The First, the Greatest, the More Excellent

[Darris McNeely] The apostle Paul uses three phrases when he describes the fruit of the spirit that we know as love in his epistles, and that's the title that I chose for my message here this afternoon. The first, the greatest, and the more excellent, none of which are unfamiliar terms to us when it comes to how Paul has described love. A very important, a very large topic from the scriptures.

Love is the first of the first fruits that he lists in the Book of Galatians Chapter 5. Love, joy, peace. You know how they flow from there. But it's the first, I think there may be a reason for that. It seems that when you have love in place, that then, that's the foundation for the other fruits of the spirit that flow from that, perhaps is one way to approach it. The fruit of love and the quality of love, he says it's the greatest of the gifts at the end of 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 there, and he says that it's the greatest of these is love between faith and hope. Not that faith and hope are unimportant, but it makes you wonder that because we see the love of God, that it ignites our faith and hope and is a critical part of that whole matter there. But then when he says that of the gifts of the spirit, that I'll show you a more excellent way, it could be that that frames our identity in God who is love.

And so, the first, the greatest, the more excellent is something I'd like to talk about here this afternoon and move into it in a little different way than we might normally have thought about to get to the conclusion that I think is very important for us here in the Church of God at this this this particular moment in the purpose and plan of God.

In Revelation Chapter 2. In the first of the letters to the Churches in Asia Minor, to the Church at Ephesus, Jesus has a very interesting commendation to make to them. He tells them... And we're not going to turn there. I'll just explain it to you, again, most of us are familiar with it, but for those of you that want to go ahead and turn to it, but when Christ addresses the Church at Ephesus, He commends them because they have endured, they have tested those who were calling themselves apostles and are not, and found them wanting. And He said, “You have not grown weary.” In other words, you see a Church there that has been holding firm and fast the congregation, they're in the city of Ephesus that is holding very firm to the calling that they have and to the responsibilities they're given. But He says, “I have this one thing against you.” He says, “You have left your first love.” And He tells them to repent and do the first works, “or I'll come and I'll remove your candlestick from its place.”

So, it's the only problem that they've lost what He calls this first love and He said, “Repent, change. Do your first works.” They've been very good. They've held on to truth. They've even tested people who rose up in their midst and wanted to lead people away, claiming an office in a position in the Church that was not theirs to claim, “I am an apostle.” And this is the story there. There's a vision and a picture of the Church at Ephesus. That congregation, when you look at the story of the New Testament, that is really very interesting and one that I think has some very interesting parallels for us to consider as it applies to us.

The Church in the city of Ephesus had been started by the ministry of the Apostle Paul whom we all know, a very important figure in the New Testament situation. And for three years, the Apostle Paul worked very diligently in that city. And from his efforts and labors, many disciples went out and created other congregations there in Asia Minor, the other six that we read about in Revelation 2 and 3 plus others that are mentioned in other locations in scriptures such as Colossae and Hierapolis and probably others that are not even mentioned at all.

In other words, it was a very fruitful period of three years where a lot was accomplished in the ministry of the Apostle Paul based out of the city of Ephesus. We have two whole chapters almost in the Book of Acts that talks about that, but then the Apostle Paul died. He was martyred a few years later and people rose up thinking that they could take his mantle and be an apostle like he was. And Christ later says, “You tested them, you found they really were not.” So, Paul had warned them that false teachers would come in and they had that problem. So, they stood firm and they stood fast, and the years went on, and there they were in the mid-'90s. A.D. And Jesus was commending them. But saying, “You've lost something. You've not been weary, but things have in a sense caused you to leave a first love. Repent and do the first works there.”

What were those first works? Well, it's very easy to understand. You go back to Acts Chapter 19 and you read where Paul came to Ephesus and worked for three years and what he did. And you can understand what I think they left being a first love that they needed to get back to first works that they needed to return to. It's very simple to understand there in the Book of Acts when you look at the story of how that Church ignited in faith and in love and in a dynamism that spread the seed of the gospel throughout the region of Asia Minor, leading to the creation of other congregations in a very strong, not centralized, but a center of evangelism and faith out of the city of Ephesus during that time. And that was all done as a result of people turning from idolatry.

