Hello everyone!
I was flipping through an old S.O.A.P. journal from 2010 yesterday. I was searching for a scrap of paper that I had written a note on for a sermon idea. I didn’t find it. But my eye caught my entry for 4th Sept. 2010 where Holy Spirit had caught my attention with 1 Thessalonians 3:12 …
1 Thessalonians 3:12 “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.”
The historical context for Paul’s first letter to the church at Thessalonica is around 50 AD with more details found in The Book of Acts 16—18 and, especially, Acts 17:1-9. On their second mission trip Paul, Silas, (with Timothy tagging along) ministered in Philippi where Paul and Silas were jailed because they caused uproar in the city with their preaching of the gospel and, in particular, because Paul cast out a demon in a slave girl who earned her master a lot of money as a fortune teller. With the income suddenly gone and official complaints made, Paul and Silas were summarily punished by the authorities and thrown into a cell. After their release (a story in itself) they headed for Thessalonica where they proclaimed Jesus as Messiah in the local synagogue - for three weeks! The result was some Jews, many devout Greeks, and a leading woman believed in Christ. But this was not without opposition. Local Jewish leaders were incensed to the point where the new disciples were severely persecuted by the authorities (See Acts 17:1-9). This was the beginning of the church plant called Thessalonica – after Paul had argued with the Jews in their synagogue from the Old Testament about the Messiah, for three weeks. He was nothing if not persistent. He explained and proved from the Old Testament Scriptures the death, resurrection and Messiahship of Jesus 17:3ff.
Paul didn’t stay much longer in Thessalonica and was on his way again with Silas leaving a new church in their wake. But the persecution that came upon that fledgling group was horrendous. And so, Paul sent letters to the churches to encourage them in his absence. He was very concerned that they should be well established in their new faith in Messiah, and comforted amid the storm of persecution that swept over them.
And so, these lines in 3:12 … “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.”
This sounds so contrary to what was happening to the Thessalonians who were harassed and bullied every day. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other AND for everyone else … AND EVERYONE ELSE. In the midst of persecution.
It is one thing to know and experience the love of God for oneself – and that is marvellous beyond words. But Paul here reveals that this is the beginning of the ministry of God’s love. The love of God in us is supposed to increase and increase in us to the point of overflow - a cascading, continual overflow that touches and affects many others, and not just our fellow believers.
The nature of God’s love is that, given the right environment (a spirit-filled life) it simply must increase. The love of God in us is an inevitably centrifugal force expanding ever outwards. This is the power of God’s love, that in its ever-expanding quest, found each one of us. God’s love always increases. It is eternal. It is one of the three unshakable, eternal realities of the Christian life. In fact it is the greatest of the three – faith, hope and love.
Paul speak here of this truth – about love’s inevitable increase if it has the right environment. It becomes an overflow. God’s love is not restricted, cannot be contained. It demands continuous, ever increasing overflow. First throughout the church and then far beyond the church …
FINAL WORD
1Jn 4:19-21 (NIV) “We love because He first loved us. (20) Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. (21) And He has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister”.
Prayer: “Lord, I want to cultivate the best possible environment in my heart that allows Your love for me to increase and continually overflow to others. Holy Spirit, warn me, please, when blocks like unforgiveness, anger, jealousy or bitterness – anything at all – spoil the environment of my spirit that would choke the increase of the Father’s love. Help me to see these that I may eradicate them and so that the increase of Your love in me, indeed, becomes the overflow of You. Amen.”
You are so dearly loved.
Ps Milton