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Saying of the Amen, Clapping, and Hand-raising in Worship 2

by | Feb 23, 2015 | Worship

There is a great struggle going on in Christian churches in our land between churches that practice traditional worship and those who have contemporary services.  Some churches in our community and elsewhere even have contemporary services for the contemporary and traditional worship for the traditional.  You have seen the signs for several worship services in the same church.  The traditionalists prize order, reverence, and solemnity, and their worship is thought to be dead, lifeless, and formal by the contemporary.  The contemporary prize joy, freedom, participation, and expression and their worship is seen as wild, irreverent, and even profane by the traditionalists.

I fear that if the truth were told both kinds of so-called worship have much more to do with human likes and human itches and human comfort than they do with what the Bible teaches about biblical worship.  Perhaps both groups are better at criticizing the other than they are at practicing biblical worship themselves.

In relation to this debate I propose to consider the saying of the amen during the corporate worship of the church.  My thesis is that the saying of the amen by the congregation during worship qualifies as a required part of worship.  I admit that this viewpoint seems novel.  I concede that I cannot claim explicit, confessional  warrant for the viewpoint.  (The Confession is not against it either.)  I also admit that saying the amen is not so prominent or important a part of worship as the Lord’s Supper or the proclamation of the Word.  Nevertheless, I believe the biblical evidence shows that it qualifies as a required part of worship.  There is biblical precedent for the saying of the amen during formal worship.

As we consider the biblical teaching on this subject, I want you to consider with me the purpose of the amen, the proof for the amen (being a part of the corporate worship of the church), and the practicality of the amen.

I.       The Purpose of the Amen

What does it mean?

The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament says:  “The  derivative ‘men’ “verily” is carried over into  the New Testament in the word amen which is our English word “amen.” Jesus used the word frequently (Mt 5:18, 26 etc.) to stress the certainty of a matter. The Hebrew and Greek forms come at the end  of prayers and hymns of praise (Psa 41:13  [H 14]; Psa 106:48; 2Tim 4:18; Rev 22:20  etc.). This indicates that the term so used in our prayers ought to express certainty and  assurance in the Lord to whom we pray.… ‘men’. Verily, truly, amen. (Generally, the  same in ASV, RSV.) The word expresses a certain affirmation in response to what has  been said. It is used after the pronouncement of solemn curses (Num  5:22; Deut 27:15ff; Neh 5:13; Jer 11:5) and  after prayers and hymns of praise (1Chr  16:36; Neh 8:6; Psa 41:13 [H 14], etc.).  Twice the term is used to describe the Lord  (Isa 65:16), and once simply to approve the words of a man (1Kings 1:36). Finally, Jeremiah uses the term once sarcastically in response to the false prophets (Jer 28:6).”

When was it said?

After Curses—Number 5:22; Deuteronomy 27:15-26; Nehemiah 5:13; Jeremiah 11:15.  Nehemiah 5:13 is exemplary:  “I also shook out the front of my garment and said, ‘Thus may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not fulfill this promise; even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.’ And all the assembly said, ‘Amen!’ And they praised the LORD. Then the people did according to this promise.”

After Praises—Psalm 41:13; 72:19; 89:52; 106:48; 1 Corinthians 16:14.  Psalm 41:13 affirms: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, From everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.”

After Proclamations—Jeremiah 28:6; Revelations 1:7; Revelation 22:20.  Revelation 1:7 records:  “BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.”

After Benedictions—1 Corinthians 16:24; Galatians 6:18. Galatians 6:18 says:  “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.”

After Doxologies—Romans 1:25; 9:5; 11:36; 16:27; Galatians 1:5; Ephesians 3:21; Philippians 4:20; 1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16; 2 Timothy 4:18; Hebrews 13:21; 1 Peter 4:11; 1 Peter 5:11; 2 Peter 3:18; Jude 1:25; Revelations 1:6 (15 times in the NT doxologies conclude with amen.)  Romans 16:27 reads:  “to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.”

This list of times when the amen was used in the Bible explains why we say it when we do in our services.  We say amen in response to the Word when it is read or preached.  We say it in response to the prayers when God is petitioned and thanked and blessed.  We say it after the singing of the praise of God.  We should say amen in response to the benediction.  We say amen and we ought to say amen at these times.  It is biblical.

