afterthoughts: LN 7: "Compelled" (11.11.07)

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SUMMARY
“You know what the secret of life is?” That is what the old cowboy Curly, in the movie City Slickers, asks the main character, Mitch.
Mitch: No, what?
Curly (raising his index finger): This.
Mitch replies: Your finger?
Curly: One thing, just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don't [matter].
Mitch: That's great, but what's the one thing?
Curly: That's what you've got to figure out.

What is the “one thing” that gives direction and motivation to your life? What is at the center of your life? What is your core – your motive power? What drives you? What causes you to get out of bed in the morning? What makes life worth living? What motivates you? And to bring it back to the theme of our series, what motivates our mission as the Church? Last week we looked at the Great Commission – to go make disciples. What moves us to do that?

I believe that what should be our answer for both these questions (personal motivation and that of the Church) is one and the same. The Apostle Paul states it in 2 Corinthians 5:14: “Christ’s love compels us.” That is the “one thing” - the love of Christ. That is where the meaning of life is found.

Read: 2 Corinthians 5.11-15. What made Paul and those with him so confident in what they believed, so passionate, so committed to telling the story of Jesus in its truth that people accused them of being out of their minds? It was the love of Jesus Christ, as expressed in His death and resurrection for us. That was the compelling force in their lives.

“Christ’s love compels us.”
What is love? Love is often considered, by our silly society, to be a feeling or emotion. It is equated with sex or self-love or some wishy-washy, spineless tolerance. But love is not merely a feeling, it is a decision. It is a commitment. We often define love in human terms, when in reality love is defined by God Himself. “God is love.” Therefore, God defines love. If you want to know what love is, you must know God, for God’s activity with His people (His unmerited self-giving) defines love.

And so, it’s not simply love, but Christ’s love, that compels Paul. So, what is the love of Christ?
The love of Christ is expressed in His death.
- We see this in 1 John 3.16 “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”
- And in 1 John 4.9-10, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
- Jesus Himself said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
And so the love of Christ is seen in His death for us. Jesus took our place. He took our punishment, our brokenness, our failures, our guilt, our shame. He carried it for us and took it away. Our anger, our resentment, our hurtful words and actions; our cheating, our addictions, our perversion, our self-focus – all of it condemns us to eternal death and separation from God. But in an act of undeserved love Christ died in our place so we could have life with God. Do you understand that? The reality of that? The cosmic repercussions of that? When we look at Jesus, we see the love of God.

And the love of Christ is also expressed in His resurrection. He not only died for us, He was raised for us so that we could be raised up out of death like Him and with Him. He was raised to plead our case at the Father’s right hand so we have access to God through Him. And He was raised so that He might come again to bring us into life eternal. If you read the Gospel story and are not able to sing “Jesus Loves Me”, you better read it again, because you’ve missed the point.

Christ’s love is compelling. Something compelling is something that has a powerful and irresistible effect or influence. The love of Christ is compelling. It has a powerful and irresistible effect. The word in our passage has a few different shades of meaning. It can mean to hold together, to surround, to control, to compel. And so it gives us a picture of the compelling nature of Christ’s love.
- Christ’s love holds us together. Christ’s love heals our brokenness and makes us whole. It pieces us back together and sustains us. Apart from the saving and sustaining love of Jesus, we would remain broken or fall apart.
- Christ’s love surrounds us. The word can be translated hem in or encircle. Christ’s love is a surrounding love – a shield before us and a guard around us.
- Christ’s love controls us. We are gripped by His love. In 1 Corinthians, Paul says, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” Because we owe our lives to the love of Christ, that love redefines us, giving us a new direction and motivation. The love that redeemed us rules us.
- And Christ’s love compels us. It is a motivational force. It is a pressure that causes action. His love is so potent and powerful that it constrains and impels us and urges us on.

But what does Christ’s love compel us to do? What is compelled by Christ’s love? Everything – every aspect of our lives. There is to be no secular/sacred dichotomy in the life of a Christian. In Christ, all of life is sacred. Everything that we do (whether it be business or pleasure) is to be inspired and influenced by the love of Jesus Christ. The love of Christ is the motivation for life and for mission. It is the one thing that makes sense of life and makes life worth living.

POINTS TO REMEMBER
Our society suggests that everyone must find there own “one thing”. I don’t buy that. I believe there is only one thing that makes sense of life and makes life worth living. And that is the love of Christ.

Dante describes this love in the final vision of Paradiso as, “the Love that moves the sun and all the other stars.” God’s love, as revealed in Jesus Christ, holds the universe together. It moves the sun and other stars. And so, it move us.

Why are we often not compelled by Christ’s love? Why are we, in the Church, so often lethargic, complacent, self-interested and scared? Where is the burning in our hearts?
- Maybe we haven’t taken seriously what Christ has done.
- Maybe we haven’t taken seriously the purpose of what Christ has done.
- Maybe we have allowed other, lesser loves to distract us.

To know Christ’s love, according to Jesus, all you have to do is repent and believe.
- To stop trying to be God yourself and hand control to the only true God.
- To turn away from all the dead ends in your life and to follow the Way of Jesus.
- To confess your brokenness, failure, inability, your helplessness and hopelessness – and to believe that Jesus is your only Rescuer and Hope.
- To ask for forgiveness and find God’s incredible mercy, acceptance and love.
And when you do that – when you truly repent and truly believe, you will know and experience the love of Christ. A love that will not let you go, will never disappoint, and will satisfy your deepest longing. A love that will hold you together, will surround you, will lead you and will compel you to really live.

So, do you know what the secret of life is? One thing. His name is Jesus and His love for you is beyond words.

SCRIPTURE TO CONSIDER