THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE
Kay Keith Peebles 04-24-2020 20.14
John is known as the disciple whom Jesus loved. There have been many pictures painted of John that depict him sitting next to Jesus with his head on Jesus’ chest. John wrote more about the love of God than any of the other disciples. He understood Jesus’ love for us not simply because of what he saw Jesus do and say, but during the three years he followed Jesus, he positioned himself close enough to literally hear and feel His heartbeat.
John witnessed Jesus’ love for the Father which translated into His obedience even unto death. “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:9-13.
Love requires self-sacrifice for the sake of others. I am enamored by movies and stories of people who exude great courage and love for others at the risk of their own lives. Last week my husband and I watched the movie “The Hiding Place” about Corrie ten Boom. I have read her book by the same title several times. Her father Casper, sister Betsie, and Corrie lived in Holland during the holocaust. They built a false wall in one of their upstairs bedrooms in which they hid 6 Jews when the Nazi’s came to raid the house. They practiced drills frequently making sure there was time to remove all the evidence of others being present in the home. One night the Nazi SS came. They could not find the Jews hiding between the walls but they did find food vouchers with extra names on them. That provided enough evidence to imprison the ten Boom family for being involved in the resistance.
There were others who saved many Jewish children and families in several nations during World War II. Some of them made it through unscathed while others died in concentration camps like Corrie’s father and sister. Truly, love casts off all fear. “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:17-18.
The Bible equates the depth of our love for God with how much we love others. “If someone says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him; that he who loves God must love his brother.” 1 John 4:20-21. Corrie was challenged with this concept after she was “accidentally” released from the concentration camp soon after Betsie’s death. Years later Corrie was preaching in Germany at a church about the forgiveness we find in Christ when the chief guard in her camp stepped forward. He heard her message of love and forgiveness and her reference to Ravensbruck which was the concentration camp where Corrie and Betsie were imprisoned. He did not remember Corrie but she remembered him. He told her he had become a Christian and knew the Lord had forgiven him, but he wanted to ask her for forgiveness also. Although traumatic pictures raced through her head and the hot fiery agony of past memories flooded her emotions, she lovingly took his hand and declared he was forgiven. Love is self-sacrificing.
My husband and I attended a Voice of the Martyrs conference a few years ago. The ministry was begun by Richard Wurmbrand who was a Romanian evangelical Christian minister. He and his wife protected Romanian Jews during World War II and sacrificed all to help others during that time. The Russians took over Romania after the war creating the conflict between Christianity and Communism. Wurmbrand publically declared Communism and Christianity to be incompatible in 1948 in Communist Romania. He was arrested and tortured for his Christian faith for many years.
While in prison he would minister to the other prisoners and guards. After years of detention he was released but his body carried many scars and pain from countless brutal beatings, many of which targeted his feet. He struggled to stand and walk the rest of his life because of the excruciating pain emanating from the broken bones in his feet that were not re-set. Today his ministry Voice of the Martyrs keeps Christians aware of those being imprisoned, tortured and martyred all over the world for the cause of Christ. The ministry brings aid to them and their families and enlists prayer for them continually.
I devoured the biography of Deitrich Bonhoeffer who was a Protestant Pastor in Germany during Hitler’s rise to power. He watched as Hitler’s indoctrination took over the churches through the threat of fear in the 1930’s. Hitler required them to remove all the pictures of Jesus and replace them with his own portrait in all the churches. Bonhoeffer refused to cower and he kept preaching the gospel wherever he went encouraging Christians not to give in to this evil dictator. His prophetic gift compelled him to warn others what was coming on the horizon. Sadly, many would not listen.
He was invited to the United States to minister there but during the two years he preached in the U.S. the haunting reality of his beloved Germany succumbing to Hitler’s evil kept him restless. Finally, he knew he must return to stand up for the Gospel. He believed it meant his death, but he still returned to Germany. Because he was keenly aware of the treatment of the Jews and the demonic indoctrination of the Germans, he eventually worked with the group that sought to assassinate Hitler. It was a difficult decision to make as a Christian Pastor but he felt the evil Hitler perpetrated on millions upon millions of people required desperate action. He was eventually captured by the SS and imprisoned. For several years he was moved from prison to prison but eventually he was killed by a firing squad. He once said, “Only he who believes is obedient and only he who is obedient believes.” He also said, “Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.”
I have often wondered what I would do if I were in the same situation as those mentioned above. Of course, I would not know for sure until the opportunity came. My prayer has always been that I would be willing to run into the fray to help others in need of rescue. Jesus told His disciples that they would face persecution like He did. He guaranteed them that there would always be those who would hate them and the gospel they preached because of Jesus. Every one of his disciples was martyred except John. It has been told he was put in hot boiling oil but was miraculously untouched by its effects. According to the original apocryphal Acts of John, he is believed to have died of old age.
If we study Matthew Chapters 24-25 and examine the book of Revelation, it is easy to see we are living in the time called the Beginning of Sorrows. Currently the numbers of Christian martyrs has risen all over the world and the antichrist spirit is strongly at work right here in the United States. Jesus warned the people about the day of His coming in the Parable of the 10 Virgins in Matthew 25. He explained that those who were wise would be prepared when the time came for the Bridegroom to gather them. The night was long and they needed the “oil” to endure.
The oil represents the presence and power of the Holy Spirit which is our only hope to overcome what may be coming. As the parable teaches, without enough oil the virgins (believers) will not be able to sustain the challenges that will come during the night and not be found ready when the Lord comes to take them with Him. It is doubtful Corrie and her family, Richard Wurmbrand and his wife, and Deitrich Bonhoeffer waited until trouble came to prepare their hearts for the hatred and persecution they would endure. No, for sure, they prepared their entire lifetime seeking to be transformed into the image of God, living a life filled with the aroma and presence of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus was arrested John was the only disciple who witnessed His crucifixion. The others fled and hid. Peter even denied knowing Him 3 times. They were hiding from the Jews when Jesus had risen from the dead and came to show Himself to them. They knew if they would kill Jesus their lives were endangered also. Jesus told them to remain there until the promised Holy Spirit came. They would be empowered to not only be His witnesses in Jerusalem and beyond, but they would preach fearlessly and boldly to the very ones who had crucified Jesus.
Scripture says the whole earth, all of creation is groaning for the revealing of the Sons of God. A hymn we sang in the Methodist Church comes to mind for the days in which we are living. I have declared it and sung it as a prayer many times for all of us men and women to rise up to our destiny.
Rise Up Oh Men of God.Rise up, O men of God!
Rise up oh men of God,
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and mind and soul and strength
to serve the King of kings.
Rise up, O men of God!
The kingdom tarries long.
Bring in the day of brotherhood
and end the night of wrong.
Rise up, O men of God!
The church for you doth wait,
her strength unequal to her task;
rise up, and make her great!
Lift high the cross of Christ!
Tread where his feet have trod.
As brothers of the Son of Man,
rise up, O men of God!
The greatest days of the Church are right before us. Jesus questioned if we would have faith when He returned. If we are to walk in great faith, we must be consumed by our love for Him. If we are to stand in the days of trial and persecution, we must continually keep our eyes burning for Him. If we are to walk as He walked and withstand as did He and the disciples, we must be consumed with passionate love for Jesus. The Bible says He went to the cross to die for us because of the joy set before Him. He has called us to enter into the same passion and joy He had as we willingly risk all for those who do not know Him as yet. The night is upon us. The test is before us. Will we answer the call fearlessly running into the fray because our minds and hearts are ablaze with the great love He has placed in us? Faith, hope and love abide, but the greatest of these is love.
