Dear congregation,
The subject for this year’s family visits will be our love for God and conformity to his will. This love for God is manifested in our love for His church, our families and our fellow man as well as the extent to which we desire to serve Him and follow His will. In our culture we are bombarded with definitions of love that bear scant resemblance to any definition we find in Scripture. Our society tells us that love is a feeling such as a man or woman experiences when they meet an attractive person of the opposite sex. It tries to convince us that love is directly proportional to the cost of the gifts we present such as diamonds, expensive cars or luxury vacations. Love is expressed in trite slogans on greeting cards or in contemporary music. And of course when any of these things fail to occur and the feelings wane, the natural explanation is that we’ve fallen “out of love”.
The situation is the same across all our relationships. Within our families, among our friends, co-workers and even our Christian brothers and sisters we have to battle a twisted and perverted understanding of what love really is. We find it very easy to love those who we find deserving of it, but how easy is it to love those we judge to be undeserving? What happens when we’re having a bad day? What if we’ve been offended by another? Are we anxious to show our love then? How often doesn’t our attitude sour when things don’t happen according to our plan or liking? Our sinful hearts make many excuses in order to justify our lack of love for our fellow man, even those in our own families.
Contrary to our natural inclinations however, we are told in Scripture that love is not dependent on reciprocation, circumstances, gifts or even feelings. Love is defined as an act of self-sacrifice that not only are we unable to reciprocate, we don’t even deserve!
1John 3:16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
Romans 5:8 God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Christ laid down His life for us with joy, not begrudgingly, even though we were undeserving and completely unable to repay Him. In this we see His work as the ultimate expression of love proceeding from a willing heart for creatures not only helpless to repay, but in total rebellion against His love. In light of this supreme act of love, it should become our desire and duty to act in a way that shows our thankfulness and desire to please the Lord. Being the recipients of such love and self-sacrifice can we owe Him and our Christian brothers and sisters anything other than love in return?
To prepare for our visit, please read through the Epistle of 1 John and consider the following questions pertaining to the selected portions indicated.
1John 1:1-4
● Consider your concern for the lost. How have you obeyed our Lord’s Great Commission to go and make disciples and shared the Good News with perishing souls?
● What opportunities have you made use of in bearing witness?
● What opportunities have you squandered?
vs 5-10
● How has your fellowship within PURC been a blessing to you this past year?
● Has it been an encouragement to you that indicates that you are walking in the light?
Chapter 2:1-6
● In what ways has your walk with this past year resembled the way in which Jesus walked?
● Has your Christian walk confirmed to you that you are abiding in Him?
vs 7 -11
● Identify some areas in which you have “walked in darkness” with respect to your brothers and sisters.
● Have you asked the Lord to remove your blindness to you own sin?
vs 12 -14
● How has your love for the Lord increased?
● What means are you availing yourselves of to increase your love?
vs 15 -17
● What are some of the things of this world that have captured your love?
● What steps can you take to wean yourself from this love?
vs 28-29
● What progress have you seen in your ongoing sanctification this past year?
● Do you have confidence in your standing before Christ?
Chapter 3:10-17
● Consider to yourselves how evident it is that you are a child of God based on your love for your brothers and sisters in Christ.
● What opportunities have you made use of in serving the body of Christ here at PURC over the past year?
● What opportunities have you failed to take advantage of?
Chapter 4:1-6
● In what ways do you feel that the teaching and preaching ministry of PURC has made you more discerning?
● How is it fostering a greater love for God?
● In which ways are you availing yourselves of the educational opportunities of PURC?
● How have they blessed you? How are you being equipped for living in this world?
● Do you have any suggestion of topics that would benefit you, your family or the congregation?
vs 7-Chapter 5:5
● What have you done to foster unity within the church this past year? What could you do?
● In what ways do you feel closer to God’s people than you did before?
● How are you closer to your spouse and children?
● How have you self-sacrificially served your spouse or another this past year?
● Can you think of any instances of begrudgingly serving others this past year?
● Can you recall any instances when you have insisted on having you own way or did you defer to another?
● In light of 1John 5:1-5, what is your reaction to the truth that our obedience is proportional to our love for God?
Our prayer is that after considering this portion of Scripture we may not only be challenged, but also encouraged. Certainly this passage exposes our weakness and the hardness of our hearts and we realize that we have fallen far short of the standard God has set for our love of Him and His people. Our memories of the past year may condemn us at certain points, but they also should encourage us as we see progress in our own journey of sanctification. It should not be hard to recognize some improvement, if only a little, in our love and devotion to our Lord and His people. If we cannot, we still should not despair, but plead the mercies of our faithful Father. The Lord is desirous that we be assured of our salvation and promises us so in 1John 5:13-15:
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
We look forward to our visit with you and pray even now that the Lord will use this as an opportunity of blessing for you, His church and His kingdom.
The Elders