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The
Christian Ladder of Love:
Mission, Life Together, and the Second
Commandment
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by Bob Tedesco
Mission
and our Life Together
In the Sword of the Spirit we say that we are a
community of disciples on mission. We have gone
to great lengths to define and describe that
mission. I hope to summarize all of that work in
a simple statement: “We are called to be a
certain people and to do certain things, so that
others might have true life now and forever.”
Our life together benefits us, but God’s purpose
now is to use us to reach others. Our life
together has a number of elements to it:
community gatherings, small groups, our way of
life, retreats, Lord’s Day celebrations,
etc. A major current continually in motion
around the various elements is a mission. A
major investment of resources and energy is
mission. Again, simply stated: “Community life
is to lead to more life!”
More on Mission and the
Great Commission
Mission is often questioned and sometimes
misunderstood. “Are we just building community?”
“Are we just baptizing in the Spirit?” Our
mission is a big and enthusiastic “Yes!” to the
Great Commission.
And Jesus came and said to them,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with
you always, to the close of the age.”
– Matthew 28:18-20
The Father wants a family and all of human history
will respond to that desire. When that family is
completed, human history will end; it’s time of
gestation will be completed.
The Bible can be seen as “book-ends” of God’s
plan…an Old Testament and a New Testament. There
are also two “book-end” commissions. The first is
in Genesis: “And God blessed them, and said to
them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the
earth and subdue it…’” Genesis 1:28.
The second is the great commission in Matthew 28.
So, basically, God’s people have been given two
big assignments: 1) “Create the human race” and,
2) Bring the human race to new (eternal) life in
Christ.
Community, made up of disciples, supports and
cares for the disciples who are “making disciples
of all the nations.” There is a synergy of the
three: a community of disciples on mission. So, in
answer to the earlier questions beginning this
section: We are leading people to an encounter
with Christ, leading to the Baptism in the Spirit
and leading to discipleship in a community of
disciples ON MISSION. Mission, in turn,
energizes and builds up community.
So those who received his word
were baptized, and there were added that day
about three thousand souls.
– Acts 2:41
The Christian Ladder of Love
Christianity can be described as a deepening
progression of love, and the first step is the
love of God.
And he said to him, “You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your
mind.
– Matthew 22:37
He who loves father or mother more
than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves
son or daughter more than me is not worthy of
me; and he who does not take up his cross and
follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds
life will lose it, and he who loses his life
for my sake will find it.
– Matthew 10:37-39
I am defining this second step of the progression
(ladder) as the love of self.
And a second is like it, You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.
– Matthew 22:39
This second commandment as stated presumes the
love of self and uses it as a standard for the
love of neighbor.
“Love one another”
The third rung in the Christian ladder of
love is to “love one another”, and we see love in
the body tied to mission.
A new commandment I give to you,
that you love one another; even as I have
loved you, that you also love one another. By
this all men will know that you are my
disciples, if you have love for one another.
– John 13:34-35
“Love your neighbor”
The fourth rung is “love thy neighbor.”
Mt.22:39 (above). Here, I am interpreting
“neighbor” as the world; all of those folks who
are not in the family or the body of Christ. I
used to think that neighbor just meant the person
in the next house. In context, that would have
meant that Jesus was most likely talking about a
fellow Jew and a member of the same religious
body. But in Luke 10:25-37, he identifies the
Samaritans as the neighbor: not a fellow
worshipper, not the person next door and not even
someone known by the traveler.
And behold, a lawyer stood up and
put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what
shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said
to him, “What is written in the law? How do
you read?” And he answered, “You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, and
with all your soul, and with all your
strength, and with all your mind; and your
neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him,
“You have answered right; do this and you will
live.”
But he, desiring to justify
himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my
neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going
down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell
among robbers, who stripped him and beat him,
and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by
chance a priest was going down the road; and
when he saw him he passed by on the other
side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to
the place and saw him, passed by on the other
side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came
to where he was; and when he saw him, he had
compassion, and went to him and bound up his
wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set
him on his own beast and brought him to an
inn, and took care of him. And the next day he
took out two denarii and gave them to the
innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and
whatever more you spend, I will repay you when
I come back.’ Which of these three do you
think proved neighbor to the man who fell
among the robbers?” He said, “The one who
showed mercy on him.” And Jesus said to him,
“Go and do likewise.”
“Love your enemy”
The fifth and final step of this Christian
ladder is “love your enemies”.
“But I say to you, love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”
– Matthew 5:44
“But I say to you that hear, Love your
enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless
those who curse you, pray for those who abuse
you.”
– Luke 6:27-28
I believe that this step is the hardest and is
modeled by our Lord when on the Cross he said,
“Father, forgive them, they know not what they
do.”
Notice that love of family is not in this ladder.
That is presumed; it is a “given”; it is in our
starter kit. We may have to work on it some but
the seeds are there.
“If you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you? For even sinners
love those who love them.
– Luke 6:32
If anyone does not
provide for his relatives, and
especially for his own family, he has
disowned the faith and is worse than an
unbeliever.”
– 1Timothy 5:8
Notice also that Jesus warned that love of family
is not to be used as an excuse.
And another said, ‘I have married
a wife and therefore I cannot come.’
– Luke 14:20
A great sports leader died recently and his motto
was, “Family, faith, football”. He might have been
an even greater man if he had gotten the right
order.
Mission and Spiritual Growth
Some comments on the ladders…the spiritual
maturity of an individual or a group can be
measured by the progress up this ladder. Although
we can grow some in each of these areas, the
progress is mainly sequential: we can’t love our
enemies if we do not love one another. Most
importantly here, loving God and loving one
another in the body is the basis for evangelism.
(John 13:34-35). That is to say, if we don’t have
deep love for the body of Christ, we are unlikely
to be capable of presenting Christ to the world.
Additionally, you could say that the purpose of
intentional communities is to get the third and
fourth levels to work.
Recently, I have been asking groups to consider
the question, “What was the greatest event of the
20th century?” The answers varied according to the
size and type of the group. Sometimes the
responses would follow an inventions track: the
airplane, the car, the computer, etc. Some thought
winning World War II had to be it. Most answers
were easily defended, and on two occasions I got
the answer I was looking for: the Pentecostal
outpouring of the early 1900’s. Hundreds of
millions of people around the world have been
baptized in the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifting
and ministries have laid the foundation for an age
of evangelism such as the world has never seen.
Conclusion
As we grow in love of God and one another we are
in a position for service, evangelism,
discipleship, community building and even
worldwide community building (all the nations). In
his generous nature, the Lord has filled us with
his Spirit and empowered us to do the mission.
A mature disciple grows to love the world and
naturally wants to share the Lord and the people
that he is a part of with others!
>
See
other
articles by Bob Tedesco
Bob
Tedesco is past President of the North
American Region of the Sword of the Spirit.
He is a founder of the People of
God community in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, USA, and has been one of its
key leaders for the past 40 years.
Photo
credit from Bigstock.com
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