LOVERS OF GOD
LOVERS OF GOD
2 Timothy 3: 1-5; Romans 8: 26-29; 1 Corinthians 8: 1-3; 1 Corinthians 2: 7-12
It is the desire of God to have lovers. The apostle Paul speaks of those who love God. God’s desire to have such is so great that He commands it, saying, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.” It is imperative according to the divine standard, and He wants thousands to love Him. Scripture speaks of ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands. Daniel tells us that thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. It is a wonderful suggestion when God speaks of the “thousands of them that love me.”
God wants lovers who will love Him with all the heart, all the soul, all the strength, and all the mind. He is not content with fragments, with the tail-end of our lives, with a few odd moments on our knees at bed time. He wants no movement in the heart except what is of Himself, no desire apart from Him, no strength wasted, no thought of which He is not the object. God is so blessed, so worthy, He is to have it all and He wants thousands of thousands like that.
Behind all this lies the heart of God, and He has made Himself known in such a way that He will absorb the whole being of so many. It was the desires of love on the part of God that led to this command for lovers, and what He is, has been so declared that He must be loved.
In contrast, think of those who hate God; those of whom the Lord said, “now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.” Awful contemplation! that the human heart should be so alienated from God, that it should forget and hate Him. What a range of things fills the hearts of men in the last days, as 2 Timothy 3 tells us — anything except God. Men love even themselves. We live in the most selfish day in history. In every sphere, self is enthroned. What man loves rules him. What controls the heart, controls the being. Thus everything gives place to what ministers to self. There are also lovers of money; it has taken God’s place. How we see it all around with its accompanying sorrows, which pierce men and drown them in perdition. Then, lovers of pleasure — how many devotees at that altar! We see everything sacrificed to it. There are those also who love and make a lie. If men did not love the lie, the bookshops would soon be closed. The same is found in the religious world. At bottom, men know it is all a lie, but they love it because it is a lie; indeed, the whole world is a lie, a sham, but men love it. Again we see how pre-eminence is loved by men, and the love of it will lead them to anything.
The divine thought is “lovers of God.” How this is exemplified in Christ! Not one affection stirred His heart but God was its centre. From Bethlehem to Calvary, God was the object of His every desire. “I have spent my strength,” He could say. It was used to serve God. Though weary, He would continue His journey to find one worshipper. His strength was weakened in the way — the way to Calvary. Not a thought, but God was its object; as it is written of Him, “Oh how I love thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” Every morning, His ear was opened to hear, as the instructed. We see in Him the perfect model of a lover of God.
Now we may see what God is prepared to do for His lovers. What gain there is in this, what blessedness! “If any man love God, the same is known of him.” God knows such a one altogether. He knew Christ, that great Lover. He was unknown among men, but well known in heaven. Only heaven and a few in touch with heaven knew of His birth. Then those thirty years — who knows of that secret life in Egypt, at Nazareth, hidden from the world? None of us knows much about it; God knew it all. At the end of it He could say, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight.” This was a review of those thirty years. Every prayer, every action,
every step, every thought had been watched. It came out at His baptism, He was known of God.
So it is with all God’s lovers. Of course in one sense He knows everybody. He knows every fowl on the mountains; not one sparrow falls to the ground without His knowledge. He knows the wicked afar off. But this passage means that He knows him intimately. We see this in Abraham, the friend of God. A friend loves at all times, be they dark or bright; whether in plenty or in little. Abraham is called the friend of God. And God says, “I know him,” and further, “walk before me”; so that God could look at him as he walked. The preposition is “before,” not “with.” God would have it thus with every lover of His and would give each one the sense that He knows them favourably and intimately. Better to be known of God than of the world. It is a poor thing to be known by the king, compared to what it is to be known of God. Again, the scripture says, “the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.” The basis of that is that Moses was a lover of God.