And in Acts 19 is the story of the riot that took place because Paul's preaching turned enough people from idolatry that it got into the back pocket, the pocketbook of the silversmiths of the city. It's one of the great stories of Acts, and there's nothing as we know, that will get people's attention faster and with more vehemence than to get into their pocketbook, raise the taxes, raise the prices, then we got something to talk about, right? Well, Paul cut into the bottom line of the silversmiths because people were turning from idolatry. They weren't going to the temple of Artemis and they weren't buying silver idols and all of the economy that had built up around that, and it created a riot that had Paul gone into the theatre would have cost him his life. He didn't, and he lived to talk about it. But when you think about the power of the word that was preached at that point in time by Paul and those that he trained and sent out, there was a dynamism that was moving and developing there at that time. That is unique and it's an important study all to itself as to what was happening there in the city of Ephesus during that period of the ministry of Paul. But that was where people were turning from idolatry.

One of the stories is they brought their books of black magic and witchcraft out, and they burned them because they wanted no more work and attachment to the black arts and black magic and idolatry and everything that went with it. They burned that and they turned, and the Word of God, it says, grew mightily in Ephesus. And for one brief shining moment to borrow a 20th-century term, the light of the gospel pierced the darkness of paganism and idolatry in Asia Minor in the city of Ephesus. And we read about it right there, and members were created. Disciples came into the Church, and this is the people, this is the congregation that Christ is addressing. And He's saying, “You've stood firm. You've held on. You've kept together in spite of all the efforts to divide, conquer and just shatter the truth and the gospel, but you've left your first love. Go back to it. Go back to what it was that caused you to turn to idolatry and embrace God.”

They won the battle for truth, but they were in danger of losing the battle for love. That's an important key out of that story and what Christ is saying to the Church at Ephesus. We know that Jesus answered the question from the Jews about what is the greatest commandment. And He said, “The first and greatest commandment is to love God with all of your soul, your heart, and your mind.” He said that is the first and the great commandment, to love God. And we know that that's defined by the first four of the commandments, three of which identify turning from idols, vain, empty things. The fourth one being to keep the Sabbath, which in itself is tied into the other three very closely because as we understand what it takes to obey God and to worship Him on the Sabbath and to keep it holy and to do that continually as a way of life. We are here living testimony, a living witness to that. But that is the first commandment to love God with your heart, your soul, and your mind.

Brethren at this moment where we are in the purpose and the plan of God is very critical. It's very important for us to understand something about what Jesus was telling the congregation at Ephesus to get back to and to return to a love, a deep love for God. A love for God that I think is a critical need for all of us to consider and to look at as we think about this matter of love. The first, the greatest, and the more excellent way.

I'd like for you to turn over to the book of Ephesians, and I'm going to spend a few minutes here in the book of Ephesians looking at a prayer that begins in Chapter 3 and verse 14. Ephesians 3:14. A prayer that comes at a point where Paul seems to close out a major section of theology and purpose and teaching as he writes this letter to the Church at Ephesus. Keep that in mind. The Ephesian letters written to the members of that congregation, that Christ, a few years after this addressed, the very congregation Paul had started and had founded. And he writes this very important letter that has many unique features about it, but he comes down to a point where he kind of comes to a break, and he gives them a prayer. And it seems to be his prayer, but I think that it has a great deal of teaching for us and can help us to understand, I think what it was that Christ then later will tell the Church at Ephesus, they need to repent and get back to, but because it will help us to understand what Paul's commending them about what they did when they responded to the words of the gospel and when they were called.

So, let's look at it beginning in Chapter 3 and verse 14, and let's look at this in the light of what Jesus later says, but also in the light of how Paul talks about this being the first, the greatest, and the more excellent way, this fruit of the spirit of love and come to an understanding of what it is.

Ephesians 3:14-15 Paul then says, “For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.”

And so, in prayer, He bows His knees and we can take what teaching is important from that very statement right there. But what he is saying is I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, and we know and we understand the nature of God, that God and Christ are two and yet one in terms of family and purpose but they represent the family of God. The whole family in heaven and earth is named after the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. These two beings who inhabit eternity in that unique position that they were in at the time. Paul writes this as a result of Christ's life, death, and His resurrection to the right hand of the Father and His role as intercessor and mediator for us.

