Properly & Orderly

Part 5 - Love Properly, Orderly...

The meeting erupted with anger and vitriol. "Could it be the devil is at work?" one member asked. "Yes, and you are his primary tool," another responded. These are unkind words impatiently spoken in a meeting improperly controlled. "Let all things be done properly and in an orderly manner" (1 Corinthians 14:40). First, all things refer to all aspects of Christian ministry and service. Second, the term properly refers to fruit-laden actions. Being orderly means bringing order to our lives and following the procedures, guidelines, and commands of Scripture. Summing it up, our lives must be characterized by fruit-laden order.

We turn to the example of love. The normative sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives in this era is love. How does love connect with our text? Well, first of all, what is love? Scripture answers. "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments" (1 John 5:3). "And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments" (2 John 6). Scripture defines love in terms of the Ten Commandments. In fact, love is keeping God's Ten Commandments.

Look at it this way, the Ten Commandments give us a glimpse into the character of God. The Bible also tells us, "God is love" (1 John 4:8 and 16). To display the character of God and display love, we must keep the Ten Commandments. The goal is to be conformed to the image of Christ is the same (Romans 8:29). Christ kept the whole law perfectly (Hebrews 4:15). Being conformed to the image of Christ therefore means following the Ten Commandments. It means walking in love. From this we can affirm that love has a very orderly aspect. Love involves specific and concrete guidelines. There is a pattern to love. There is order to love. Those who easily and frequently violate the Seventh Commandment with sexual infidelity love neither their spouses nor the persons with whom they are in illicit relationships.

While the Ten Commandments define love, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 describes love. "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

The first descriptions are simple and straightforward. "Love is patient, love is kind." Patience and kindness are fruit of the Spirit. Love also requires truth. Scripture places emphasis on truth. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth (John 14:17). Truth telling is not only important, it is essential to good order and wellbeing. Lies are like earthquakes. They shake and break the foundations of our lives. We want people to acknowledge the truth even if it involves sin. At the same time, when we present the truth we must be patient and kind. We cannot unkindly stick the knife in and twist to get our point across. We must patiently present the truth and kindly argue our point. Paul ties the two together in Romans 2:4, "Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?" Where would we be without this patience and kindness of God?

"Let all things be done properly and in an orderly manner" (1 Corinthians 14:40). Love has a particular order, the Ten Commandments. Love properly exercised implements the Ten Commandments as described in 1 Corinthians 13. Biblical love exemplifies fruit-laden order.