Love Does Not Insist
For this weeks thought I'd like to briefly explore the idea of Evangelism and real Christ-like love. If love has no self interest, how is it that so much of Christianity is caught up on pushing and enforcing its own ideas?
The Way of Love
We continue our thoughtful journey through the Apostle Paul's description of love: Christianity's greatest virtue. 1 Corinthians 13:5 asserts that love does not insist on its own way. In the King James version, the word says love "seeketh not her own".
A thought struck me for the first time as I prepared this blog. Love has a way--and yet, love doesn't force that way. It doesn't even insist on that way. I recently had a brief conversation with a friend and it brought up an old question that I left on a shelf a long time ago. What is the legitimate basis for evangelism as we do it today? That's to say, how do we justify the way christians today view evangelism. The broad view generally matures into one of two perspectives. The most dominant one is that true evangelism brings non-believers into a right standing with God so that, one day, they don't suffer eternal death. The world is lost and we have to save them from themselves.
For a lot of mature Christian's there is nothing more loving they can do for another person than to inform them of their sin and point them to Jesus. After all, letting them die without a chance to know Jesus would be the real unloving thing to do. And so we invite people into the lifestyle of (what we perceive as) love.
Un-arguably, love has a way. Paul argues to the Corinthians that love does not insist on that way. This is a different angle than what I've normally heard or taught about love. Often we take this to mean that love does not insist on the desires of the person doing the love, but that's not what a literal reading of the text says. The literal Greek phrase reads from the manuscript as such:
οὐ ζητεῖ τὰ ἑαυτῆς
The words mean, "not (he/she) it looks for the of itself." Useful, I know. In spoken American English this might say "doesn't want it's own." It's pretty close to the translations we have in print. However, I hope this awkward litteral translation helps you to notice, that "love" is the subject implied in this phrase. In other words, the person doing the not seeking, is love itself.
Read this carefully. Love does not insist on love.
Imagine that the parable of the good Samaritan ended with the Samaritan not bandaging the dying man, but instead calling on him to repent of his sins and to know Jesus and fill out this connect card so we can set up a bible study. That doesn't jive, does it? It would be equally silly for the Samaritan to get off his animal, walk over to the wounded man and whisper, "you need to be more loving." Love isn't about making other people love. Love is about other people. Love isn't about fulfilling some moral obligation or duty. Love is about other people. Love is also not about making sure what actions we take cause the most good or distribute wealth and benefits the most responsible way. Love is about (say it with me now) other people.
Love is not about it's own way. Love doesn't seek it's own. Love does not insist on the way of love. Love does not strive for it's own goals.
That last one is the hard one. I may lose you here. Buckle in.
Is Love Altruism?
I've spent many years wondering about altruism. Can altruism truly exist? Is the altruism of modern philosophy an accurate reflection of the God in the Bible? Altruism asserts that good actions are good when they are doing things only for the benefit of others without expecting anything in return. Let's give two examples, one easy and one difficult.
Easy
You see that your child struggles to tie their shoes, and you stoop down to help them so you can go to the store because it's getting late.
Altruism? No. There is a motive that benefits you in doing something for your child. Altruism would be: you see that your child struggles to tie their shoes, and you stoop down to help them. That's it. No other reason. not because it makes you feel good to help them. not because you are teaching them. no no. Just help them because they need help. Not help them because you want to, but because they need you. Feels like we're splitting hairs right? Well, consider the following. If love is altruism, do christians really love? Most christians I know only love out of a perceived duty. They believe that dying for an enemy would count as love because it was selfless, but they neglect to realize the only reason they do so is because they believe such a "selfless display" is what should be expected of a christian. It's not altruism because the christian making the sacrifice is doing so with perceived gain. We act lovingly or serve in charity because we want to do the right thing. Altruism doesn't have a because. There is no "because" other than "because they needed help."
Difficult
God sees that his children are sick with sin, and he stoops down to fee them so that he can be with them again because they can't be together otherwise.
Is this altruism? No. There is a motive that benefits God. Does God save us for his sake? Did Jesus die for what he wanted? No, the Bible says that Jesus came as a doctor to treat the sick. Not so he would be paid, nor so that he could make new friends. He heals us, because we're sick. He loves us. Love is about other people.
What Shall we do Brothers?
Don't feed the homeless because it was what Jesus would have done, or because you have to or else Christ will say we didn't feed him when he was hungry (Matt 25:40-45). Feed the homeless because they are hungry. That's it. There's no other because if the claims of altruism are true.
When we do good works or loving acts because it's the right thing to do, it's not altruism, it's legalism with better makeup.
Up until recently I had pushed back on altruism as a legitimate reading of biblical love. But then i reread just this small portion of the love chapter. I looked at the greek to see that it plainly states that Love is not about enforcing love. Love is not about perpetuating love. Love does not insist on it's own way. Love just loves, because love is about other people and what they need.
Love does not insist.
-pastor eli