His Most Excellent Way examines the topic of "agape love," the central doctrine of the Gospel, as well as what it means to participate in the divine, sacrificial love of God. Written by longtime pastor Gary Strong, this spiritual guidebook explores being "born again." Find out how God helps the faithful, and discover the doubts, fears, and perplexities believers face in various life situations and how they find comfort in the Bible. By focusing on biblical teachings and the word of God, you'll discover how to attain perfect love; how to fulfill God's greatest desires; and how to become "born again" and begin a personal relationship with God. You'll also learn how loving both your neighbors and enemies can improve your life, as well as how God works through different traits, such as dominant, influencing, stable, and compliant personalities. By broadening your own personality, it's possible to make your life more meaningful. The Scriptures convey that God's love continues to be of central importance to humanity. His Most Excellent Way is about nurturing a healthy relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
His Most Excellent Way
A Biblical Approach to Living a Life of Christ-like LovingBy Gary StrongiUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2011 Gary Strong
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4620-5654-5 Contents
God's Love, Our New Birth, and a New Life.....................1Divine Love and Human Personality.............................17Perfect Love and Personality Profiles.........................33Perfect Love: How to Attain It................................45The Power of Perfect Love.....................................67The Evidence of Christ-like Love..............................71The Miracle We Need...........................................83
Chapter One
God's Love, Our New Birth, and a New Life
God's central purpose for creating and saving us is for us to have, by means of the new birth, a loving and eternal relationship with him as his newborn sons and daughters. The New Testament is infused with this truth. The Lord Jesus died to make this eternal relationship a reality.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his One and Only Son that whoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
The famous London preacher Charles Haddon Spurgoen was asked why he so often preached on the text, 'You must be born again.' His simple and profound exclamation was, 'Because you must be born again!'
The way by which we enter into this relationship with God is through the new birth. When people are born again, they become the eternal children of God through faith in Jesus.
John 1:12-13 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husbands will, but born of God
The importance and crucial nature of the new birth is stressed with great emphasis when the Lord had a night visitor, Nicodemus.
John 3:3-8 In reply Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again. 'How can a man be born when he is old?' Nicodemus asked. 'Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!' Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.... I tell you the truth, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless He is born again of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.'
Here is an unmistakable declared truth: people who are not born again can neither see nor enter God's eternal Kingdom. Heaven is closed to them until the miracle of the new birth takes place, and through the new birth, everything in heaven and earth becomes possible. Through the new birth a person is born into the awe-inspiring love of the Father. Those who are born again become his Royal Children, and they commence their eternal life here on earth, and they are also destined for eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Turning to the miracle of human birth, let us notice an important factor. Where love is not present in the conception of a child, and where it is not followed up with loving and supportive care, that child will more often than not suffer inbred and emotional trauma. Inward, deep insecurities and inconsistencies are often a part of such children's existence. A lack of real love can destroy them. Many of our prisons and psychiatric hospitals are full of adults who are passing the distresses of their childhood into their 'grown-up' status. God does not want his children to grow up that way. He loves them far too much, so much so, that the Lord Jesus died both to save them and to convince them of God the Father's incredible, immeasurable love.
Where love is present in the conception of a child and, after its birth, is followed up with true love and care, will grow up emotionally secure and wholesome.
Love must conceive, create, and continue to care for the spiritually newborn child. God the Father miraculously brings about the new birth of a Christian because he loves spiritually born-again children, of all ages. The Lord Jesus, in Matthew's Gospel, demonstrated his concern and love for his children.
Matthew 18:1-6 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said, 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones, who believes in me, to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.'
God desires to bring children 'of all ages' into His Kingdom. By the creative power of the Holy Spirit and through the cleansing power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father brings children to spiritual birth. He also provides the love and care to sustain them as they grow towards spiritual maturity. Thus does God the Father enjoy the satisfaction in fellowship with His newborn children.
After we have been born again, the love of God becomes central in our lives. In that experience there are three important and ongoing features of God's love. They were written into the Word of God in Paul's second letter to the church at Corinth.
II Corinthians 13:14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Here is the Divine Benediction for all Christians. Paul sees God's desire for Christians to have a deep relationship with Himself, His Son, and the Holy Spirit. One Saturday morning when I was in training for the ministry, I met the principal of the college, Dr Harold Roberts, at the entrance hall of the college. The question arose as to what my sermon would be on the following day. I told him that it was on the closing benediction of Paul's second letter to Corinth. He said something that I have never forgotten. 'Gary, that scripture has a divine construction. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ introduces us to the Love of God the Father, and through this we enter into the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit.'
God's greatest desire for us is to have a deepening relationship of love with him. As we stand before Jesus and contemplate what he has done for us on the cross, his grace explodes into ever more wonderful vistas of God's redemptive love. I remember the great preacher, Dr W.E. Sangster, calling out from the pulpit of the Central Hall, Westminster: 'I don't know all there is to know about the Cross.' And then he said, as if with the sound of a muted trumpet, 'Nobody does!'
As we contemplate the vast revelation of the love of God through the Cross, the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ enters into our hearts and minds with growing reality. From the cross of Jesus God...