Why was it said?

This word expresses hearty agreement with what has just been said.  This agreement may take various forms and the amen may have several, slightly different meanings depending on the nature of what has just been said.  To divine truth it responds, It is so.  To divine promises it responds, Let it be so.  To divine predictions it responds, It will be so.  In a word the amen embodies the response of the heart of faith to the Word of God.

II.      The Proof for the Amen

One is fighting both human tradition and the dulling effects of sin when he calls people to say the amen in worship.  Here, then, I want to prove to you that it must by divine warrant have its place in our corporate worship.  I have three arguments.

The Saying of the Amen was Part of the Corporate Worship of the Old Testament.   Now I know that even in stating this argument, I raise questions.  Is not our worship to be regulated by the ordinances of the New Testament, you may ask?  It is true that there is a change in the outward forms of corporate worship in the New Covenant, but it is not true that the Old Testament has nothing to teach us about how to worship God.  Should we ignore the first four of the Ten Commandments in understanding how we ought to worship God?  Of course not!  The ceremonies and types and shadows of the Old Covenant have been done away, but does this mean that the teaching of the Old Testament is irrelevant to us? Absolutely not!  Much in the Old Testament is relevant.  The question is simply this.  Is saying the amen a part of the ceremonial shadows of the Old Testament?  We can see how the levitical priesthood is.  We can see how the blood sacrifices are typical and shadowy.  But how is the saying of the amen is typical, ceremonial, and shadowy?  I don’t think it is.  Consider the following supporting passages:  Deuteronomy 27:15-26; 1 Chronicles 16:36; Nehemiah 8:6; and Psalm 106:48.

The Saying of the Amen is Part of the Corporate Worship of Heaven.  The worship of the church should be and is very much the anticipation of the worship of heaven and the new age.  But we know plainly that the amen is heard in the worship of heaven. See Revelation 5:14; 7:12, and 19:4.

The Saying of the Amen was Part of the Corporate Worship of the Apostolic Church.  1 Corinthians 14:16 is the key passage here:  “Otherwise if you bless in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say the ‘Amen’ at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying?”  This verse comes in a passage that has for its very theme the giving of general rules for the conduct of the worship of the church.  Verses 1-26 lay out the rule of edification and conclude with the exhortation: Let all things be done for edification.  Verses 27-40 lay out the rule of order and conclude with the exhortation: But let all things be done properly and in an orderly manner.  Verse 16 assumes that the saying of the amen in response to the worship of God’s people when they blessed and thanked God was a normal and even mandatory part of their worship.  Paul uses the fact that people were supposed to say amen as the very premise of his argument against people speaking in tongues without translating in public worship.  Saying the amen was such a normal and natural and necessary part of the corporate worship of the apostolic church that Paul could assume it as the very premise of his argument in this chapter.  The saying of the amen was and is clearly to be part of the worship of the New Testament church.  Some traditionalists feel very uncomfortable when anyone breaks the dead silence of their traditional worship.  They are apt to say that someone saying the amen is unedifying or disorderly.  You can see what Paul would have thought of that idea.  In the very chapter where he is emphasizing the importance of the rules of edification and order in corporate worship, he assumes that there will be and ought to be vocal amens punctuating the praise of God.

III.     The Practicality of the Amen

What are the practical implications of all this?  First, it is the corporate duty of the people of God to respond with vocal amens to all appropriate public expressions of praise petition and proclamation in the worship of God.  Second, this whole matter instructs us concerning the nature of true biblical worship:  (1)  True worship in the church should be an expression of corporate unity.  (2)  True public worship should manifest sacred involvement.  (3)  True worship involves an emotional response to the truth.  (4)  True worship demands a heart of faith and holy confidence.  Third, the saying of the amen or the inability to say it appropriately from the heart is an indication of our spiritual condition before God.  Richard Sibbes remarked:  “Amen is a short word, but marvelously pregnant, full of sense and full of spirit.  It is a word that seals all the truths of God, a word that seals all the truths of God’s promises and seals every particular promise of God.  It is never likely to arise in the soul unless there is first an almighty power from heaven to seize on the powers of the soul to subdue them and make it say amen.  There is such an inward rising of the heart and innate rebellion against the blessed truth of God that unless God by His strong arm bring the heart down, it never will nor can say amen.”

