Secret Five: The Secret Of Loving Is Knowing
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The Secret of Loving is Knowing
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
(Jn. 15:15)
My hobby is reading biographies. I have hundreds of them in my library, and some of them I have read many times. There are a few famous preachers, for example, that interest me greatly, and I have every biography of them that I can find. The better I get to know them, the more I appreciate them.
However, I have biographies of a few great men (not preachers) whose lives utterly disgust me. The better I get to know them, the more I wish I had never heard of them!
Phillips Brooks used to say that ‘familiarity breeds contempt only with contemptible things or contemptible people.’ He is right. I cannot conceive of familiarity breeding contempt in the lives of a loving husband and wife who have shared a home for fifty years. At most golden wedding anniversary celebrations, the couple usually says, ‘We know each other better today then ever before, and we love each other more!’
The better you know Jesus Christ, the more you will love Him. Your first knowledge of Jesus Christ was in connection with your salvation. ‘Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent’ (Jn. 17:3). But salvation is only the beginning. It is our privilege and joy to ‘grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’ (2 Pet. 3:18). The Apostle Paul had been a Christian at least twenty-five years when he wrote to the church at Philippi, ‘I want to know Christ’ (Phil. 3:10). And Paul had visited the third heaven!
Why is it important for us to get to know Christ better? For one thing, salvation is a living relationship, and we cannot grow as Christians apart from the personal fellowship with the Saviour. It is easy for us to substitute other things – even good things – for this personal fellowship with Christ. We must beware of a second-hand relationship. Every book we read, every meeting we attend, every spiritual contact we make must in some way add to our personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. The better we get to know Him, the more we grow in the Christian life and experience maturity.
But something else is true: the better we know Him, the more we become like Him. Just as two friends gradually become alike, or a husband and wife gradually grow together, so the believer and the Saviour grow together as they fellowship with each other. Moses met God on the mountaintop and came down with the glory on his face, a glory that faded away. We have Christ living within; and as we commune with Him, His glory radiates through us. God’s purpose for our lives is that we might be ‘conformed to the image of his Son’ (Rom. 8:29). Of course, when Jesus Christ returns, we shall be like Him (1 John 3:1–2); but we can start becoming like Him today. The better you get to know Him, the more you become like Him.
There is a third result of knowing Christ better: you get to know yourself better, and you become your best self. Learning more about Jesus Christ does not make you less of a person; rather, it brings out of you all that God has put in you for His glory. The amazing thing about the Christian life is that we Christians all seek to be more like Christ, yet we are not imitating one another! Becoming like Christ is a process that helps us become ourselves and fulfil the purposes God has for us. Each of the twelve apostles was different, yet each of them accomplished God’s will in his own assigned way.
So, getting to know Christ better leads to spiritual growth, which makes us more like Christ and helps us become all that He wants us to become. But there is another wonderful result of growing in your knowledge of Christ: the better you know Him, the more you love Him. The secret of obeying is loving, and the secret of loving is knowing.
Jesus Christ wants us to know Him better. This is why he calls us ‘friends’ and not ‘slaves’. No master stoops to explain his plans to a slave; but a friend shares his heart and mind with those who are dear to him. The word that Jesus uses for ‘friends’ is used in Greek literature for ‘an intimate at court’. We are friends of the King! He wants to share Himself and His plans with us.
As you read the Gospel records in the New Testament, you see how patiently and lovingly our Lord revealed Himself and His plans to His disciples. At times the disciples were disgustingly ignorant and almost unteachable. Often He had to bring them to the end of themselves before they were willing to listen and learn. Jesus knew just how much they could take and when they were ready for a new lesson. ‘I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear’ (Jn. 16:12).
Because He is our Friend, we can go to Him, talk with Him, and listen to Him. Christ wants to share with us all that He has heard from the Father. This He does through His Word, by His Spirit. ‘But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth …’ (Jn. 16:13). As you read the Word, meditate on it, pray over it, and ask the Spirit to guide you, then you get to know Christ better.
No matter where you turn in the Word, you meet Jesus Christ. ‘And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself’ (Lk. 24:27). He is seen in type and prophecy in the Old Testament. He is seen ministering on earth in the Gospels, and ministering through His church in the book of Acts. The epistles interpret for us the spiritual truths contained in the Person and work of Christ. The book of Revelation depicts Him as the slain Lamb, the Judge, and the King of Kings. The theme of the whole Bible is Jesus Christ the Son of God.
One of the benefits of Christian fellowship is the opportunity for others to help us learn more about Christ. Believers who have walked with Him longer than we have can tell us much about the Saviour and His gracious working in their lives. We, in turn, can encourage others with our own witness. Where even two or three believers are gathered in His name, He is there to reveal Himself.
