The Real Foundation of the Legacy of Discipleship
by Blessy Liquido
Text: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3; Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)
“1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
The Message:
“1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.”
God is the creator of everything: He made the sun, stars, heavens, and the earth. He made everything seen and unseen. That’s great! I’m in AWE. But what really makes Him stand out is His love. “You see the depths of my heart, and You love me the same.. You are amazing God.” We can always be in awe of the wonders seen through our eyes, but we are drawn to God by His love. This is what compelled the Father to send His Son Jesus (John 3:16), what compelled Jesus to carry the sins of the world on His shoulder and die the most horrific death for the salvation of believers, and what compelled Him to train disciples who in turn will preach and make disciples from every nation.
There may be many reasons why we disciple or why we are being discipled. If you take away love, what would be left?
- Obligation - requirement
- Older son in the Parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:25-30)
- The older son serves the father and never disobeys his orders, but he does not share the heart of the father. He follows orders for the sake of following them, but his heart is heavy. And now that he has the opportunity to vent out, his frustrations and hidden feelings are released.
- Prophet Jonah (Jonah 3:10-4:10) – He obeyed God after 3 days & 3 nights of being isolated inside a fish’s belly. He obeyed but he did not have compassion for the people of Nineveh. He even became angry at the Lord’s compassion.
Results: Complaints, frustrations, weariness and anxiety, tiredness
- Competition (Selfish Ambition)
- Philippians 1:15,17
- 1 Timothy 6:3-5 – teaching leads unhealthy arguments filled with controversies and perverted ideas
Results: Jealousy, pride, strife, evil suspicions, malicious talk
- Tradition (Self Righteousness)
- Pharisees and Sadducees [Seven Woes: Matthew 23]
- “… they do not practice what they preach” v.3b
- “…on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” v.28
- “blind leading the blind”
Results: Hypocrisy, heartless obedience
These outcomes are definitely not part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). All of these reasons may still include actions of service to God in one way or another, but the grounds are weak and unstable. Those who serve out of these reasons are prone to go astray. They all miss the point of what they are doing.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 *fire test of service*
Serving comes out naturally when we love.
The lasting legacy of the greatest preachers, disciples, men and women of God is not their establishment of the largest churches or ministry, or healing of the sick, or the eloquence of their speeches and teachings but because they loved first – they love their master and they love others.
Greatest commandment: (Matthew 22:37-40)
“37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
How does love affect our ability to serve, disciple, and be discipled?
1) We as disciples of Jesus
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
What does loving God mean?
Loving God is obeying His commandments whole heartedly (1 John 5:3).
If we will put it in the context of the verse: “Obey the commandments of the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
- Out of love comes natural obedience
- eager to serve and obey our Master and other leaders
Loving God is acknowledging that apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5).
- Out of love comes natural dependence on God
- Jesus is the vine, we are the branches. If we stay connected to Him, we will bear much fruit. Our fruits are our legacy.
- We acknowledge that apart from Him, we cannot do anything. Our lives are in His hands. We have given Him the pen of our lives. We rely on His love (1 John 4:16).
Loving God is imitating Christ (1 Cor. 11:1).
- Out of love comes natural desire to know, learn from, and imitate Christ
- We have the desire to be imitators of Christ (develop the same compassion for the souls – love as the reason Jesus gave His life)
“The best testimony that Stephen bore was his last: not when preaching and working miracles, but when he pleaded for his persecutors; for then he most resembled the Lord Jesus in patience, forgiveness and love.” - Robert C. Chapman
When the love of Christ has been placed in our hearts, we can now pass it on to others. Neglecting this first step will leave room for selfish desires.
2) We as mentors of others
Many Christians evangelize and disciple just because they have to do it. These are the ones who share God’s Word with no real regard for those whom they are sharing it with.
Example: Jonah
'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
Loving others with the love of Jesus makes us see things through His eyes (Matthew 9:36).
· Out of love springs up a different perspective.
- We begin to see past the outer appearance and look at the condition of the inner being – helpless, harassed, hopeless.
- We begin to do good not only to those who do good unto us, but also to those who even hate us (Matthew 5:44)
Loving others with the love of Jesus makes us want to bring more souls into the Kingdom.
- Out of love comes the motivation to win souls
- When we see things through God’s eyes, we become filled with compassion. We want others to share in the joy that we receive from Jesus. We do not become complacent, but we begin to reach out and work even more in the harvest.
- Jude 1:22-23 – “Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them…”
If we love our fellow mankind then no matter how badly we get hurt and wounded we
must not give up the fight. – Diana Gray
Loving others with the love of Jesus makes us eager to leave a profound testimony to the next generation.
- Out of love comes the desire to lay down our lives for our disciples (John 15:13, 1 John 3:16).
- The fulfillment of discipleship happens when there is a complete transfer of the essence of the teaching from one to the other. (Ps. 145:4)
- We can only do that out of love. And the greatest of all acts is laying down our lives for others. (Look back: 1 Cor. 13:3 - … and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr). This is the greatest out of all acts, and the last one mentioned on the text, because this is what Jesus did – He laid down His life for the salvation of those who will believe. This made the greatest impact out of all the signs and wonders made in His time and even before or after.
- “Laying down our lives” need not only mean literally dying, but it also means going out of our way for the sake of others, being driven by love to motivate, edify, and care even at times when it’s hard to do so.
Conclusion:
Revelation 2:1-5
1"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
Evaluate yourself and your service to God and others: Did you love? Did you have passion? Or are you doing it because of you have to do it?
You may have your own reasons for serving and following God and for discipling others, but if your ultimate reason is not love, it is futile.
The quality of the legacy we pass on depends on the sturdiness of the foundation on which we had built it upon.
When you only give out of what you naturally have, you are losing something bit by bit. There will come a time wherein your resources will be exhausted, you won’t have anything to give anymore, therefore the cycle will stop. But if you freely give out of what you freely receive, the cycle doesn’t stop. The legacy continues…
The amount you can pass on is determined by the amount you can give. But how much you give is determined by how much you love.
You cannot give anything you don’t have. You cannot give anything sincerely if you don’t love.
This is love – that you obey the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and that you lay down your life for your friends. This is the foundation on which we should build our legacy upon.
Through the love that Christ has implanted in our hearts, we will truly love our generation and the generations to come…
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