Saying of the Amen, Clapping, and Hand-raising in Worship 1

by | Feb 16, 2015 | Biblical Worship

It is a caricature, but not a big one, to say that traditional worship is thought of as sitting on one’s hands, mumbling the hymn, and mainly being silent before God.  Contemporary worship, on the other hand, is thought of as a frenzy of clapping, hand-raising, and hallelujahs halfway to the dancing, rolling-in-the-aisles, and being slain in the spirit of the Charismatic and Pentecostal movement.  Thus, there is an unending battle between “the Lord is in His Holy Temple let all the earth keep silent before Him crowd” and “Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God crowd.”  Neither side in this battle—in my modest opinion—usually takes the time to ask if their preconceptions about worship are really rooted in Scripture.  Both assume that Scripture is—of course!—on their side.

What I propose to do over the next few weeks is to ask the Scripture about issues related to this debate (perhaps “yelling-match” would be a better word) and see if the Bible’s actual teaching on saying the amen, clapping, and hand-raising may shed light on what the atmosphere of worship should be.  Does scriptural worship look and sound more like traditional or contemporary worship?  I will propose that there is clear duty in saying the amen, a circumstantial possibility in clapping, and an occasional propriety in hand-raising.

But before I get into all that, I want to underscore the assumptions with which I approach this subject. Those assumptions are found in the most mature confessional expressions of the Reformation: the Westminster Confession, the Savoy Declaration, and the Second London Baptist Confession.  On this matter they speak with one voice, and I believe they speak biblically.  Substantially, these documents encourage us to think of worship in terms of a distinction between the required parts of worship and the circumstances of worship.

Speaking of the required parts of worship in chapter 22:1, the Second London affirms:

“The light of nature shews that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all; is just, good and doth good unto all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart and all the soul, and with all the might.  But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.”

The fact that this refers to the required parts of worship is made clear in the several mentions of the parts of worship that succeed this statement in chapter 22 and especially in 22:5:

“The reading of the Scriptures, preaching, and hearing the Word of God, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord; as also the administration of baptism, and the Lord’s supper, are all parts of religious worship of God, to be performed in obedience to him, with understanding, faith, reverence, and godly fear; moreover, solemn humiliation, with fastings, and thanksgivings, upon special occasions, ought to be used in an holy and religious manner.”

The clear teaching of the Confession is, then, that the formal worship of God and all its parts must find explicit precedent in the Scriptures.  This is, however, qualified in an important way in chapter 1, paragraph 6b, which provides an important and very relevant qualification of sola scriptura as applied to the church and its worship:

“The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelation of the Spirit, or traditions of men.

Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word, and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.”

I believe the confessional distinction between the parts and circumstances of worship is both biblical and crucial.  Hence, I cannot avoid this question about saying the amen, clapping, and hand-raising.  Are they required parts of worship?  Or are they circumstances of worship?  Asking this question is most enlightening with regard to these things and the modern debate on worship. We’ll begin our examination next week.

Year-End Update from Dr. Sam Waldron

by | Dec 8, 2014 | Announcements

Greetings in the name of the Sovereign Lord of Glory.  At the end of a momentous and exciting year for Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary, I wanted to write and share some encouragements with you.

First, we have had an increasing number of new applicants for admission to the student body.  I have interviewed several new students in the last 2 months.  We even have immediate prospects for two new students before the year ends.  I am also encouraged with what may be our best attended modular course ever as we look forward to Dr. Fred Malone coming on January 8-10 to teach Reformed Baptist Covenant Theology.

Second, I am quite encouraged with the progress of the seminary this year.  Our name transition (from MCTS to CBTS) has been completed including new literature and an updated website. This was done with very little by way of trials and tribulations.  Our name change is a great improvement in every way.  It clearly identifies us theologically and institutionally in a way that is great help for us and for those who are looking for the services we provide.

Finally, we have seen a very encouraging amount of interest in our new Church Partnership Program.  This program holds great promise for enabling us to serve local churches, attract a number of new students, and provide regular support for the seminary.  What a way to start our exciting new initiative!

