“Love.” It’s a word with wide and fluid definitions these days. The edges have eroded. The Biblical boundaries blunted, erased, and jettisoned for being too “harsh”, “judgmental” and “old fashioned.” Our generation has opted for a more “inclusive”, “gracious” and accommodating version of “Love”. One that allows the one “loved” to continue doing whatever they deem preferable, pleasurable, and profitable. One that allows the “lover” to display a badge of tolerance and superior morality. But is that how God defines “Love”?
Love, by God’s definition, has Boundaries. Hard and fast. Fixed and unchanging. Keeping harm at a distance…by surrounding us with holy borders and barriers. Boundaries not to keep us from pleasure. Rather to keep us from harm. It is God Who establishes them. He alone. Because He is the very definition of Love...
“And we have known and believed the Love that God has for us. God is Love, and he who abides in Love abides in God, and God in him.”
By definition, therefore, there is no legitimate “Love” originating outside of God and His economy. None. Full stop. Not one exception. “No, not one.”
God’s version of Love includes the sometimes unsavory aspects of Counsel, Correction and Chastising. It does us, and others, no good to avoid these fundamental functions of Biblical “Love”. In fact, avoidance of these will invariably bear the marks of being quite “Unloving.” Case in point: loving parents spend the vast majority of their time restricting, directly, correcting, counseling, chastising and controlling their children. We never need to teach a child to sin. We spend all our time teaching them not to sin. And that is a very Loving thing to do. Just as God does to us…
“You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.
Quite clear and unambiguous. God is the ultimate Father. He chastens us with the purest of motives and undiluted Love. And…by keeping His commandments, we forego the need for corrective Chastening.
Abiding inside His loving borders is the place of blessing, favor, and righteous fruit. All that to say, “Love” has narrow and clearly defined borders. And it is most Loving to help others to stay within them.
“Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.”
Such sacrificial Love can be quite uncomfortable, unfashionable, and unappreciated. Especially by those we yearn to Love the most: family members, relatives, and friends. It is within the family that Love seems to be tested the most. Within our literal family…and within our Church family. Especially at the Bible Schools.
The greatest challenges for Love involve issues of Sin. And the worst kind of Sin is the one Unrepented. God does not forgive Unrepentant Sin amongst His Children/Believers…and neither should we. To do so would be Unloving to the highest degree. God knows this…and that explains the gravity of Christ’s Incarnation. Being born of the flesh, in the midst of fallen mankind, to address one fundamental issue: Sin. And for this pure act of Love, Jesus was despised and rejected. But never once did He waiver….
“For God so Loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
The Bible School Ministry compels us to exercise boundless Love…with sacred boundaries. With 450+ Pastors and Ministry Leaders, we are faced with continual issues of sin, rebellion, and fickle spiritual fortitude. Much like Jesus with His disciples. And from whom we expect the most, we oftentimes get the least.
The answer is not to pull back…but to press in. Enduring the further pain it may cause us….as we make the difficult decisions that Christ-like Love requires.
As with any family or Ministry, we encounter continual sin issues at the Bible Schools. Pastors and Ministry Leaders arrive with all sorts of spiritual baggage and depravity. That much we expect. Afterall, it is the sick who require a physician. And the Bible Schools are, in many ways, a spiritual hospital for Pastors and Ministry Leaders. We stand firm on Biblical Boundaries that God has Lovingly set in place. New students often have difficulty accepting the moral and practical standards at first. After a few months, they typically Repent... and Rejoice!. The greatest challenge is not the New Students, but rather the seasoned Students. Those who should know better. Those to whom “much has been given, and from whom much is expected.” Those with whom we have deeper, longer, more intimate relationship. And none could fit that description more than our staff.
Years ago, I was faced with a particularly disturbing situation of “sin in the camp”. And it was amongst the teaching staff. I knew something was amiss. Within short order, God faithfully revealed the reality. Some of the teachers had stepped outside the boundaries, and into the swamp of Sin. All three of our Bible Teachers were involved. Some considered the infractions minor, inconsequential and culturally acceptable. I knew otherwise. Sin at the top scatters all those below. After prayerful and sober reflection, I knew what “Love” required: Confrontation, Counsel and Courage.
My greatest fear was realized almost immediately: denial, coverup, blame shifting and hardheartedness. Things every parent has experienced within a family. Things every one of us have done ourselves. Things soon deteriorated to the lowest common denominator: refusal to Repent.
Forgiveness is always available… but not without Repentance.
God does not forgive Unrepentant Sin within His family… and we dare not do so within the Church. Lest we tragically consider our version of “Love” to be more “gracious” than God’s holy standard. Jesus would have none of that with Peter. Consider His words carefully…
“And the Lord said, ‘Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have Returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
“When you have Returned to Me.” That is, after Peter would have Repented. Sin carried away not only Peter, but “all” of His most cherished apostles (Mk 14.50). And Jesus Lovingly continued to the Cross….alone.
I knew what God required of me…regardless of the Cost to Ministry or me. “Love” required nothing less in the face of Unrepentant Sin in the Camp. The three Bible Teachers were removed. That was our entire teaching team at the time. I was immediately relegated back to teaching every class at every location myself. Six years of painstaking discipleship and work down the drain. That’s how long it takes us to raise up each Bible Teacher. Ouch!
What followed was three slow, arduous, and gut- wrenching years. I was full of doubts, uncertainty, and frustrations. But eventually the “Righteous Fruit of Repentance” budded and blossomed for all the world to see. Those three unrepentant brothers repented, were forgiven, and restored within the Body of Christ. And by God’s Grace, were eventually restored as Bible Teachers! Right now, they are teaching in the Bible Schools! Living Testimonies of the Grace of God, the blessedness of His Boundaries and the fruit of His Love!
“Love”, as God personifies and defines it, is inconvenient, unchanging, costly…and, in this age of lawlessness, it is rare. Be that as it may, let us never compromise. Because God has promised…
"Love never Fails."
