THE AFFECTIONS OF BELIEVERS
J. G. Wain
2 Timothy 3: 1–5; John 20: 11–19; 14: 20–23; 13: 34
I would like to speak about our affections. The scriptures we have read refer to this. In Timothy there is a reference to those who are “lovers of God”. Then in John 20 we have one who is a lover of Jesus. In John 14 there are those who evidence their love for Jesus, lovers of the truth. In John 13 we are to be lovers of one another, “as I have loved you, that ye also love one another”. I have a feeling that the Lord is looking for affection from His own. We need to watch continually that our love does not decline. Around us in the world there is a general moral decline. I believe there is a great need that we should pray for our younger brethren. It is a service that sisters particularly have been devoted to. In God’s goodness He has taken account of the prayers of many who have gone before. I think particularly we should pray for our dear younger brethren who are still at school, that they may be preserved and kept in the light of the truth, in love for the Lord Jesus, and love for His people. Now in emphasizing the need of love on our part, I am not in any sense setting it over against being intelligent and understanding; we need to be enlarged in our understanding of divine thoughts and divine purpose. Paul could speak of his intelligence in the mystery. We need to set ourselves to grow in our apprehension of the mystery, that we might be more intelligent and more appreciative of the precious privileges that we have amongst the saints, but along with that there needs to be increase, I believe, in our love.
So I draw attention to those who are spoken of as “lovers of God”. We have every reason to love Him, as we think of His love beyond words to tell; we sometimes sing, ‘Whose love is as great as His power’ (Hymn 23).
His power is infinite and so is His love; and He is looking for those who answer to that love.
Paul in writing to Timothy for the days in which we are, refers to them as the last days, and difficult times. We know about the difficult times, but let us be watchful of these things of which he speaks concerning conditions around us, because we may become affected by them.
The Lord Jesus, in Matthew 24, went away from the temple. His disciples had been impressed with the buildings of the temple and pointed them out to Him. The Lord tells them what is going to happen to them; they will all come down. Then when He is sitting on the mount of Olives, He goes on to say, in relation to the last days, that lawlessness will increase or prevail. There is no doubt that lawlessness has greatly increased in the world. He says,
“and because lawlessness shall prevail, the love of the most shall grow cold” (Matthew 24: 12). I believe this is a warning that there is the danger of being diverted from what is truly valuable, and our affections losing their fervency in relation to the precious things that we have been brought to enjoy. In the beginning of Revelation the Lord speaks to the assemblies, of which the last four go on to the end of the dispensation. The last two are Philadelphia and Laodicea; Philadelphia means brotherly love, and Laodicea characteristically is neither hot nor cold, which is obnoxious to the Lord. Let us be concerned by these danger signals that we might watch that our affections do not grow cold. It seems like a process. It grows, not in fervency but rather grows cold.
So we need to beware of what these elements are, features that the Spirit calls attention to in 2 Timothy 3—“lovers of self”, we all know what that means, particularly if we are not in good health we tend to become self-occupied; we need to look out, look out to Christ. We easily become self-centred and concerned about our comfort. Then “lovers of money”, what a danger that is! Scripture says, “the love of money is
the root of every evil” (1 Timothy 6: 10). We need to be careful that the love of money does not govern us. Then the word goes on, “having no love for what is good ... lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God”. This marks the time we are in. We understand that the leisure business is the one least affected by the recession. To be “lovers of pleasure”, is natural to us.
Let us just be watchful; God has given us all things richly to enjoy; we are not to be miserable and cut ourselves off like being in a monastery, but we are not to let pleasure captivate our affections; it can do so very easily—“lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God”. We should be lovers of God. How good God is! How favoured we are to be among His people! How we should be increasing in our love for God. He has taken us into favour in the Beloved and blessed us in every way, having drawn us to Christ. We should be growing in our affection for God. May we be manifestly “lovers of God”.