At the same time, we are only able to operate due to the generosity of our church partners and donors. We would love to eliminate our current budget deficit before the end of the year.  With this in mind, would you prayerfully consider whether God might be laying it on your heart to help us with a year-end gift?

Thanks again for your support and prayers.

The Lord Reigns,
Dr. Sam Waldron
Dean, Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary

Growth in Grace 18 — Summary Applications

by | Nov 3, 2014 | Soteriology

In this series I have been writing about what I called the Bible’s most systematic and detailed call to growth in grace.  It is found in 2 Peter 1:5-7,  “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,  6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,  7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.”   In this blog it is my purpose to set before you first a summary illustration and then five summary applications of these verses.

I.       Summary Illustration

I remember being quite bothered by this passage when I first began to study it.  Here is why.  I have told you a number of times especially early on in this series that it cannot and does not teach the building block or lego-block view of sanctification and growth in grace.  Now I have had to say that because at first hearing the passages may sound like that to many people.  Are we not to add or supply these graces to one another?  This sounds like laying one brick of sanctification on top of another.  Now we know that this building block view of growth in grace is wrong.  Let me give you two good reasons for this.

  • First, this is a description of what Peter calls “growing in grace.”  Look at 2 Peter 3:18:  “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”  Indisputably 2 Peter 1:5-7 is Peter’s extended description of what it means to grow in grace.  Growth is not a building block kind of thing.  It is an organic development kind of thing.
  • Second, we know that none of these graces is genuine unless it is only in connection with the others.  Faith is not genuine unless it is attended with moral excellence.  Peter cannot mean to imply that at some time or for some period faith is without moral excellence.  If that were the case, it would not be true faith.  This is true for all of these graces.  For instance, Paul says that if we don’t have love we are nothing and no true Christians in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.  “I am nothing,” he says.  Thus, the building block image of what Peter is saying here cannot be correct.  It would contradict everything we know about the inter-relatedness of all saving grace.

After considerable thought trying to find an image or illustration which did more justice than the building block image to what Peter is saying here, the illustration that finally came to me was very helpful to me.  I hope it is to you.  It is drawn from the arena of plant life and better fits with the image of growth in grace with which Peter is working.

It is the image of wonderful flower.  You have seen how flowers, say roses, which you may buy in the bud gradually open wider and wider revealing more and more petals within the initial bud.  Suppose a flower in which each opening internal circle of petals was a new and splendid color.  The initial bud might be white, but as it opened the next petals visible might blue, and then yellow, and finally at the center of it all perhaps red petals would be revealed.  You could say that as the flower opened it was supplying the initial and external white petals with blue, yellow, and red petals.  Thus, it is with growth in grace.  It is not as though faith is without moral excellence, but as it opens it reveals within moral excellence.  It is not as though moral excellence is ever truly without knowledge, but as it opens within it you see knowledge.  It is not as though knowledge is ever without self-control, but as it opens you see self-control within the knowledge.  I want you to think of growth in grace like this wonderful gradually opening flower.  Love is the innermost bud, but it is contained in the faith which is the first visible grace.  Thus what you have is an artificial and external building block structure, but a gradually unfolding organic development in which the full splendor of grace is progressively revealed in its full glory.  So Peter is saying to the Christian grow, unfold, bloom, and reveal in your life the full splendor of the glory of the grace of Christ!  Each of my summary applications builds on the image and illustration of this beautiful flower.

The Basis of Progressive Sanctification:  This beautiful flower of which I have been speaking can only be opened up by the power of God’s grace!

Under this heading it is my burden to remind you and press upon you the emphasis with which Peter began this exhortation.  It is that growth in grace is not a self-help program, but a gospel program that takes place by grace through faith.  This is why faith is first.  This is why nothing goes before it.  This is the whole point of verses 1-4.  God by His sovereign grace lays the foundation for the Christian life by giving us faith, putting us into possession of faith.  Then it is through this faith trusting the great promises of God that we grow in grace.