As we grow spiritually, we also see Him in nature and history as well as in the Word. To be sure, the Bible is the primary source of spiritual knowledge about God; but it is still true that ‘The heavens declare the glory of God’ (Ps. 19:1). When He was here on earth, Jesus saw the hand of God in the lilies and the birds. He took the common things of life, like water, bread, seed, and even children, and from them taught profound lessons about God. When you have the Word of God in your heart, you can look at creation and see the hand of God at work.
So, the better you know Christ, the more you will love Him. When you begin to understand the glory of His person and the wonder of His work, you will worship and adore Him. He will become the pre-eminent one in your life. Your love for Him will not obliterate your love for others: it will sanctify your love and enrich it. We must not love our family, for example, more than we love Christ; but the more we love Christ, the more love we will show to our family to the glory of God. As your love for Christ grows, your love for others will be purified; the selfishness will be taken away.
But the more you love Christ, the more you will obey Him. And the more you obey Him, the more you will abide in Him. As you abide in Him, you will bear fruit; and the more you bear fruit, the more you will live!
It all begins with your knowing Christ in a deeper way, because the secret of loving is knowing.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
(Rom. 12:1–2)
Down through the centuries, men and women of God have made an important discovery. They have discovered that, if they are going to be fruitful for the Lord, they must spend time with Him each day. Some Christians call this their ‘quiet time’; others know it as ‘personal devotions’. No matter what name you give it, the experience is an important one.
When our Lord was ministering on earth, He started each day with this kind of fellowship with His Father. ‘Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed’ (Mk. 1:35). The Messianic passage in Isaiah 50 gives us some insight into what Jesus did. ‘He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed’ (Is. 50:4). Jesus spent the early hours of the day talking to His Father and listening to His Father.
Successful Christians of all ages have learned that secret. If you start your day with the Lord, you may abide in Him all day and experience the joy of bearing fruit. It demands discipline, to be sure; but it is the kind of discipline that becomes a spiritual dynamic.
If you want to know Christ better, abide in Him, and enjoy a fruitful life, then determine to have a disciplined and satisfying devotional life.
What are the elements involved in such a life? They are given to us in Romans 12:1–2, the verses quoted at the beginning of this chapter.
1. Give God your body.
When you first awaken in the morning, simply give your body to God – and then get up! Like the soldier hearing reveille, get up! Selfish indulgence of the body often leads to sinful indifference later in the day. Follow the example of Paul who said, ‘Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training … I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave …’ (1 Cor. 9:25, 27). God wants to use your body to bear fruit for His glory. He wants His life to work in and through your body. By faith, give Him your body as your first step in worship each day.
He wants to transform you by renewing your mind. How does he do this? Through His Word. Reach for your Bible, read it, and let the Spirit of God teach you. Where should you read in your Bible? I suggest that you adopt a plan for reading through the Bible. I like to start in Genesis 1, Psalm 1, and Matthew 1, and keep reading. I do not always read three chapters a day. Sometimes God stops me at one verse! But you will want to have a systematic plan for reading through the Bible. Do not try to do it in any given time; let the Lord set the pace for you.
Meditation is to the heart and mind what digestion is to the body. Some people read the Bible the way they read a cookbook, and you can starve that way! Take time to let the Spirit reveal Christ to you in the Word. The Holy Spirit is your teacher. If you yield to Him and ask for His help, He will open the Word to you. When you learn a spiritual truth, receive it into your inner self. Make it a part of your ‘spiritual muscles’. As the Lord gradually changes and transforms your mind, you will know Christ better and love Him more.
3. Give God your will.
‘…Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is …’ (Rom. 12:2). How do you give God your will? Through prayer. As you pray, you yield your will to God. You tell Him that He can do in and through you whatever He knows is best. Prayer involves many things: confessing sin, asking for God’s help, interceding for others. But basically prayer is saying, ‘Yet not as I will, but as you will’ (Mt. 26:39).
Many people have found it helpful to have a prayer list. It helps them remember their requests. I like to keep several prayer lists, in fact, one for each day of the week. This keeps me from praying for the same things in a ritual way each day. It also enables me to pray about more needs and more people. There are some items that I remember each day, and the Lord always brings new requests to my attention as I pray. Whatever approach you use, be systematic in your praying; and it will not hurt to keep a record of the way God has answered.
4. Give God your heart.
Worship him. Love him. Be silent before Him in your love. Do not try to manufacture a ‘spiritual feeling’. We worship God ‘in spirit and truth’ (Jn. 4:24). A friend and I were taking a long trip together, and for many miles we said nothing to each other. Then my friend said, ‘You know, it’s good to have the kind of relationship that isn’t shattered by silence!’ Often, as my wife and I drive together, we say nothing; and then when we do speak, we find we are thinking about the same things. You can have a similar relationship with the Lord as you worship Him and love Him from our heart.
These are the elements involved in a satisfying devotional life: each morning give God your body, mind, will, and heart.
