Reasons for this Book

What the Bible says about love is absolutely breath-taking. Among the world’s religions Christianity is unmatched in its teaching about God’s love and the demands of love for Christian believers. It is no exaggeration to say that the Bible is a book of love. The story of the Bible is the greatest love story ever told: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). Although the biblical demands of love are incumbent upon all true believers, I have chosen to apply this subject to Christian leaders and teachers for several reasons. First, little has been written about the connection between love and leadership. Few Christian leaders think of love when they think or talk about leadership. They know love is important, but they don’t know how it applies to their character or work as leaders. This is surprising since the New Testament is crystal clear that love is absolutely indispensable to spiritual gifts and all Christian service[i]. In the unforgettable words of Paul, the apostle, leading and teaching apart from love is “a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1). Second, to lead a church effectively for Christ requires love for God and love for people. The only leadership that pleases God and is most effective spiritually is that which is motivated by love for God, the first and greatest commandment (Matt. 22:38). Oswald Chambers, author of the well-known devotional My Utmost for His Highest, expresses this point forcefully: The work of feeding and tending sheep is hard work, arduous work, and love for the sheep alone will not do it; you must have a consuming love for the Great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. Then He will flow through you in a passion of love and draw men to Himself.[ii] Only when we lead people out of love for Christ will we serve them sacrificially and joyously, be rightly motivated, last longer, and please God. You can’t lead people spiritually if you don’t love God and love people. And people know instinctively if you love them and love God, or just serve as a hireling for pay. Third, leaders have the power to create a more loving atmosphere within the local church. This is vitally important because love is “the life-breath of the church,”[iii] essential to its evangelistic witness and its own spiritual up-building (Eph. 4:16). Failure to love creates a whole spectrum of evils as witnessed by the church in Corinth. Therefore, since leaders set the spiritual tone for the church, we need to start with them. If they are loving, the people will be loving; and they will reproduce other loving leaders. That is why the New Testament charges leaders and teachers to be examples to others of Christian love (1 Tim. 4:12; 2 Tim. 3:10). If, however, leaders are self-centered, highly critical, proud, angry, and impersonal, the people will adopt these same ugly dispositions. Fourth, most of church work is done in group settings: elders’ and deacons’ meetings, staff meetings, board meetings, committee and council meetings, and all-church meetings. Jesus chose twelve men and trained them as a group and expected them to work harmoniously as a group. The New Testament letters are mostly written in the plural to all believers within the congregation. So in the church, people must work closely together to make decisions and to accomplish tasks. Understanding the New Testament principles of love will significantly enhance group leadership, group meetings, and congregational life as a whole. Fifth, there are many false ideas about love that need correction. I heard a senior, evangelical theologian and well-known Bible expositor publicly state his reluctance to use the word love because of its many distorted usages. In the name of love, Christians can abandon their families, commit every sort of sexual sin, refuse to practice church discipline, and redefine God and salvation according to contemporary sentimental notions of love. Instead of love being “the fulfillment of the law” it has been made the enemy of it (Rom. 13:8-10). Instead of love abhorring “what is evil,” it justifies evil (Rom 12:9). “Love is the most attractive quality in the world. And it lies at the heart of Christianity.” Michael Green I firmly believe that if our church leaders and teachers truly understood what the Bible says about love, it would significantly improve their relationship skills with people, enhance their effectiveness in ministry, diminish much senseless conflict and division, produce more spiritually healthy churches, and improve their witness to the unbelieving world. As Michael Green so beautifully reminds us, “Love is the most attractive quality in the world. And it lies at the heart of Christianity.”[iv] I have written this book for leaders and teachers at every level of leadership within the local church--Sunday school teachers, youth workers, women’s and men’s ministry leaders, Bible study leaders, administrators, music directors, elders, deacons, pastors, missionaries, and evangelists. If you lead or teach people, this topic is essential to you because God wants you to lead and teach with love. Indeed, God says, “Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Cor. 16:14). This book is a New Testament study on love as applied to Christian leaders and teachers. It is only by Scripture that we even know what Christian love is and what this love demands of us. Too many Christians have only a superficial, if not a wrong, understanding of what the Scripture teaches about love. If there is to be a true revival of love in your personal life or in your local church, it must begin with God’s Word and be built on God’s Word. I have organized the book into four major parts: Part One: Love Is Indispensable to Christian Leadership Part Two: The Character and Behavior of a Loving Leader Part Three: The Works of a Loving Leader Part Four: The Motivating Power of Love My heartfelt desire is that the Lord would use this book to “cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people” and that He would “direct your hearts into the love of God” (1 Thess. 3:12; 2 Thess. 3:5). [i] Rom. 12:3-21; 1 Cor. 13:1-13; Eph. 4:1-16. [ii] Oswald Chambers, The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers, (Grand Rapids: Discovery, 2000), 1361. [iii] William Kelly, Notes on the First Epistle to the Corinthians (n.d; reprint ed., Denver: Wilson Foundation, n.d.), 220. [iv] Michael Green, Evangelism Through the Local Church (Nashville: Thomas Nelson), 97.