The Christian life is not a bicycle.  It is an automobile.  Its power is not your spiritual muscles, but God’s sovereign grace.   Its secret is not the exhausting pumping of your spiritual legs, but the pressure of faith on the accelerator of grace.  The engine of faith running on the gasoline of grace powers the Christian life.  This is the power plant of the Christian life.  God purifies our hearts by faith.  He breaks into the human heart by creating the doorway of faith and through that doorway come the resources of His sovereign grace.  The life that we live in the flesh, then, we live by faith in the Son of God.  We must keep on believing in the power of God’s grace to forgive and subdue our sins and keep taking that grace by the empty hand of faith.  By faith we keep putting on the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is Peter’s point in beginning the list with faith.  Nothing goes before faith, because we are saved by grace through faith, and we live the Christian life by grace through faith.

The Danger of Spiritual Complacency (especially for mature Christians): This beautiful flower must be continually opening throughout the Christian life!

2 Peter is written to those who have been Christians for some period of time.  It is written to those who are viewed as established Christians.   Just a few verses later than our passage in the first chapter and then again in the third chapter Peter himself makes this application to established Christians.

2 Peter 1:12 Therefore, I shall always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you.

2 Peter 3:17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall from your own steadfastness

One of Peter’s clear purposes in this exhortation to growth in grace is, then, to warn established Christians about the danger of spiritual complacency.

The Identity of Christian Priorities: The opening up of this beautiful flower in our lives is the true priority of the Christian life!

Another great value of this exhortation and its list of virtues is that it reminds us what the true priorities of the Christian life are.  Every brand of Christianity is in danger of degenerating into a kind of formalism and externalism that equates Christianity with things that may be fine in themselves, but are not its true priorities.  Thus, witnessing becomes the mark of maturity in some churches.  In others it has been not going to movies, or super-strict Sabbath observance, or not smoking, or not dancing, or not drinking.  In others it is a certain style of dress to which you must conform.  In other churches the mark of Christian maturity is being active in church-work, Christian service, or Christian volunteer organizations.  I am not commenting on the merits or demerits of any of these things.  My simple point is that Peter’s list of virtues puts the priority on the heart, heart-graces, and spiritual virtues.  It is possible to be perfectly conformed to all the externals I mentioned and many others, and not be growing in grace at all.

The Mark of Authentic Christianity: If the flower of a supposed faith opens only to show a black center, what you have is not the Christian flower or genuine Christianity!

In the immediate context of this exhortation Peter lays out five reasons why growth in these graces is so important.  The substance of each one is that these graces are the indispensable mark of genuine Christianity.  Let me quickly summarize those reasons:

  • 1st Reason – Growth in grace constitutes us those who are not fruitless (v. 8).
  • 2nd Reason – Growth in grace means that we are not spiritually blind (v. 9).
  • 3rd Reason – Growth in grace makes certain that God has called and chosen us (v. 10a).
  • 4th Reason – Growth in grace assures us that we will never apostatize (v. 10b).
  • 5th Reason – Growth in grace assures us of an entrance into the eternal kingdom (v. 11).

You see the point?  It is the face of a monster and not a human face if it is without a chin, or a forehead, or two eyes, or a nose, or a mouth.  Even so it is not genuine Christianity if any of these graces are simply missing.  True Christianity may not be mature, but it is complete.  Every false way is hated.  Every true virtue is pursued.

The Attractiveness of Growing Grace: Growth in grace is the secret of an attractive and useful Christian life.  Each grace unfolds within the previous like a flower opens to display more and more of its beauty.  Such a flower is attractive to men.  Such growth in grace is useful and attractive as well.

Look at 2 Peter 1:8.  Two words are used in this verse to describe the state of uselessness that is the opposite of the attractive and useful condition of the growing in Christian.

The professing Christian who is not supplying these graces in his faith is described as useless.  The word also means unprofitable, worthless, idle, or unemployed.

The professing Christian who is not supplying these graces in his faith is also described in verse 8 as unfruitful.  The word also means barren, useless, or unproductive.

If we have this wonderful flower of grace opening more and more in our lives.  It will make us both useful and fruitful Christians.  There is a tremendous attraction and usefulness in the Christian who is genuinely growing in grace. There is no contradiction between growing in grace and being truly useful and fruitful to others.  Growth in grace is the path to true usefulness.

