We cannot learn to love apart from God's Law.
The Law is Good (7)
Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Romans 13.10
“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24.12
A community of hate?
The Church in America today has achieved the dubious and deplorable status in the eyes of many of our neighbors as being a community characterized above all by hate.
Our vocal opponents insist that we hate gays, evolutionists, and abortionists. We hate the poor, Blacks, Muslims, drug addicts, and illegal immigrants – all immigrants, for that matter. We are intolerant of people who do not agree with us, and we even hate some of those who claim to agree with us. As the angry world sees us, we are so consumed with our own agenda, our own interests, and our own freedoms that we hate anyone who opposes or disagrees with us.
And is there not a measure of truth in these accusations?
Certainly, the charge that Christians are a people of hate is exaggerated. But it would not be made at all, and it certainly would not receive the kind of widespread acceptance it has, unless there were a measure of truth in it. To the extent that we are a people of hate, we do harm to our neighbors, even if only by neglect. We pay very little attention to their interests and needs; we do not take the time to get to know them, or to care about their concerns; and we insist that they leave us alone so that we can do our thing in the Name of the Lord.
But if we do not love our neighbors like Jesus did, we do hate them, and do them harm, and so deserve the accusations that are laid against us by our adversaries.
Neglect of the Law
To the extent there is any truth to this claim, a primary reason is our scandalous neglect of the Law of God. The intent of the Law is good, not evil, and the method of that goodness is love. The fullness of the Law, and its fulfillment in whole and part, is love, working good into the lives of our neighbors, our communities, our cultures, and our world. But where that Law is neglected, lawlessness will take its place. This is the case, to some degree, in the churches of our land. And wherever it is the case, love will grow cold, and the charges of being a people who hate rather than love will increasingly stick.
The goal of all Christian instruction and discipleship is love (1 Tim. 1.5; Jn. 13.3). Love is the fulfillment of all the Law and the prophets (Matt. 22.34-40); and living and teaching the Law, and the love for God and neighbors it encodes, is the mark of greatness in the Kingdom of God (Matt. 5.17-19). If we neglect the Law of God, we encourage the spread of evil (Prov. 28.4), and God will not hear our prayers (Prov. 28.9), leaving us to our own wits, wiles, and strength to live a version of the Christian life that God neither recognizes nor endorses.
And this neglect looks for all the world like a lifestyle of self-love and self-righteousness and hate.
Reject, ignore, neglect, fail to love and delight in and obey the Law of God, and you will have neither the resources needed for loving your neighbor as yourself, nor the blessing of God in whatever you undertake in His Name.
Getting on track
The antidote to ignorance is learning, and the antidote to neglect is attention. The antidote to hate is love, and when love is seen in action, in all the everyday relationships, roles, and responsibilities of our lives, those who accuse us of being a people of hate will be silenced by the example of our loving lives (1 Pet. 2.11-17).
We must recover the Law of God, recognizing that it is the core curriculum of the Holy Spirit in leading us into Christlikeness (Ezek. 36.26, 27; 2 Cor. 3.12-18). Meditate daily on the Ten Commandments, with a view to understanding and obeying them fully – not to earn your salvation, but to work it out in full and abundant life in Christ (Phil. 2.12, 13; Lev. 18.1-5; Matt. 5.17-19). Spend some time each day reading through the statutes, precepts, testimonies, rules, and commandments of the civil law of ancient Israel, and meditate on how you, following Paul and Jesus, should walk the path they mark out (1 Jn. 2.1-6; Ps. 119.59, 60). Study the Law diligently, using whatever resources you can find to help you understand its teaching and how to apply it today. The end of the Law is righteousness in Jesus Christ, that we might be made more like Him, and those who would be righteous will meditate daily on God’s Law, until they delight in and love it, and it begins to bear real, visible, loving fruit in their lives (Ps. 1).
Are you tired of being labeled a community of hate? Learn to love, and you’ll silence that argument forthwith. But your love will grow cold if you neglect the Law of God, and you will only do harm to your neighbor if you think you know better than God how you ought to relate to him. Learning and obeying the Law of God is the key to loving God and our neighbors with the love of Jesus Christ. The sooner we get back to the Law, reading and meditating and teaching and obeying it as the Scriptures command, the more we will grow in love, and the more the goodness of God will abound in the land of the living.
For reflection
1. Have you been guilty of neglecting the Law of God? How can you begin to redress this situation, or to improve obedience to God’s Law?
2. We are not saved by keeping God’s Law. But we are not saved without keeping it. Explain.
3. How can you help your Christian friends to appreciate the holiness, righteousness, and goodness of God’s Law (Rom. 7.12)?
Next steps – Transformation: Add to your daily disciplines some reading and meditation in God’s Law. Pray about how to obey the Law. Share with a Christian friend your plan, and ask your friend to pray for you concerning this matter.
T. M. Moore
A free PDF download of this week’s study is available by clicking here.
Why is the Law so important? How can we understand it? What use does it have in our daily lives? These questions and more are addressed in our brief book, The Ground for Christian Ethics. This could be the most important book you’ll read this year. Order your copy by clicking here. Order several copies, and read and discuss it with some friends.
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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