In John 20 we have a fine example of a lover of Jesus. In the gospels we read of large numbers of souls who benefited from His healing power, and of those whose sins were forgiven, but we do not read that all became attached to Him in affection. It appears that as He approached the cross, there were fewer who followed Him. In John 6 the word says that,
“many of his disciples went away back and walked no more with him”, John 6: 66. Then He said to the twelve, “Will ye also go away?” Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go?”
How the Holy Spirit loves to record those who loved Him! The Lord says of the woman in Luke 7, “... she loved much”. What a commendation! Could it be said of you and of me? I believe the Lord is looking for those who love Him, and the Spirit would stir our hearts that our love might increase in fervency and reality. The more we are occupied with Him, the more we will love Him, I believe. A servant of the Lord wrote that when we actually see Him, we shall wonder why we did not love Him more whilst we were on earth.
The Lord Jesus had met the dire need of Mary of Magdala who was possessed by seven demons. The Lord cast them out and delivered her from this—evil power. She was translated from the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. What a glorious transformation! You can understand Mary being attached to the Lord. But how much He has done for us! What reason we have to love Him! There were three Marys who stood by the cross—and Mary of Magdala was one of them. They stood there in affection, when all around were against Him. (Mary means ‘bitterness’—but their affections were true). The other Marys had relatives, but as far as I know Mary of Magdala had none. The Lord was everything to her. No doubt they saw some of the Lord’s sufferings; but there were sufferings that none could see. In those three hours of darkness He suffered alone for our sins. He suffered for you and for me. I wonder if my love is such that I would have stood there by the cross with all its reproach? Would you have stood there? It is only love for Himself that would hold us, and the Holy Spirit would strengthen us in our affection for Him. He looks for love that is true to Him when He is still in reproach, believe the sisters represent the affectionate side among the saints. Mary had seen the grave, and how He was laid there.
When later others had gone home she remained at the tomb. She was questioned by the angels as to why she wept. She was not interested in the angels, but says, “they have taken away my Lord”. Can we all say “my Lord”? We acknowledge that He is our Lord; may He be more so in practice as controlling our actions and our lives. Dear brother and sister, dear young boy or girl, I wonder if you went through this experience how you would be affected.
If it were possible that the Lord Jesus was taken out of our lives, how would we feel? How would we act? Mary felt that all her life had gone. You may say she was not intelligent, but she quickly learns, and love does learn quickly too. She was a lover of Jesus and no one else could captivate her heart. It is surprising how little
things can come in and rob the Lord of what is really due to Him. Sisters have written some wonderful hymns; Miss Frances Ridley Havergal wrote that lovely hymn (No.220)—
‘I could not do without Thee,
O Saviour of the lost,
Whose precious blood redeemed me
At such tremendous cost!’
Miss Mary Bowly wrote—
We are by Christ redeemed;
The cost—His precious blood;
Be nothing by our souls esteemed
Like this great good.
Were the vast world our own,
With all its varied store,
And thou, Lord Jesus, wert unknown,
We still were poor’.
Are these your feelings? The Lord would like to fill your heart with a sense of His love for you. Mary expresses this love beautifully in the way she responds when the Lord calls her by name, calling His sheep by name. He knows your name, He knows all about us; there is nothing hidden from Him, He knows those little idols that come in the way. John says, “Keep yourselves from idols”. I do not think he would be referring to idols made of wood or stone, but the other things that would rob Christ of what is due to Him. He is looking for an increase in our affections.
The Lord called Mary by her name, and then it says, “She, turning round, says to him in Hebrew, Rabboni, which means Teacher”. Is that not lovely? She turns round. Sometimes we get into positions where we need to turn round. She turned her back on the tomb and on the world, and she is ready to be taught. The Lord is transferring her attention and her affections to Himself in an altogether new realm. That is what the Lord would do, attract us away from all that would hinder to be occupied with Himself in a new condition into which we
shall literally soon be translated. We have an opportunity now, that we shall never have in heaven; an opportunity of loving Him and serving Him in His absence, in the place where He has been crucified. The Lord would appeal to our hearts that this kind of love might be found with us; an ardent and fervent love that will not be deterred but will hold Christ supreme at all costs.