You can see how these four elements work together with the five secrets I have been sharing with you. The secret of living is fruitbearing, and the secret of fruitbearing is abiding.
What is the secret of abiding?
It is obeying; give God your will.
What is the secret of obeying?
It is loving; give God your heart.
What is the secret of loving?
It is knowing; give God your mind.
In other words, when you surrender heart, mind, and will to God each day, you are able to abide in Him and draw upon His spiritual power. When you yield Him your body, He can work through you to produce the spiritual fruit that He wants you to bear. Instead of being ‘conformed to this world’, you are transformed by his power – and you glorify His name.
I cannot emphasize too much the importance of this daily quiet time with the Lord. But I must add that meeting God in the morning also means that you fellowship with Him all day long. At different times during the day, you will find the Holy Spirit speaking to you. Listen! There will be occasions when your heart will reach out for God. Pause and love Him! It is as you abide in Him all day long that He is able to work in and through you. This is how you bear fruit.
Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards.
(Song 2:15)
As you begin to abide in Christ and become a fruitful branch, you must watch out for enemies. If you do not, you will begin to lose your fruitfulness.
As the Vinedresser, your Father wants to keep the branches clean. Dirty branches and leaves can hinder fruitfulness. The Father keeps you clean through his Word. ‘You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you’ (Jn. 15:3). In the Bible, water for drinking is a picture of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 7:37–39); but water for washing is a picture of God’s Word. As you read His Word, it reveals your heart; it cleanses your mind. If God shows you some uncleanness, you can confess it and receive His promised forgiveness (1 Jn. 1:9).
Along with dirt, there are insects and diseases that can bring blight and even death. These the Father must remove. Sometimes He must cut away a diseased part in order to spare the healthy parts. You and I may not enjoy this surgery, but it is good for us. It has been said that the Father is never so near to the branch as when He is pruning it. He may hurt us, but He will never harm us.
The ‘little foxes’ can also ruin the vineyard. Foxes usually feed on small animals, but they also eat fruit. They are not too careful in the way they steal the fruit, and thus they damage the branches. In the Christian life, it is usually the little things that rob us of blessing. It is not necessary for a herd of cattle to trample the vineyard, or a fire to burn it. The ‘little foxes’ can destroy it, if only given enough time.
Take, for example, some of the ‘little sins’ that we fail to deal with: impatience, criticism, short temper, fussiness, and questionable humour. These may be ‘faults’ or ‘sins in good standing’ in the eyes of men, but what are they in the eyes of God? It seemed a little thing for King David to leave the battlefield and return to the palace for a rest; but that little bit of indulgence led him into adultery and murder. It was just a ‘little nap’ that Peter took in the garden, but his lack of watching and praying led to his shameful denials of Christ.
The little foxes spoil the vines, so watch for them and kill them! Name the sins, confess them, and ask for God’s forgiveness. Never feed a ‘little fox.’ He will grow up and devour you!
In takes diligence and dedication to bear fruit for God. Once we become lazy and careless, we cease to bear fruit. Solomon paints a meaningful picture of this truth in Proverbs 24:30–34.
I went past the field of a sluggard,
past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;
thorns had come up everywhere,
the ground was covered with weeds,
and the stone wall was in ruins.
I applied my heart to what I observed
and learned a lesson from what I saw:
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest –
and poverty will come on you like a thief
and scarcity like an armed man.
‘A little sleep – a little slumber’.
‘The little foxes that are ruining the vineyards’.
Deal with sin while it is little! Otherwise, it will grow and do great damage, and rob you of your fruitfulness.
Too much self-analysis and introspection is not good. But it is good for us to search our hearts and confess our sins to God. It is good to uncover the ‘little foxes’ before they destroy us. ‘[L]et us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God’ (2 Cor. 7:1).
And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, ‘Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.’ So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
(Rev. 14:18–19, NKJV)
‘The vine of the earth!’
This is God’s description of society without Christ. Those who have trusted Christ are branches in the Vine of heaven. Those who have rejected Him are branches in the vine of earth.
And they are destined for judgment.
This present world system looks fruitful and successful. Unbelievers tell us that ‘things are getting better and better’. But God sees the ‘vine of the earth’ ripening for His wrath. The clusters will be cut off and the fruit cast into the winepress of the wrath of God.
If you have trusted Christ as your Saviour, then you do not belong to this ‘vine of the earth’. You are a branch in the true Vine from heaven.
If you have never trusted Christ, then you are a part of the ‘vine of the earth’, and you are destined for judgment.
BUT – you can escape that judgment!
Listen to God’s good news for you.
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’ (Jn. 3:16).
Whoever – that includes you.
Believes – that also includes you.
Trust Christ! Yield yourself to Him!
Today, abandon the ‘vine of the earth’ and, by faith, become a branch in the true Vine. Start living! Start bearing fruit for God’s Glory!
‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’
(Rom. 10:13).
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