Mentoring Minutes

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.”     Jesus (John 15:12)

Love and Lordship in Focus…Jesus command for us to love others as He loves us does not negate the 2 greatest commands…it reinforces them…and can’t be done without first obeying them!

We continue with another “one another” and surprise, surprise and just as promised last week… it is “love one another” and we find it as Jesus continues with His teaching, encouraging and challenging His disciples in the Upper Room. This is all happening on the night He is betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter and abandoned by all of His disciples.

His teaching that followed His example, even knowing they would all walk away during His greatest hardship is found in John 15:12-17 where He reiterates two more times a “new” commandment to “love one another as I have loved you.”

This must be pretty important for Him to continue to drive home the point that they are to love each other the way that He loved them…and we are to do the same.

Remember His first love was not for us (I know we seldom hear messages about this in our “me first” culture) but His first love was for His Father and He wanted (wants) us to love the way that He did (does). The only way we can do this is to first love Our Heavenly Father and Christ by The Holy Spirit in us and then let that love overflow in our love for one another!

What is your source of love for others? Is it rooted in your feelings, attraction, experiences, etc.? Or is it rooted in the unfailing, self-giving, sacrificial Love from God that prefers Him above all else (agape) as it flows through us to others?

As I mentioned in a previous devotional, 11 of the 59 “one anothers” in Scripture are specifically “love on another” and we shared five of those in the last few days. Must be pretty important if The Holy Spirit repeated it so often…and we know that it is because it is how the world sees the Love of God by how we love Him and others in His Love.

Our next “one another” is a more specific way that we are to love one another and it is found in Romans 12:10 (entire chapter is great for practical living and loving in Christ). Here Paul goes a little deeper and tells us to “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love…” This is both a personal and collective command as the Greek words here for love is “philostorgos” which means tender affection toward others and “philadelphia” (sound familiar) which literally means brotherly love and affection.

He also tells us in this verse that the way we do this is to “honor one another above self.” We can only do this in humility by knowing who we are in Christ so we can choose to lift others above ourselves…this is being devoted to one another in caring and affectionate love.

This is how we are to love others by being devoted to caring for them with affection individually whenever needed, and remember that we can’t do this without knowing God’s love, loving Him first and then loving who we are so we can die to self to affectionately love and care for others!

I pray that you know this love both in how to love God and others and in receiving this kind of love from others…in your marriage, family, church family and friends…all others.

How awesome is it that God has given us very plainly in His Word how we are to love…Him, self and then be able to die to self, just as Christ did, in our love for others.

The “one another” that we have for today is a continuation in Romans 12:10 telling us to “Honor one another above yourselves.” If I don’t know who I am in Christ, confident and content, growing in who He has recreated me to be in Him, then I will struggle to lift and place others above myself. (Philippians 2:3-5)

We must understand that as long as we’re in our flesh we will not be able to truly accomplish any of these “one anothers” even though we can be very active in making it look like we are. This is the posture of many in our churches today who are active in serving in the flesh with very little time in God’s Word, prayer and listening to Him in order to know His Love, know how to love Him with all we are and then love who He is revealing to us that we are in Christ.

We need to ask the Lord to help us to honor and esteem others above our self in every relationship and opportunity as He prunes, purges, prepares and cleanses us of self so that it is Christ coming through us for others to see and know. Let us love in Truth and not hypocritically as we make it an overflow of His Love in and through us to others (Romans 12:9).

Food for Thought…Very simply put, loving, honoring or esteeming someone above yourself is saying or doing something with or for them that encourages or lifts them up, even and especially, at a cost to your own ego or success. Let’s love and honor others above ourselves to show them the Love of Jesus!

Love in Action –

1. Spend time with Him in His Word and prayer daily – read and study the Scriptures in this post as a way to start
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you
3. Find someone close to you each day this week and do something to honor the above yourself
4. Find someone that you struggle to get along with and do something practical to show them honor and love

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, it is not easy for me to love and honor others above myself and it is impossible to do so apart from Your presence in and through me. Teach me and help me first to submit to You so that I can submit to others and lift them above me in every situation and relationship so all can see and know Christ and His Love. In Jesus Name. Amen.

“Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” Jesus (Mark 9:50)

Love and Lordship in Focus…Christ never promised His commands would be easy…simply that they would be good and if we love Him we will obey them (John 13:34-35)! How can you be both salty and at peace with others? By trusting Him!

This “One Another” is found in Mark 9:50 where Jesus is giving some pretty stern warnings to His disciples after they questioned someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name because the person wasn’t following them (in their group or church so to speak). Jesus strongly exhorts His followers, along with some encouragement to those who will simply serve others (give a cup of water – v. 41 in their role as His disciples), and then closes with these words, remain salty and “be at peace with one another” (v. 50).

How’s that for contradiction and yet we know both are Truth because He is The Truth. We must never lose or compromise the potency of His Word (salty) by our words or our lives but we must also present them in such a way to build peace with each other as much as is possible and within our ability to do so. Remember this is in the context of Christ followers for in v. 40 He reminds them (and us) that “whoever is not against us is for us.”

