ALL SAINTS!
Our Lord Jesus has brought to my attention the importance of having a genuine love for the people of God. Our Brother Philemon had such a testimony. Paul spoke of it in his letter to him.
“ Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints;” Phil.1:5 We may boast of our love for God who we cannot see but if we fail to love those of the house hold of faith, whom we can see then our profession of faith is found wanting. (see 1 John 4:20) When we love the Saints it will be demonstrated in faith that we have of Christ who is in them, or is the Christ in you more capable than the Christ in them? Paul trusted the Lord to make Philemon even more effectual by encouraging him to acknowledge every good thing which was in him in Christ Jesus. (see Phil1:6)
Paul speaking by the Holy Spirit says; “ As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” Gal.6:10
Doing good unto all men is good but it is especially good to even suffer for the Saints. Paul rejoiced in suffering for the things that were lacking in the Body of Christ, in order to fill up that which was lacking. (see Col1:24 ) If we fail to suffer for that which is lacking then all the members will suffer until, someone is willing to lay down his life for the Body of Christ.
“ For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one
died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live
should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for
them and rose again.” 2 Cor.5:14,15
Let us meditate a moment on Paul’s prayer for the Saints in Ephesus;
“ For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be
strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and
grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the
breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.”
It looks to me as if we shall never know the breadth, and length, and the height, until we are rooted and grounded in love and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge and then we can be filled with the fullness of God.
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.” Yep, that describes me quite well, the more I learn about me the less I have to offer. At one time I was wise and ready to put the Saints in better condition. Then we discover our Lord Jesus isn’t looking for wise or noble people to give this grace to but to him who is less than the least of all Saints. Not just the least but less than the least.
Paul explains why he was given the grace to preach the unsearchable riches of
Christ.
“Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given
unto me by the effectual working of his power.
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I
should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus
Christ:” Ef.3:6-8 If God is to receive the glory he will choose seemingly the most
unlikely candidate to do his work, he who is less than the least of all Saints. If
men are to see the fellowship of the mystery, which is Christ in you. The one
who is less than the least, is the one who will not distract the glory of God with
his own glory.
Lets go back to the verse in Ef.3:19 “And to know the love of Christ, which
passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Beloved
doesn’t that challenge you? it does me, to know the love of Christ is by far the
greatest thing that could ever happen to anybody. Some have been filled with
the Spirit and spoke in tongues, some were filled with the Spirit and spoke the
word of God in boldness. But unless we know the love of Christ it is nothing; to
be filled with all the fullness of God we must know the love of Christ.
Love is the fruit of the Spirit;
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Gal.5:22 Notice it
doesn’t say fruits but fruit. Love is the fruit and joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance, are all found in love. In
Ro.5:5 We read. “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. This gives
me great comfort and hope because Christ who dwells in me and has sent his
comforter and has shed abroad his love in my heart by his Holy Ghost. Now has
brought to our attention the importance of loving all Saints and praying always
with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching
thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; Ef.6:18
And he is teaching us to speak the truth in love, and grow up into him in all
things, which is the head, even Christ: Ef.4:15
Once we grow up unto him, then we begin to benefit from the whole body, not only do the individual members benefit but the body will be complete and bring great pleasure to Christ our head. “From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Ef.4:16
In order to illustrate this, lets look out into the desert and picture for a moment a man walking a great distance in the blistering heat. He finally reaches a well but there is no vessel to withdraw the water. He looks around and finds a portion of a broken vessel; he quickly scoops it into the water and manages to bring a few wonderful drops to his mouth. Then he begins to look around for more peaces of the broken vessel. I know that Jesus enjoys the little pleasure that he is able to get from this miserably small portion of the body of Christ. But let us reach out and seek for more fragments that can be brought together so they can be molded together by the grace of God. The wonders of His love will bind us and make us a vessel fit for the masters use. He will then partake with us from the waters from his own well of life.
In Him,
James
