 15-18…
Verse 15 – “They devoted themselves to the service of the
saints.” The members of the household of Stephanus, who were some of the first
Christian converts in Achaia, have made it their work to minister to their
fe3llow Christians. They allowed their love of God to drive them into building
up the community of the Church. They are willing to make sacrifices of their
own time and resources to make disciples and build authentic relationships.
Verse 16 – “Be subject to such as these, and to every fellow
worker and laborer.” What does it mean to be subject to? It means that Paul is
instructing them to put others ahead of themselves. This is a term that is synonymous
with submission. Paul is calling Christians to submit their desires, their
opinions, their egos, their selfishness, etc. to others in an effort to create
loving community. And this doesn’t mean that people are being called to meekly
be run over by other Christians. Paul is calling for a community of mutually
submissive people who are allowing love to permeate everything they do.
Verses 17 and 18 – “…they made up for your absence, for they
have refreshed my spirit as well as yours.” Finally, we see that Stephanus,
Fortunatus and Achaicus have gone out of their way to encourage their brothers
and sisters in Christ. They have traveled to Ephesus where Paul is living spend
time with him when he cannot come to Corinth. Traveling was not easy in the
ancient world. They made great financial and time sacrifices so that they could
simply spend time with Paul. Pray with him. Talk to him. Minister alongside
him. Their loving sacrifice refreshed his soul, and that is the kind of power
that Christian love has to make a difference in the world.
What would it look like for you to allow love to become the
driving for of everything you do? EVERYTHING! What would change? What needs to
change? What do you need to do to love as God has called you to love in this
world?
-Brandon
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