Paul repeats this command in Romans 12:18 where he simply states that as far as it depends on us as Christ followers, live at peace with all people.

This is not about appeasing others just to avoid conflict or disagreement…that would cost us our saltiness. This is trusting in The Lord’s peace (John 14:27; 16:33) that we know assuredly by faith that we have in Him even in the midst of the struggles, disagreements and chaos. This is the peace that passes all understanding as we give thanks in all things and rejoice in Him (Philippians 4:4-7).

Don’t lose your saltiness but be ever striving for His peace in and through you! What is your Truth, tone and attitude saying to others? Are you salty and peaceful? How are you doing when it comes to being at peace with one another? Jesus in your life is the only way this can happen. Do you know Him as Savior and Lord and are you walking in His peace no matter what the world brings your way?

Our next “One Another” is one of great humility and we see it in Christ’s teaching and especially in His modeling of it in John 13:4-5, 14-15. We are called to “wash one another’s feet.”

What a great practice, literally and figuratively. If you’ve ever participated in a foot-washing event you know that both the washing of other’s and allowing other’s to wash your feet are both acts of humility in exposing ourselves emotionally and spiritually.

It’s also very interesting, and I talk about this in my book, “The Authority of Love, Second Edition,” that Jesus does several things in this setting all tied to His Love and Authority. In John 13:1 it states that He shows them the full extent of His Love. Verse 3 declares that He knows Who He Is (essence of Humility and what He is preparing to do out that Humility). In vv. 4-5 He literally removes His robe, puts on a towel and humble serves by washing each of His disciples feet, knowing that in one way or another each of them was going to abandon Him in a few short hours.

Finally we find in vv. 12-17 that Jesus ties all of this together to teach and model for His disciples and for us as His disciples today that everything He has done for them is an act of Authority. His perfect Love is the Authority and in His Kingdom this is always done through a humbles servant’s heart, hands and feet.

I have set an example before You, not simply of washing feet, but all that it entails in humility, service, and ultimately this is the Authority of Love…the only Authority that will accomplish His Kingdom will!

He says to them in v. 14, that they (we) should act accordingly by “washing One Another’s feet” in following His example. I believe this includes the literal act of washing feet from time to time but even more so the humble act of service in loving relationships is what He desires for us to have Authority (influence) in the lives of others for His Kingdom and Glory!

We certainly can wash feet and serve but we will only do it in unconditional, selfless, self-giving Love that prefers God above all others when we have first learned to Love Him and then humbly know and love who we are in Christ. Then will we learn and grow in lovingly and humbly serving others with no expectations but simply to show them His love and point them to Him.

Do you know Him in this way? Do you know who you truly are in Him (humility)? Are you serving others in loving humility as an overflow of Christ in you?

I’ve shared that this “One Another” series includes 59 “One Anothers” in Scripture. To be clear that’s how many times “one another” appears in The New Testament. However, it is interesting that all of these phrases point to the ultimate “one another” which is to “love one another” and that phrase alone appears 11 of the 59 times in Scripture.

As we work and study through these we’ll take a look at the context and trust The Holy Spirit to teach us more of Godly Love in each situation.

The first “love one another” is actually mentioned twice in the same verse (John 13:34) as one of the most powerful commands that Jesus gives in line with the second greatest command for us to love others as we love ourselves. Any time in Scripture that The Holy Spirit has an author repeat what it said we need to pay close attention and perhaps none more than in this text. Jesus is telling us that we are to love others as He has loved (and does love) us.

This is no way negates the First and Greatest Command as that would diminish His Word and Truth and we know that can’t happen. So this double “love one another” as He loves us comes from the Source of God’s Love and our loving Him!

Do you know how much He loves you? Are you growing in your love for others in that same way?

Remember there are 11 “Love one anothers” in Scripture and most are in John’s Gospel of letters. So our next “one another” is another “love one another” (trying saying that 3 times fast) following right on the heels of Jesus new command in John 13:34. In v. 35 He literally describes how others (other believers and the world)…”all” will know that we are His followers by the way we love one another!

Does your love for others (spouse, children, family, church family, friends, acquaintances, even enemies) show others that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ?

Food for Thought…You can’t love others until you first love God and know and love who you are in Christ. Only then can we truly love one another in such a way that “all” others will know that we belong to Him…it is by our love that they will know who we are and have an opportunity to know our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ!

Love in Action –

1. Spend time with Him in His Word and prayer daily – read and study the Scriptures in this post as a way to start
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you
3. Ask someone you love how you’re doing when it comes to loving him/her?
4. Ask The Lord to show you someone who has seemed unlovable to you… and then ask Him to show you how you can begin to love him/her.

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father help me to love others in such a way that they will know that I’m a follower of Jesus Christ and will desire to know Him as Savior and Lord as well. In His Name. Amen.

Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one;and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31)

Love and Lordship in Focus…Knowing God, worshiping Him alone and loving Him with all we is the 1st and Greatest Command…and one we spend very little time in our lives and churches helping folks grow and mature in as disciples of Christ.

Over the past year +, leading up to the CHRISTmas and New Year Holidays we shared 2 series in line with the 2 Greatest Commands in Scripture (Mark 12:29-31)…1) Worship God alone and love Him with your entire being, and; 2) love others as you love yourself.

Referring back to our “Focus” above…Knowing God, worshiping Him alone and loving Him with all we are is the 1st and Greatest Command…and one we spend very little time in our lives and churches helping folks grow and mature in as disciples of Christ. This leaves us empty as we then begin to try to love others as is taught and systemically programmed into our “churchianity” lives. This was the purpose of our series on the Names of God and I pray that each of us will continue to grow in our love for Him.

Not only are we struggling to fulfill and help others fulfill the most important and greatest command but in so doing we’ve made it nearly impossible to know who we are in Christ and love ourselves in the way that He did so that we can humbly and sacrificially give ourselves away to love others…even more empty in our attempts to show the world His Love! This was the purpose of focusing on our Identity in Christ series so that we are truly equipped through these to continue to mature in our love for God and for ourselves, according to His Love.

In Christ, as we grow in this Love, we can begin to live out this same Love for others….beginning in our love in our families and in the Family of Christ, to strengthen our walk in Him as disciples and together as His Church. Until we do so the world will continue to mock our empty, half-hearted efforts of programmatic service and love.

BTW – there are many effective worldly organizations that meet many of the needs of this world but they can never meet the deepest needs. When we try to meet the same needs with programs and systems rather than in deep loving relationships we offer little more than these organizations.

In near perfect timing we closed out these 2 series leading right up to our CHRISTmas and New Year’s focus and this week we begin our final series on the Greatest Commands…LOVING OTHERS!

Only when we can die to self and learn to love as He did…God first, ourselves next so we can die to self to then love others will we see a world clamoring for His Love!

I pray that Christ’s Church will awaken to doing it His way rather than the world’s way. This is our upcoming focus that is done in relational love and servant-leadership rather than in buildings, systems and programs that reach many but love few…and often a very shallow love at that!

Join us and invite others as we move into this series on loving others as we love ourselves (Mark 12:29-31) but point them back to the previous series and help them grow FIRST in a whole-life love for God and then knowing who they are in Christ so they can truly love as He did. With this as a long introduction for a much needed message let’s dive into this series on…

Loving Others – How to “One Another” in Christ

As we’ve been preparing for this, our next step in this journey of Love is to “love others as we love ourselves and as He loves us (Mark 12:31; John 13:34-35)! Bear with the redundancy here as we prepare to move into loving one another according to His Word.

Remember that in Christ’s Covenant Order commands, we must first have a heart and be learning to worship God alone and love Him with all our being (the “Names of God” series I referenced begins on Oct 18, 2021 through the latter part of January 2022). He then teaches us to know and love who we are recreated to be in Christ and as He does so we learn of His great Love for us and how to love ourselves and then give ourselves for His sake and the sake of others (see “Identity in Christ” series beginning on Feb 3 through March 11, 2022).

Again, my prayer and hope is that as we take God at His Word and the priority of His commands we are much more able to love others as we are called and commanded to do.

Did you know that there are, by most counts, 59 “One Anothers” in Scripture that literally guide us in practical ways as to how we are todo just that…love one another! Over the next few weeks we will be looking at these “One Anothers” and building on the foundation of His Love for us (1 John 4:19; John 3:16) and our love for Him (Mark 12:29-30) and how we can humbly love our self (Mark 12:31)…then we will be much more capable and able to “love one another as He has loved us” (John 13:34)!

This is how discipleship moves from loving God to loving others and must be done in relationships and communities. BTW if you are married every one of these should begin in your marriage and family…how are we going to “one another” in His Church if we can’t first do so in our most intimate of relationships and those which precede His Church in time and priority…how can you lovingly lead in my family if you can’t first do so in your own? (paraphrase of 1 Timothy 3:4-5…keep this in mind throughout this series). For those who are single or single again, remember that your love and identity is in Christ (as is true for all of us) and continue to “one another” where Christ has planted you.

Food for Thought…Throughout this series we will explore all the ways we are called and commanded (remember Scripture is full of commands but no demands – we must lovingly choose to follow in obedience to Him and His truly being our Lord) to love one another and fulfill the greatest commands.

Love in Action –

1. Spend time with Him in His Word and prayer daily – read and study the Scriptures in this post as a way to start
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you
3. Find one practical way to love someone close to you on a daily basis
4. Pray for someone who may not get along with you (or you with them) and how you can love them

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, we live in a world that is sorely in need of Your Truth and our living and sharing it in love. May we walk in Christ and His Truth, without compromise, while choosing His peace in all situations and with all others as much as it depends on us. In Jesus Name. Amen.