A LEGACY OF LOVE
The greatest motivation for change in a person’s life is love. That “God is love” (I John 4:8, 16) means we have a legacy from the Father to develop and pass along to others. Our past few lessons have been about “A Lasting Legacy” and today’s lesson topic takes us to the zenith of what a legacy is all about. God gives what we most desperately need and He intends for us to share that gift with others whose needs are equally desperate. The three areas of scripture used in this lesson can help to formulate the major theme of the entire Bible and help to adopt it as the foundation for our life and ministry. People want to be loved and they are searching. A legacy of love can be more clearly communicated by understanding God’s love.
Read 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 Love Compelled
Paul is telling us the motivation for his ministry and mission. Paul was responding to the false teachers who had infiltrated the Corinth church and were trying to usurp his leadership as an apostle of the Good News. He did not seek financial gain or self-promotion. He had founded his ministry entirely on love. Paul summed up his motive for ministry in the phrase “for Christ’s love compels us”. Based on that love, Paul risked his life and eventually gave his life in the effort to tell other people about Christ’s love for them. Paul arrived at this fundamental insight after a long journey. His conversion on the road to Damascus culminated in what were previous suspicions that his theology was terribly flawed. He could never be good enough to earn God favor, but here was the insight: what he would never be good enough to earn through works was already available to him through God’s love and grace. Paul’s response was reasonable and life changing. He realized what he could receive through faith what he could never earn. God’s favor was His gift because of His love, not because of Paul’s manufactured goodness.
A further insight concerns the nature and purpose of “Christ’s love”, namely, it is an active force to change people, not an overly sentimental emotion. God’s love, born out of His nature, must become the Christian’s driving force. God’s love is not merely to be received and enjoyed; it must be shared and multiplied among all people. God’s expansive love for all people led Paul to another insight. He realized that “one died for all” that is, Christ died for every person. What do we think is meant by “all died”? (Though all people need Christ’s sacrifice and offer of grace, only believers experience the benefit of His death.) All people need the life Christ offers through His love. In verse 15, the motive of Paul’s ministry and his message are seen to be the same, for both flow from the cross. The death of Christ was the most important fact in Paul’s thinking. Paul saw Christ as the second Adam (Romans 5:14-17), God’s new beginning in the creation of humanity. As such, Christ was the representative of the human race. What happened to Him happens to all in some sense. Those who accept their unity with Christ by faith take part in the death He died for them. The love of Christ is a motivation for living in a way that honors God. Believers “no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them”.
Read Acts 17:1-4 Love Communicated
I really like the book of Acts because it tells great stories and gives an accurate account of the birth and growth of the Christian Church. Acts is a sequel to the Gospel of Luke. Because Acts ends so abruptly, Luke (the only known Gentile author of the New Testament) may have planned to write a third book, continuing the story. Chapter 17 demonstrates the practice of the principle that drove Paul’s mission. This passage opens a window into Paul’s second missionary journey. Traveling the main highway Paul, along with Silas and Timothy, left Philippi, headed toward Thessalonica, and made brief stops in two towns along the way. Luke does not say so but preaching likely took place in these smaller towns, even though they did not have synagogues. Paul then headed for larger population centers to bring the Gospel to as many people as possible. Thessalonica, formed in 315 BC and one of the wealthiest cities, because the modern city of Salonika. Then as now, it was the main city of Macedonia.
Paul’s regular practice was to preach in synagogues as long as Jews allowed it. Often those who weren’t Jews would come to these services to hear Paul. Thessalonica was the first city Paul visited where his teachings attracted a large group of socially prominent citizens. Wisely, when Paul spoke in the synagogues he began by talking about the Old Testament writings and explaining how the Messiah fulfilled them, moving from the known to the unknown. Why do we think this was a good practice? (It begins where the people are- at the time of the message.)
Two principles stand out in the passage. First, a teacher must know the scriptures in order to share it, and secondly, we see Paul’s ability to communicate to the people. Paul demonstrated an ability to adjust his approach to the audience. He got their attention by sharing a stunning revelation “that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead”. First-century Jews expectation of the Messiah did not include any idea of suffering, certainly not death on a cross. (I guess they forgot or did not believe Isaiah.) Paul’s insistence on sharing the entirety of the gospel, including the cross, caused violent responses from his countrymen the first missionary journey (Acts 14:5, 19), and more violence was in store in Thessalonica. The church Paul planted grew quickly, but from AD 50 to 51, Paul was forced out of the city by a mob (17:5, 6, 10). He later sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to see how the Christians were doing. Soon afterward, Paul wrote two letters to the Thessalonian believers, encouraging them to remain faithful and to refuse to listen to false teachers who tried to refute their beliefs. Paul always communicated love of God effectively.
Read 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10 Love Continued
The seeds Paul planted in Thessalonica grew and multiplied in wonderful ways. In fact, the opening verses of 1 Thessalonians are some of the warmest and most affirming in all of Paul’s letters. Characteristic of his letters is a lengthy opening summation of his prayers for the church. Paul was both brilliant and prayerful, and he would be the first to emphasize the primary importance of the prayer quality. Our love for others should be undergirded by our consistent prayer for them.
One potentially confusing phrase is “your election”. This highlights God’s initiative in salvation. Salvation did not begin with us and is impossible in our own strength. But having begun with God’s “election:, we are enabled through His gift of free will to respond positively to His initiative. Paul’s letters are in full agreement with the entire Bible’s twin affirmation of God’s sovereignty and humanity’s free will. One does not negate the other. We should pause to express gratitude for all the previous generations who insured our opportunities to share in this legacy of love. We can think back to the earlier generations that stretch all the way back to Paul or others of the earliest Christian missionaries. We are merely part of the latest generation to be compelled by that love. Paul’s effectiveness in keeping that love to continue rested not “in Word only, but also in power, in the Holy spirit, and with much assurance” (v.5).
What caused Paul to be so grateful to God? It was the “faith”, “love”, and “hope” of the church. These words describe the total response of the believer- to what God has done, is doing, and shall do! The life of faith is also the life of love. One cannot be a believer without loving God and his brother- no matter who that brother is. Hope describes the eager expectation and confident waiting of the believer for the future which God has promised to His children. (Not hope in false or short-lived things!) Paul wrote about “work of faith” or, better, the “work produced by faith”. This is what James was telling us, that is often confused with salvation by works. Paul felt compelled to tell everyone that salvation began with faith in Christ and salvation could never be earned. However, that faith made the believer a unified whole, with no difference between secular and spiritual work. Everything that one does as a believer is done in faith and as an expression of love. Hope expressed itself in steadfastness, endurance, perseverance. Christians in Thessalonica confidently believed that God was going to lead them into a glorious future- and so should we! Thessalonian Christians maintained their faith in the midst of great affliction by pagans in the city. It was not easy for them to respond to the gospel with all these persecutions but the news of their faithfulness spread to many other places. They demonstrated some of the greatest faith that continued the love of Christ by any early Christians. This is a great example for us.

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