If I Love You More

2 Corinthians 12:14-18 ESV

“Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?”

I am reading today in 2 Corinthians, chapter 12. Paul was under some kind of false accusations and persecutions and rejections, and so he was coming to his own defense, not only for his own sake, but for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For if he could be discredited, it would also discredit what he was teaching, too. So, he was defending his own honor and his calling of God and his own character and purpose and motives, as well. And he was letting them know that he was not in this for himself but for them, and for their good. And he said he would most gladly be spent for their souls.

So, another reason why it was important for Paul to defend his own honor was for the salvation of souls, and it was for the spiritual growth and maturity of those who claimed to be followers of Christ. And it was to prove his genuine love for the people and to demonstrate how he loved them. But the love that he had for them was not a fleshly and worldly love which is based in emotions, but the love he had for them was love that comes from God and that prefers what God prefers, which is what is righteous, holy, upright, morally pure, honest, and faithful.

And so he asked them, “If I love you more, am I to be loved less?”

Now he was concerned that they were misinterpreting his motives and that they were being led astray by false apostles, and that they were not seeing him through the correct spiritual lens. For perhaps they were being influenced by the false apostles to take Paul to task. Or perhaps it was because some of them were still living in sin, and they had not repented of their impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they had practiced, and so they attacked Paul because he was teaching against how they were living. And this is not unusual for this type of thing to take place.

Now, what is standing out to me here is the love that Paul had for those who had professed faith in Jesus Christ. And his love for them was demonstrated by his commitment to them and to their walks of faith, and by the fact that he was teaching them the truth, and that he was exhorting them to live holy and morally pure and upright lives for the glory of God. And this is how God loves us, too. In fact, we read in Hebrews 12 that God disciplines us for our good, because he loves us, and that discipline is painful, but that it will yield what is righteous in the lives of those trained by the discipline.

But many people professing faith in Jesus Christ today don’t want discipline, and they do not see discipline as God’s love. And they do not see instructions on holiness and warnings against continuing in sin as God’s love. And so they are being drawn to false teachers who are telling them “pleasant things,” the kinds of things which make them feel good about themselves, and that do not confront them with God and with his word and with his commands and with his instructions to us in holy living and in the forsaking of our sins. And so they will see love as what makes them feel good and not necessarily as what is for their good.

Now, I am certainly not suggesting that we must go around always talking about sin and judgment. But we need to understand that the love of God is not permissive. His love does not overlook habitual and deliberate and rebellious sinning against him and against other humans. His love is defined for us in Hebrews 12 as the love of a father who disciplines his children for their good. And he trains us in righteousness and holiness. But many people are getting this idea that God’s love just makes us feel good about ourselves, even if we are deliberately and habitually sinning against the Lord. And that is just wrong!

But is the love of God all discipline? No! He encourages us in many different ways, but his encouragements are based largely on our relationships with him and our actions and our obedience to him. Like he promises to be with us and to not leave us or forsake us, and that he will give us strength and courage, and the joy of the Lord will be our strength. And he lifts us up when we are downcast and when we need encouragement. But this isn’t for everyone who just says, “Lord, Lord.” This is for those who are walking according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh and who are honoring God with their lives.

So, back to what Paul was saying about his love for his spiritual children and his concern that they were loving him less, or not at all, in reality, for love does not treat people like some of them were treating Paul. We do need to understand that love is not all this feel good stuff that many are dishing out today. For these false teachers can make you feel good about yourself, and that can make you feel loved, but if they then lie to you and deceive you and so you believe their lies, and so you don’t repent of your sins, and thus you don’t end up in heaven, but in hell, then is that true love? NO! It isn’t!

But if we are truly loving people with the love of God, and so we will gladly spend our lives for their souls, even if we are not loved in return, then that is true love, for it is sacrificial love that is willing to be misunderstood and hated and judged unfairly in order to tell the people the truth which will save their souls from hell and which will lead them to walks of holiness and righteousness in the power of God. And this is how God loves us, for he is willing to have us hate him and to reject him in order to tell us the truth and in order to discipline us for our good in hopes that we will follow him and that we will have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

Do You Love Me?  

An Original Work / July 24, 2013

Do you love Me now?

Will you seek My face?

I have given you

My love and My grace.

Will you walk with Me

Ev’rywhere I lead?

Will you find in Me

All of what you need?

Won’t you meet with Me

Down upon your knees?

Will you obey Me,

And do what I please?

Will you hear My voice

Speaking now to you?

I am couns’ling you

To abide in truth.

I have died for you;

Taken all your sins –

Crucified with Me,

You have been forgiv’n.

I have set you free

From your slavery,

So that you can now

Live in victory.

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