Speaking of Love....Speaking in Love

This is the week in February that love is celebrated and expressed through the gifts of flowers and cards. However, for various reasons, many people feel a bit left out of the celebration, so I would like us to think together about a love that includes all of us – a love that is more profound than the words expressed in a Hallmark card – a love that changes us and calls us to something greater than ourselves. But first I'd like to give a personal update.

Last month I had the wonderful privilege of taking two accelerated classes from the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) faculty at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. All of my other courses are online, but these two biblical counseling courses were on campus because they provided opportunities for me to grow through counseling observation and evaluation of personal character qualities and skills – things that require face to face interaction. I'm taking these courses at an aggressive pace so that I can complete all of my coursework and earn all of my certifications a little over a year from now. As I take these courses I'm eager to pass along what I'm learning through various forms of teaching and training in the church "to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:12).

To make the connection between the theme of love and the need for a multi-faceted biblical counseling ministry, let's look together at Ephesians 3:14 - 5:2. I think you'll see that the love on display in this passage both captures us and calls us.

At the beginning of this passage, Paul breaks into prayer for his readers (Eph 3:14-21) after having joyfully proclaimed that "God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ" (Eph. 2:4-5).

It is instructive for us to see that Paul prays for his readers that the Father would strengthen them with power through his Spirit in their inner being so that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith. He prayed this, not just as an end in itself but so that "being rooted and grounded in love" (Eph 3:17) they would have strength to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge so that they would be filled with all the fullness of God. What a great way to pray for one another! We need strength to comprehend the scope of the love of Christ because it surpasses knowledge.

Then Paul exhorts his readers to put this knowledge into practice:

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (Eph. 4:1-3)

This is what Christ's love calls us to. What a beautiful picture of love!

Paul goes on to define and describe this unity and maturity that love for one another produces. Instead of being passively tossed about by false teachings, we are to be people who have wise, loving, intentionally constructive conversations with one another:

"Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Eph 4:15-16)

This is essentially what biblical counseling is. Whether we realize it or not, we are all counsel-givers and counsel-receivers, and we are all called to have this ministry in one another's lives in a way that reflects The Wonderful Counselor. And that's exactly what Paul is doing in this letter. He's demonstrating wise, loving, constructive speech. He's connecting the profound truths of the gospel to the practical details of real life.

Paul goes on to give us some wonderfully practical instruction about living out who we are now in Christ rather than who we once were. In the midst of it he continues to motivate loving biblical speech to one another:

"Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another." (Eph. 4:25) 

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." (Eph. 4:29)  

Paul continues with another beautiful picture of what Christ's love in us looks like, urging us to continue to walk in love as both an imitation of God and an offering to Him:

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." (Eph 4:32-5:2)

In summary, because of the great love for which God loved us (2:4), being rooted and grounded in that love (3:17), praying for the strength to comprehend Christ's love (3:18-19), we bear with one another in love (4:2), and we speak the truth in love (4:15), so that the body builds itself up in love (4:16) as we imitate God and walk in love, as Christ loved us (5:1-2).

Love permeates this passage. And God's love changes us. It changes who we are, the way we think, how we see one another, how we speak to one another. This is the love we can celebrate every day of the year. And this love compels and calls us to initiate wise constructive conversations with one another. That's essentially what biblical counseling is. It's an expression of love for one another as a reflection of Christ's love for us, and it's a calling on all of us.

Love in Christ,
Pastor David Sommer