This is then the purpose and the plan that Paul has already very clearly laid out in the previous verses to explain what God is doing. He's building a family and Christ is the first of the first fruits, and he says, “I bow my knees to them. The whole family in heaven and earth is named in that.” This helps us to begin to understand the details of that first and greatest of the commandments that Jesus Himself talked about, and what was at the heart of the gospel that Paul preached to the people in Ephesus as he taught there because he was showing them the identity of the true God. They were worshipping pagan gods and goddesses. And he comes in with this message of the true God, and he says, “Artemis is no longer a god, never was. They're empty beings. They're hollow. They're nothing. They're gods that are not. They're things that are not.” And he pounded that into them, and he explained to them the very meaning and message of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God, as he told them about the Father, and what the Father's purpose was through Christ. Did you read about it in Chapter 1? To bring all things ultimately together in Christ, and He is working in his body and He's the head of that body and He brings all of that out.

And this is what they began to see and this is what they turned to. This is what they began to love. This is the message. This is the truth that they began to buy into and all that came with it in terms of the Word of God, the way of life, the law of God. But it was on this matter of the identity of God, that He was God and He was Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. They learned that God is a family and they learned the name of that family. They learned about the character of that family. Its purpose and what God was doing and the whole meaning of the family of God. And they began to love that with a passionate heart. They went far beyond anything that they had ever understood and known about the pagan world and the pagan god. The little-known thing about the pagan world of the 1st century where Paul was working in the Church and the other apostles was paganism, had worn itself out. It had been shown to be empty and futile for so many gentiles, from so many people, which is why they found believers and God-fearers in the Jewish synagogues when they came to those various cities. And Paul preached to them.

Among many of them, they became the ones who became a part of the Church of God along with other Jews and many other gentiles ultimately, but they began to see the love of God, the pagan gods didn't love them, but they began to realize that God did, and they saw that love and they turned to it and they embraced it with passion and with all of their heart as they learned the identity of who this God was and what He had done in sending His son. As Paul explained it all, and as we can see from this letter in the Ephesian letter plus all the other writings of Paul, the details that we obtained from what he revealed to his audience in that day, on top of all the gospel accounts and the Old Testament and the other writings, all of that revealing the way of God. Now, let's go on to verse 16.

Ephesians 3:16 He said that “He would grant you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.”

Another phrase, very deep in meaning. But He said that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory, you know, and other parables. Jesus talked about going and finding a pearl of great price as He explained the details and the mechanics of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of heaven, like a man who found a pearl of great price and a treasure. And he went and sold all that he had to buy that field, to buy that pearl of great price, being the whole package, the whole knowledge of truth and God. This is how this is explained, and Paul says, “These are the riches that God has granted you and pray and ask that there is more understanding of those riches and what they mean that we might be strengthened with might.” And here he begins to talk about the strength and the might and the power ultimately, as he will of the relationship with God, but of the ultimately the love of God. As we will see as he brings this out here, people who sold all of that. But as that happens that strength begins to build. And He says that we are strengthened according to His riches, through His Spirit in the inner man. The inner person.

It is something that begins deep within our mind, our psyche, our understanding, and ultimately our heart. But it's the inner person strengthened with that. That's the identity that Paul is beginning to build here as we begin to understand exactly what he is talking about. We see this idea of the inner man, which then speaks to the understanding of what is man. Who and what is man? You've heard that phrase before. You've heard the phrase who and what is God? Well, this is really, you know, Paul didn't, I don't think he used those words. We use them today. We've heard them many times. Who and what is God? Who and what is man? When we hear those, I think we need to stop and think exactly what is that telling us. What does it mean?

Because it's really speaking to this concept of the love of God that we have that love toward God by turning from anything that can divide us from God, divide us from our attention with God. We are able to put aside anything from the physical realm that can come between us and God in a relationship with Him, whether it would be money, status, celebrity, whatever physical aspect of this culture. We are able to turn from it, just as an Ephesian person was a member in the Church at Ephesus, was convicted to do the same thing and no longer go down to the temple at Artemis. But then beyond that, go deeper into how they were to then begin to live and to walk before God no longer walking according to the course of the power of the prince of the power of the air, but according to a new way of humility and love and working upon the inner man and through the strength and the power of the Holy Spirit through a relationship with God.