What will not God do for those who love Him? Jesus loved Lazarus and He would go to the place where they were prepared to stone Him for Lazarus’ sake. Romans 8 helps here. We do not know what to pray for as is fitting, but we do know that all things work together for good to those that love God. He has such an interest in His lovers that He uses all His power, His wisdom and His riches to make all things work together for good to those who love Him; not for everybody, but for His lovers. Note the word together, that is, these things are made to coordinate, so that everything that may come upon His lovers will work for good. This is seen in the pathway of Jesus. God was behind all His movements, as we may see in Luke 7. If He goes to the house of a proud Pharisee, God caused that one should come in there who did not cease to kiss His feet. Calvary is the great expression of the love of God, and that He is behind everything to bring good out of it. Through it, there will be brought to light the myriads of the redeemed who all love God.
So it will be with us in the measure we love God. Whatever may come upon us — sickness, difficulties in circumstances, unjust accusations or trials. God is so great that if we love Him He will cause any or all of these things to work together for our good. Lovers of God do not think these things are against them. Our great concern is, not merely to recover our health, not to overcome the difficulties, not to prove we have been unjustly accused; but to see to it that we love God, and then we can confidently leave all these matters in His hand. “We do know that all things work together,” etc. We may and do have many solemn exercises about many things, but the greater exercise is to love God, and that means that no room is left in the heart for any idol.
The apostle Paul in writing to the Corinthians says, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” They have such a place in His heart. He values them so much, that He has prepared, there has been deliberate activity, there is a plan and a process to prepare for God’s lovers what the human heart could never dream of. There is a place prepared for such in the Father’s house. Wonderful thought! in a sphere where only love prevails; where there is conscious relationship. The city too is prepared for them, the city that Abraham looked for, whose Builder and Maker is God. “He hath prepared for them a city,” Hebrews 11: 16. What a city! God’s city has only one street, a golden street. There is no false step; every movement is transparent, no dark underhand movements. It has a wonderful temple. God and the Lamb are that temple. There is no need of the sun, for the glory of God is the light, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof, and a river of water of life, clear as crystal, flows out of the throne. We belong to that city, for our citizenship is in heaven. This is but one of the things that God has prepared, and He would give us to enjoy it now. Indeed according to Hebrews 12 we have come to it now, the “city of the living God.”
The new heaven and new earth are prepared for a people who love God. What a scene — where there is no distance between God and His lovers! He is their God, Revelation 21: 3. How attractive all this is! It would help us to judge idolatry. John closes his first epistle thus: “Children, keep yourselves from idols,” the idols of self, money, pleasure, pre-eminence, etc. When we know what God would do, that we are known of Him, and the things He has prepared, our hearts are surely attracted to come into this position of loving Him.
What is this love for God? How is it expressed? There are people who say they will not believe unless they see. But nobody has ever seen love, it is a spiritual thing, yet nobody can deny that love exists. And where love is, it is expressed. Now love for God is expressed in a twofold way, by obedience and by sacrifice. These two great expressions of love are seen pre-eminently in Christ; in Him they shine. He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Then His love found expression in sacrifice; how great the sacrifice of Himself! Now what good is there for us to say we love God if we do not obey Him? “Hereby know we that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments.” Love enjoins and love obeys. “Children, let us not love with word, nor with tongue, but in deed and in truth.” So that the great expression of love in a believer is that he is subject.
Love is also seen in sacrifice. This is how love came to us. “Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us.” When we see a believer holding his body, not for pleasure but for God’s service, we see the mark of love. Or he may spend his time in considering for the Lord’s interests. This costs something, it is a proof of love. Or money or a home may be similarly used, it is love appearing. God’s love came this way. “God so loved that he gave.” “Herein is love... that be... sent his Son.”
This measures us all. The measure of our love is the measure of our obedience and our sacrifice. But it is precious to God. He takes special interest in one like that; He will cause everything in his history to work out for good.
Let us see to it then that we are not lovers of self, of pleasure, of money, but lovers of God, so that we may taste the sweetness of these things, and let us all join in saying, “We love him, because he first loved us.”