Daily Devo - Tuesday, May 6, 2008

“For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love.”
Philemon 7 (ESV)

Tales are often told of ‘Broken Arrow’, which was a special code used during the Vietnam conflict. Sometimes a platoon of soldiers would find themselves pinned down by enemy fire. Unable to advance or retreat, their inability to overpower their enemy would put the entire division at risk of death, and they would call in a Broken Arrow; meaning, they were requesting their own planes bomb their location—killing the enemies, but also themselves. It was a final act of bravery and unselfish love for their brothers-in-arms.

As valiant and honorable is this love is, the Church is founded upon a deeper and more potent love still. Over and over again in his letters, Paul proclaims the richness of this God-given love that is at work among Christ’s body. The New Testament scholar N.T. Wright notes that “it is love that gives Paul the greatest encouragement, because it is the surest sign that Christ is being formed in his people”.¹

It is a blessed and cherished prize to find a local body of Christ that delights in the joy and comfort of one another—but this is a rare prize indeed, and few will ever find such a gem. The reason for this is very simple: our task is not to find a joyful and loving church; rather, it is to form one. The consumerism of the West has produced a marketplace approach to the local church. We shop for a church where we feel welcome, instead of becoming a welcoming person. We look for a congregation that has a vibrant children’s ministry, instead of being vibrant in our own love for children. We seek a local body that has enthusiastic worship, instead of worshipping enthusiastically. We seek a place to find joy and comfort, instead of purposing to be joyful and comforting to another. In Philippians 2:2 Paul urges the believers to “complete [his] joy by being of the same mind, having the same love.” Scripture does not command us to find a loving assembly of believers. Rather, it tells us to be loving in our assemblies.

“Many will rejoice in that love which is profitable to themselves. But where is he that will as well rejoice in that love which is profitable only to others?”

– Daniel Dyke (17^th Century Puritan minister)

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¹ Colossians, Philemon – Tyndale New Testament Commentary, p 178.