Of my continue to search on what it means to be a Christian, this book fits very nicely and a reminder that to be a follower of Christ is to love one another. As Challies described it, it is a mark of being a Christian.
No ancient or modern philosopher--Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Russell--ever taught such far-reaching ideas about love. No political figure, from Julius Caesar to Winston Churchill, has made such demands upon his followers to love. And no religious teacher, whether Buddha, Confucius, or Mohammed, ever commanded his followers to love one another as he loved them and gave his life for them. No other system of theology or philosophy says so much about the divine motivation of love (and holiness), or expresses love to the degree of Christ's death on the cross, or makes the demands of love like the teaching of Jesus Christ and his apostles.
Strauch continues to go on describing to love the local church.
Love requires both a subject and an object, thus love is a corporate learning experience. We grow in love by engagement with other people, not in isolation from them.
Christians cannot develop love by sitting at home alone on the couch watching TV preachers or by attending a weekly, one-hour church service. It is only through participation in "the household of God," the local church (1 Tim, 3:15), with all of its weaknesses and faults, that love is taught, modeled, learned, tested, practiced, and matured. By dealing with difficult people, facing painful conflicts, forgiving hurts and injustices, reconciling estranged relationships, and helping needy members, our love is tested and matures.
One simply cannot grow in love without the stresses and strains of life together in the household of God, the local church. The local church truly is "a spiritual workshop for the development of agape love" and "one of the very best laboratories in which individual believers may discover their real spiritual emptiness and begin to grow in agape love." If you are not a participating member of a local church, then you are not in God's school of love.
What's more encouraging is to see the response of the church from Ephesus after Jesus rebuke them in Revelation 2:2-6:
I am most encouraged by Ignatius. Willing to die for his faith and encourage other brothers and sisters along the way.
We know how the church at Ephesus responded to Christ's rebuke. Some time around the beginning of the second century, Ignatius, one of the Apostolic Fathers, wrote a letter to this church at Ephesus. He had been arrested for his faith and was being taken to Rome to be executed. As he and his guards passed near Ephesus, a delegation of Christian brothers was sent to encourage him as he faced a martyr's death. After this visit, Ignatius sent them a letter thanking them for their care. And in this letter he specifically praises their love, commending them as a church "characterized by faith in and love of Christ Jesus our Savior." He rejoices that they "love nothing in human life, only God" and he comments on their church's overseer saying he is "a man of inexpressible love." He says that in the love shown to him by the delegation he could see the love of the entire church at Ephesus. These Christians heard and heeded the loving rebuke of Jesus Christ.
I wonder what would Jesus say about my church and my brothers and sisters in Christ. What would He describe our fellowship? What would He rate my role as an elder?
Have I...
study love?
pray for love?
teach love?
model love?
guard love?
practice love?
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