The secret to increased fruitfulness and usefulness in the kingdom of God is growth in grace.  Do you mourn over your comparative unfruitfulness?  Here is what you can do about it.  Grow in grace.  Supply these graces in your faith.  Grow in moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.  These qualities in you and increasing will according to Peter make you fruitful and useful.

Growth in Grace 17 — Brotherly Kindness Must Be Supplied with Love 2

by | Oct 29, 2014 | Soteriology

We are considering 2 Peter 1:7 and its teaching that brotherly kindness (or love) must be supplied with love.  In expounding this text I am answering three questions.

I.       What is this love?
II.      Why must brotherly kindness be supplied with it?
III.     Why is this love the last virtue mentioned and in no need of being supplied with another virtue?

Having answered the first of these questions in the last post, I come to the second:

II.      Why must brotherly kindness be supplied with it?

We have observed again and again that the reason Peter follows the precise order that he does in these verses is that the previous grace or virtue has a deformed twin with the same name.  Faith un-supplied with moral excellence is the faith of demons.  True faith is always permeated with moral excellence.  Now what deformity does brotherly kindness turn into without love?  In other words, what counterfeit with the name of brotherly love—that some people call brotherly love—is marked by the fact that it is empty and devoid and un-supplied with universal benevolence?  It turns into the kind of exclusivistic preference for our own kind which is manifested in prejudice and racism.  It is this kind of racial preference and prejudice and hatred which made the Jews reject the Gentiles as unworthy of any love or concern.

Thus, even brotherly kindness is capable of being perverted and being turned into an exclusivistic preference for those who are like us. It is the need for supplying brotherly kindness with love which was in Jesus’ mind when he exhorted his disciples to love their enemies (Matt. 5:43-48).  The Jews provide the example of those who claimed to love the brethren, but were devoid of this universal benevolence.  They even perverted the Old Testament Scriptures in favor of their spiritual deformity.

Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR, and hate your enemy.’ 44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you 45 in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? 47 “And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Any so-called brotherly love that does not overflow in a spirit of genuine good will towards its enemies and towards those outside its little spiritual circle is counterfeit.  The true grace of brotherly kindness overflows in the grace of universal benevolence.

III.    Why is this love the last virtue mentioned and in no need of being supplied with another virtue?

The peculiar thing about love in this list of virtues is that it is the last one.  This is significant because all the other virtues Peter is careful to say must be supplied with some balancing and completing grace.  Not so love!  Love is not completed or supplied by any further grace.  Love is the end and goal.  The reason is that love is the essence of Christian maturity.  When love is reached, the finish line is crossed.  If we are familiar with the New Testament, it will not surprise us that with love the goal is attained.  There are at least three other passages that speak of love as the goal and perfection and fulfillment of Christian grace.

Colossians 3:14 And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity (literally, the bond of perfection or completeness).

Romans 13:8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.

1 Timothy 1:5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Has the goal of the gospel been achieved in you? You love those who are like you and perhaps many of them are Christians.  That is not bad.  But the farthest end of the gospel is not fulfilled in this.  The farthest end of the gospel is only attained in universal benevolence or love.  True brotherly kindness will overflow in a desire for the welfare and blessing of all men.  In this the heart of God possesses our hearts and we become perfect like our Father in heaven is perfect.

We have here a wonderful magnifying glass with which to examine ourselves.  It is so easy to justify ourselves in arguments with our spouses and in the breakdown of marital relationships.  A simple lack of benevolent love is so often the problem.  We cannot see our own sinfulness.  We are focused on how unlovely and unloving our mate is being. But even if this is the case, you still must look at your own attitudes and conduct under the magnifying glass of the love we are talking about this morning—universal benevolence!  Do you see how your words, conduct, and behavior are lacking in this simple love of sheer good will which does not depend on the other person’s character or conduct?  Rebuke yourself and repent and ask forgiveness through the blood of Christ and confess your sin of a lack of love to your spouse or friend or child.  Only then will you put the relationship in question on the road to recovery.

A heart for the evangelism of the lost is rooted in this love of universal benevolence.  A lack of heart for evangelism is a dreadful manifestation of the lack of this love.  How in your life is such love manifesting itself? How are you helping to forward the church’s fulfillment of the Great Commission?

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