Because that was as they began to understand their nature. And so, they began to understand who and what was the true God that He had created man in His image, and that creation involves becoming a son of God and that frames and shapes the identity then and now. Our ultimate identity, the inner person that we are seeking to develop is being done by the divine nature of God. That's the why. We are to take on and be partakers of the divine nature, Peter would later write. And that is to perform changes and miracles in the inner person. The way we think about God, toward God, and the way we think about each other and live toward each other.

Who and what is God? He's a family, and it's the first family of heaven and earth. And man is created in His image to take on the divine nature to become a part of that family of God, to be brought into that at that level to take on the very nature of God through the Holy Spirit we're created in that image, and this is what Paul is reminding them of. This is what they turned toward when they turned from idolatry. This, brethren, is the love that they first entered into in the city of Ephesus when they heard the Gospel and it changed their life. It changed everything. They forsook all to follow Christ when they came to that knowledge and that understanding because it gave them now a new identity. And that's, I think, a very important key to understanding what it is that Jesus later will tell the members to go back to, to repent, and do the first works. Go back to the way you felt about what knowledge of your purpose in life and you learned about the Word of God.

You learned about the law of God. They turned from their pagan festivals and they began to keep the holy days of God and they turned to keep the Sabbath and they turned to love their fellow man and no longer to walk in an adulterous way or a lying, deceitful way. They turn from gods who lied and tricked and deceived them and who themselves were adulterous and immoral. And they turned to a new way represented by the God that they became acquainted with through the preaching of the gospel whom they loved and it changed their life. And it began to form within them a new identity that changed everything they did and said in the culture of Ephesus in the 1st century. Just as it does for you and I today, they took on that identity and they began to realize who they really were.

Who and what is... When we say who and what is man, we are at the very tip of the iceberg of a larger discussion about identity when it comes to understanding how this world works, how and why we are what we are to become, and what is happening to us when we look at the world around us today. At the heart of so much of what is around us in this world today with the various identity battles you think, stop and think about all the different identity battles that are taking place today. We're in the midst of a sexual revolution that has transcended everything that I first began to learn about such a revolution more than 50 years ago when that term began to be used back in the 1960s. Then it had dealt with promiscuity, free sex. The pill had come in to just revolutionize things. But we have moved way beyond that today into a trans-LGBTQ type of sexual revolution that [inaudible 00:26:35] human identity. And that is what we have to understand. It is all about who and what is man. And humanity has been redefined into something that is no longer created in the image of God. There's no gender. It could be changed. And were being worked in that direction. Many in the world are and it's come to our door. It will probably come deeper into our fellowship as this world continues along that way. And I do think we need to understand exactly what is at the heart of it. It strikes at the heart of human nature and human identity.

We do have a belief and an understanding in the Church of God about what man is, and we understand that he's created in the image of God and we are created to, ultimately through calling, a calling and repentance and faith and receiving of the Holy Spirit. When God calls, we can begin to take on the very nature of God to be changed in the inner man, which is what Paul is talking about here. And that's at the heart of it. You know, years ago, decades ago, how far back do you want to go? Man untethered himself from God. Some will put that back, let's say, at the industrial revolution and scientific and technological advances that began to move in the late 1700s, 1800s, 1900s, as man began to adapt and harness the elements and much of his world, causing him to turn from a dependence on God and the seasons and things that would turn us to God. And religion and evolution all have untethered us from God, and we have come a long way for that. But I think what we are seeing today is that the end game is being played out that began when we denied God or said God is dead.

The end game of that is to deny human identity. Human identity, that's the end game. And that's what we are seeing the leading edge of, maybe more than just the leading edge right now as it is coming into the world and beginning to dominate conversations. And it strikes at the very truths that God turns us from, just as Paul indicates here, where we are to be strengthened in the inner man through a relationship with God, through that love of God. Look at what he goes on to say in verse 17 here.

Ephesians 3:17 He says that “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love. That Christ might dwell in your hearts in faith.”

That's the essence of our calling. That is the essence of why we would be baptized and desire to receive God's spirit. That Christ would dwell in our hearts because that's what changes the inner man. That's what creates this new spiritual identity. That shows us the love of God and turns us in turn to love God with all of our heart and with all of our soul and with all of our being because we know that we are tethered to a spiritual father relationship with a father with Christ as our elder brother and as His son. And that really means something. And that drives our lives every day. That's what we check every day. That's what we remind ourselves of every day before we go out the door. That we have a relationship with God and Christ dwells in us.

