Just Lip Service? 6-22-08
The song “More Than Words,” (recorded in 1990 by the band Extreme) is the plea for the singer’s significant other to demonstrate their love, not just to say “I love you”. The opening lines are:
Saying I love you / Is not the words I want to hear from you
It’s not that I want you / Not to say, but if you only knew
How easy it would be to show me how you feel More than words is all you have to do to make it real
Then you wouldn’t have to say that you love me / ‘Cause I’d already know
(written by Nuno Bettencourt and Gary Cherone)
This song illustrates a basic human need for love that is demonstrated by action, not just by words. It should not surprise us that, just as we want demonstrably genuine love, so too God wants our love to be proven by action.
“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” (John 14:15-21 NIV)
Look at what is depending on our love being “more than words” – our obedience to Christ and our adherence to his commandments. Those who demonstrate their love for Jesus in this way are given the Spirit of Truth! But only those who are not of this world can know this Counselor, and thus only those not of this world can accept him! Those who demonstrate their love through obedience are the only ones who truly love him; thus only they are loved by the Father!
But wait! Doesn’t God love everyone? Isn’t it written that “for God so loved the world…”? Well, yes, but let’s look at that.
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. “ (John 3:14-18 NIV)
Remember the bronze snake that God had the Israelites fashion in the desert? Those who were bitten by snakes were going to die, unless they looked to the bronze snake. Likewise, those who are bitten by sin are going to die, unless they look to Jesus. God did indeed love the world so much that he sent Jesus to save us; but only those who return that love through obedience to the gospel of Christ will receive that love! Those who reject Jesus will not receive love from God but only the just punishment that they have earned.
So remember that God wants us to love him. We cannot show our love merely through praise and words. We must demonstrate our love for him through our actions – through our lives! After all, even Judas gave Christ praise from his mouth. I think Jesus wants us to give him more than just lip service.
-Charles Peterson