Love in Action

[Servant89]

Love is also expressed (and comes to the surface) when we are willing to smear our reputation before men in order to please God.

Love for her family is what caused Rahab the prostitute to lie and betray her people and protect the 3 Jewish spies.

Love is what caused the Samaritan leper to turned back from obeying the commandment in order to put Jesus first.

Love is what caused the Gibeonites to lie to Joshua to save their town (and they did save their town and their lives ending up as part of Israel). Joshua 9.

Love is what caused Jesus to work on Saturdays in order to heal people at the expense of having the religious crown badmouth him as a law breaker.

Love is what caused Jesus to be among thieves in his death.

Too many people are too busy building their reputation before men instead of just speaking the word of God with boldness (which will surely get us in trouble with men).

Gal 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Eph 6:6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;

Shalom

[lovex]

Good answer servant. Love is expressed in different forms, but all comes back to the root of Jesus and what He did.

[Servant89]

Good answer servant. Love is expressed in different forms, but all comes back to the root of Jesus and what He did.

God does not just love, God IS love. It all goes back to the root cause of it all indeed. The Lord Jesus Christ .... AMEN. He is the one that has to get the glory.

Peace

[lovex]

Our God IS Love.... He's love!!!! How amazing is that.

[songbird]

I think I am going to try to spread this motto. love in action. I'm suddenly inspired to make stickers of it and put them all around my town. I first heard of this phrase in vacation bible school when I was young. I never really forgot it, and this thread made me all gushy. Love In Action! Just great

[Servant89]

Love is also expressed (and comes to the surface) when we are willing to smear our reputation before men in order to please God.

Love for her family is what caused Rahab the prostitute to lie and betray her people and protect the 3 Jewish spies.

Love is what caused the Samaritan leper to turned back from obeying the commandment in order to put Jesus first.

Love is what caused the Gibeonites to lie to Joshua to save their town (and they did save their town and their lives ending up as part of Israel). Joshua 9.

Love is what caused Jesus to work on Saturdays in order to heal people at the expense of having the religious crown badmouth him as a law breaker.

Love is what caused Jesus to be among thieves in his death.

Too many people are too busy building their reputation before men instead of just speaking the word of God with boldness (which will surely get us in trouble with men).

Gal 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Eph 6:6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;

Shalom

One great example of this point I mentioned earlier is the book of Ruth.

First let me explain, Messiah was supposed to come from the tribe of Judah. Judah had 3 legitimate sons. But God did not bring his son through any of those legitimate sons. Instead he chose to bring Jesus through a bastard, the son of Tamar (Phares). Tamar decided to play the prostitute and have illegitimate sex with Judah in order to save her inheritance in Israel. That is why God mentioned her in the genealogy of Matthew. But if you count from Phares, 10 generations, you will notice in Matthew 1, that on generation 7 we encounter Ruth. It is written in the law of Moses:

Deu 23:2 A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
3 An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:

So, there is only 3 more generations to go, so that they can enter into the congregation of God, so what do Boaz do? He married a moabite and that starts counting another ten generations before they can enter into the congregation of the Lord !!!!!

That is what the Bible says:

Ruth 4:6 And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it.

So Boaz said something like this: This woman Ruth is so godly, even though the law is against us, I rather spend my life with a woman that loves the Lord like this one, in spite that people will point the finger at me, because I rather spend my life with this kind of company.

For Ruth to join Israel, knowing the law was against her, she had to do it out of love for her mother in law and God.

Ruth 3:1 Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?
2 And now is not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he winnoweth barley to night in the threshingfloor.
3 Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor: but make not thyself known unto the man, until he shall have done eating and drinking.
4 And it shall be, when he lieth down, that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie, and thou shalt go in, and uncover his feet, and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what thou shalt do.
5 And she said unto her, All that thou sayest unto me I will do.
6 And she went down unto the floor, and did according to all that her mother in law bade her.
7 And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn: and she came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid her down.
8 And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: and, behold, a woman lay at his feet.
9 And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman.
10 And he said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my daughter: for thou hast showed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich.

Notice how Ruth did not care for what people would say concerning premarital sex. Notice how she put her surrender and trust in her mother in law above her reputation. Notice she was mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus.

She was truly dead to the law and a woman of great faith. God honored her.

If you count 10 generations from Phares (the bastard), you come to king David. What a way of entering in style into the congregation of the Lord.

Shalom