And so, what we face and what we deal with as we go through our day should help. We should meet it because Christ dwells in our heart. We have that strength to deal with it in a godly way. We have that strength to resist temptations or sin or other pulls that are going to take us away. We can combat it. We're strengthened in the inner man because that is being written on our heart. Brethren, the New Covenant is all about the heart. We know that when we read that in Hebrews 10. This New Covenant is about God's light writing His law upon our heart. It's a covenant of a heart. But it's a different heart because God's Spirit is working upon us, creating an identity that tethers us to Him. And it is when we really understand that. Learn it, never forget it. Go out of the house each day with it guiding our mind and our lives, guiding every interaction and relationship that we have that we begin then to take on the love of God. And it really then does begin to impact our view of Him and the way we deal with one another, because we see each other created in the image of God. And we see that potential and we seek to reach their hearts. We seek to touch other people's hearts. We seek to understand the heart of people. It's all about relationships.

You know, one of the biggest lessons I've learned in my life all the years is just that it's about relationships. When I look back over the people that I've known and worked with and taught and pastored and the kids that I had come through camp, even the kids that have come through ABC and many of you are out here today that I've had the privilege to teach you part of the Bible. As you've come to ABC and to learn. And I look back at so many whose paths have crossed mine and I've crossed theirs in all the different aspects of my work for the Church. I've learned a lot of lessons. But as I was thinking about it here with this message and what it is that we are to develop toward God, I came to realize that the relationships that I've won. By that, I mean that where there's been a connection with people. Sometimes you don't always connect with people, right? You don't win every relationship. Sometimes you lose. And sparks fly and friction happens and we have discord. We all know that. And I've had my share. But I know that the ones that I've won, in other words, where there's been a success, a friendship, something developed that you are able to go back to and pick up on when you meet at the feast or you talk or whatever. The relationships I've won came when I won the heart. They came when I won the heart. I lost them when I did not understand and gain the heart. How about you? Think about your relationships.

The ones I won, I won because I took the time to listen. To seek to understand what made them tick. And I was able to look beyond the surface. What kept me from always doing it, my nature. There wasn't enough of the faith of Christ dwelling in me to make that happen at that time. And I wish I could get it back. And at times I recognize that it works both ways. I was doing the best I could. Maybe they weren't doing the best they could, and there's so much that goes to work in that. But I ultimately have to own what is mine and you have to own what is yours.

A few weeks ago, we had the camp directors come through their annual meetings planning out the next year, and one of the directors was staying with me and I got a little bit of an insight into their deliberations as they were planning out the program for next year. I think just like every other camp director planning session that's been held from the beginning of our program, what took a lot of time was dealing with issues that impact on relationships. But the issues come down to policies. Don't do this. Can't wear this. Can't look like this are part of our camp program, right? And when I heard that those were being discussed, I said to one of the camp directors, “Oh, yeah, well, we were talking about that 25 years ago. You're still talking about that?” Well, they should talk about that. Because those policies are important and I know why they're there. I helped to put a number of them into the little box that you have to look at kids and parents when you fill out your camp application every year. And I see that they're still there. But I will tell you they are important and they need to be there.

But I will also tell you that every camp director, every minister, every staff member that's working with students, campers, or our youth, and every youth that's coming into our program or coming into our ABC program or any other part of our educational programs need to also understand why they're there. But most importantly, both parties, campers, parents, staff, ministry, teachers. Everyone needs to be working toward understanding the heart. Each other's heart. And the why. Why is it there? And why is it important? And that's pretty deep and that takes time. And we have to kind of separate the emotion. But we need to understand the why. But we need to get to the heart. We need to win hearts. I lost a lot of hearts. I won some. I cherish the ones that I've won. I would love to go back and try to fix some of the others. And time perhaps that might happen. But that's what this prayer is talking about. These are the first works that we need to get back to. It is the heart of God. That He showed toward us and calling us. And that we then returned as we honored Him, loved Him, obeyed, and learned to love God.