Now I just refer briefly to the other scriptures in chapter 14, I think if we love the Lord, we shall want to please Him, and we please Him by keeping His commandments. I believe the commandments the Lord speaks of here, would deliver us from all that man has introduced which has caused so much confusion in Christendom. I think these commandments would link very much with what the Lord spoke of to His own through the apostle Paul. Paul writes by the Spirit in Corinthians, “If any one thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognise the things that I write to you, that it is the Lord’s commandment” (1 Corinthians 14: 37) notice it is in the singular. You cannot be selective and say we will have this one and not that; it governs the whole, I believe, of the epistles to the Corinthians. This would preserve us and hold us in purity of affection for the Lord Jesus. The Lord says, “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me”. So there is evidence of our love; and then He says, “but he that loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him”. O how we would love to have a manifestation, would we not?
If we could just get an impression of the glory of Christ, all these matters that may disturb us would fall into place; they would not assume the proportions they sometimes do in our minds.
So He says, “he that loves me shall be loved by my Father”. It is not that God does not love us all, of course He does. He desires that all men should be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth, but this is a personal love of approval from the Father. Would we not like to have it? How we would love to have that
experience—a fresh touch of the Lord’s own approval and blessing.
In verse 23 He says, “If any one love me, he will keep my word”. He changes from
‘commandment’ to ‘word’. I think that may be a little more refined perhaps; it may include what He has said more recently than what He has said through Paul. What I think it would mean is that we are affected by the manifestation of Himself and we want to be near enough to Him to hear His word, to hear what He would say to us at any time—“If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him”. Is that not wonderful? I believe it would include the entering in to the blessedness of what is in God’s mind and heart for His people. Colossians and Ephesians would attract us to enter in to the wealth of our inheritance. You may say our locality is very small. He says, “we will come to him and make our abode with him”. That is a promise, and the brethren who are in small localities prove it, and so they do in the larger ones of course, but really a small locality is not such a dreadful disadvantage! What God said to David when he wanted to build Him a house is very affecting. He said that He had not dwelt in one before, but had gone from tent to tent. What wondrous grace that God should say that—He had gone from tent to tent! I think it is wonderful that He is prepared in His love to draw near to us in our weakness, and to assure us of His presence and support.
Now finally I would like to say a brief word about loving one another—“A new commandment I give to you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another”—what a standard! I believe the Lord may have been referring back to what He said earlier in the chapter as He washed the disciples feet. He had laid aside His garments and girded Himself. Then He said, “If I therefore, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet” (verse 14). Here again we have an opportunity that we will not have in heaven; there will be no need for our feet to be washed then, but how refreshing it is to have our feet washed now. We have all experienced how the saints can refresh one another in a simple way. Abigail is a fine example for us all; when David sends for Abigail, she discloses what her one desire was. Do you know what that was? She says, “Let thy handmaid be a bondwoman to wash the feet of the servants of my lord”, 1 Samuel 25: 41. That is what she thought of the saints. It is not without significance either, that Paul in writing to Timothy, speaking of the credentials of a sister who might be ministered to in a case of need, says, “if she have exercised hospitality, if she have washed saints feet”, 1 Timothy 5: 10. What a range of service there is to be done. May we all desire more to serve one another in love, so that there may be this refreshment! “That ye love one another—as I have loved you, that ye also love one another”. Paul said in Thessalonians, “Now concerning brotherly love ye have no need that we should write to you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another”, 1
Thessalonians 4: 9. May we set ourselves to love and serve one another, remembering how the Lord has loved and served us. May we be ready to use our homes and our substance to this end for the Lord’s pleasure. There is testimony in it too, “By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves”, John 13: 35.
May we be helped that our love for God, our love for the Lord, our love for the truth, and our love for one another might increase, so that we are persons who are balanced, not holding the truth just in word and terms, although we need to do that, but holding it in love. May the Lord bless the word for His glory.
Address at Redbridge
7 September 1991