As we go on here. Look at what he says “That you may be rooted and grounded in love.” This is probably the heart of the prayer right here. Rooted and grounded in love. Rooted gives you the impression of something that goes deep into the earth, doesn't it? A tree... Wind started blowing this morning at my home, and I thought, “Oh, boy, what's blowing up that sky got really dark.” And the trees started going back and forth. And I have a Bradford pear tree in my front yard and I started seeing it sway back and forth. But I know it's not going to fall over unless maybe a tornado just rips through because its roots are pretty deep. And that root system brings up the nutrients and the essence of life and water and nutrients that it needs to survive.

When our love is rooted deep, the life essence of God is going to be transmitted to us because it is rooted and grounded in love. Look at what it says here, “Rooted and grounded in love.” In verse 17. That's the essence of life. A mother's love. A father's love. The marital love between a man and a woman. When we create the environment where love can root and be grounded with a solid foundation, then big things can happen. That's what we seek to do with our zone program and our camp program. That's what we seek to do with every other program that we have in the Church to draw and knit us together in the body of Christ. And to show that respect and that love. But when that environment is worked on, where love can root and be grounded, big things can happen. Then we will see what Jesus said would be the sign of His disciples that you will love one another. We'll be rooted in that very foundation and grounded in that foundation that the apostles and the prophets formed the part of.

Earlier in Chapter 2 and verse 20, Paul has talked about the apostles and the prophets being the foundation of the Church and Christ being the chief cornerstone. Those apostles like Paul and the others, like the prophets, they saw what God was. They became and they understood who they were and they loved that. And they took that and they stood for that truth, for that gospel, for that message of God, that prophetic warning, whatever it might have been at any time as God was working. And they witnessed for God out of a deep passion for the relationship with God. We see that whether it's Isaiah or whether it's Paul or John. Or whether it would have been the newest member in the city of Ephesus or any of us here today. When we have that passion for God, then that is going to develop that very important environment in our lives. And so, they witness for God out of a deep passion for that relationship.

Ephesians 3:18-19 He says, “That we may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width, and the length, and the depth, and the height. To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

This is reminiscent of Romans Chapter 8 where Paul says that there's nothing that can separate us from the love of God. It's the same thought and the same idea here that comes out. And this is the heart of the prayer that is here, that we are to be grounded and rooted in to understand the fullness, the depth, the all-encompassing majesty of God's purpose and love for us. And when that happens big things can develop and God can do important things. He ends this prayer in verse 20.

Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now, to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us.” God's Spirit is a power and the love that that spirit produces and creates within us. That is a power too. That is a part of that power. And it is extremely important according to that power that works in us, “to Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

And so, the prayer ends, the power of love flowing from a passion for God and a passion for that life that God reveals. That's the first love that the Ephesians had. That's very clearly demonstrated from what we see in Acts 19. And those are the first works that Christ is telling the congregation to get back to. And to do that. They won the battle for truth. But they were in danger of losing out on love. And He tells him to get back and fine-tune that relationship and to develop a passionate relationship with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ because that is what shaped their lives.

And so, what's the message for us today? What do we take away? Well, brethren, we have won the battle for truth. It's an ongoing guarding and defending in one sense. But we understand the truth of God. We have held fast and we have held firm to that and we proclaim that we understand the truth of God, however, you want to define it. It's been established. It is solid. But we now face a godless culture of creeping evil that's bent on denying the very nature of mankind. And it's working and it's working very strongly as we battle and endure and ultimately win against that force and wherever it peeks into our midst and into our family. And that's why that policy, that's why that rule is so important.

That's why each one of us need to stand back and consider why and seek to understand so that we don't let any of it come into our midst and get a foothold. It's there. We are going to endure. We are going to win against that. But to do so, we will have to be deeply rooted and grounded in the first and the great commandment, and that is a love for God. And what He is doing, who He is, what He is, and who we are and what we are, what we can become. As God strengthens the inner person, the inner man through faith in Jesus Christ, love becomes a fruit of the spirit. Brethren, when we see God so clearly. We will sell all and follow Him.

Love becomes a fruit of the spirit when we identify with the life of the one who personifies truth and who showed it in His own earthly life, Jesus Christ. Love becomes a fruit when the divine nature becomes our identity. When the development of the inner man, the one created in Christ, begins to emerge with God's law and love written on our hearts. So, let's be about gaining and returning, if necessary, to that first love which is not only the first but the greatest and the more excellent way.