Greatest of These Is Love

By Dylan Pierce

IF EVERYONE IN THE CHURCH LOVED LIKE JESUS DID, HOW COULD WE TRANSFORM THE LIVES OF THOSE AROUND US? WHAT WOULD LOVING OTHERS AS GOD LOVES US LOOK LIKE IN PRACTICE?

We are given clear examples of how to love others in Scripture, but how often do we follow those examples? I believe the church has a love problem; we fail to demonstrate the l

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Jan 31, 2024
• ISBN: 9798890412898

Dylan Pierce

Dylan Pierce is a graduate of Colorado Christian University and holds a degree in Biblical studies. He and his wife, Jennifer, live in Central Kansas with their children. he is a former youth pastor and has spent the last three years in intensive study of God's word, becoming equipped to share this message about Biblical love.

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The Greatest of These is Love

Dylan Pierce

Trilogy Christian Publishers

Tustin, CA

Trilogy Christian Publishers

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive

Tustin, CA 92780

The Greatest of These is Love

Copyright © 2024 by Dylan Pierce

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

For information, address Trilogy Christian Publishing

Rights Department, 2442 Michelle Drive, Tustin, Ca 92780.

Trilogy Christian Publishing/ TBN and colophon are trademarks of Trinity Broadcasting Network.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Trilogy Christian Publishing.

Trilogy Disclaimer: The views and content expressed in this book are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views and doctrine of Trilogy Christian Publishing or the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 979-8-89041-288-1

ISBN 979-8-89041-289-8 (ebook)

Acknowledgments

To my parents, Shawn and Sherry, without whom none of this would have ever been possible. You stuck with me through thick and thin and encouraged me every step of the way. I put you through two and a half years of more stress than any parent deserves from their children, and it never even phased you! You are both amazing, and I pray that God blesses you for your endurance!

To my wife, Jennifer, I couldn’t have done any of this without your support!

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Love the Lord

Chapter 2: Love Your Neighbor

Chapter 3: Love Your Enemies

Chapter 4: Love Your Family

Chapter 5: Love Your Calling

Chapter 6: Unity

Chapter 7: Check Your Motives

Chapter 8: Judge Not

Chapter 9: Grace (Love Yourself)

Chapter 10: Kingdom Focus

Chapter 11: The Greatest of These

Introduction

When I first started writing this book about two years ago, I thought I had something to share that Churches at large needed to learn. As it turns out, that was foolish pride and arrogance on my part. I thought that I understood something unique, but as it turns out, God used this book to teach me so many things and reveal to me the ways that I needed to grow in Him. I thought that the modern church had a love problem, and in some ways, this is true, but I, too, lacked love. For most of us, the objects of our love are far from God’s desired mark. Many of us today focus on the wrong priorities. Many churches today focus on filling seats. Was the music good? Were the multimedia presentations on point? How does the sanctuary look? Is it stylish enough? We focus on what will draw numbers into the building, not the lives that can be transformed by a genuine encounter with Jesus Christ and His amazing love for us. The focus of many churches today is keeping the seats filled, the tithes high, and minimizing church turnover. This can sometimes lead pastors to water down their message and compromise the word so that they don’t offend their members. We focus on what is politically correct instead of what is the truth of God’s word. This should come as no surprise to us, as Paul told Timothy in his second letter: For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but will have itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths (2 Timothy 4:3–5).

Does this sound familiar to you? People get offended by pastors who call them to a better life and confront them in the sins they are practicing. With things like cancel culture, some pastors are left afraid to be bold in proclaiming God’s Word for fear that if they do, people will leave their church.

Any church today waters down the truth to make it more palatable. When we do this, we start to resemble the church of Revelations chapter 2. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent (Revelation 2:4–5).

We’ve forgotten our love for God, our love for the lost, and our love for each other. We’ve stopped preaching about hell and the consequences of sin. Many have even stopped believing that hell even exists all to avoid offending our own sensibilities and the sensibilities of others, with the idea that there is punishment for wrongs for those who do not know Christ. We’ve diluted the gospel and our need for Jesus and have even replaced God with new idols like Twitter and Facebook, sports teams, TV shows, movies, video games, and the list goes on. When was the last time we cheered as loudly for God as for our favorite sports team? God help us find your love again!

This book helped me grow in my relationship with Christ. When I started writing it, I was a broken man, and God used this experience to show me my areas of weakness and a better way to love. This book went through multiple drafts over a two-year period and was a labor of love (some pun intended) for me. My prayer is that this book would challenge you as much as it did me in writing it and that you grow into a deep relationship with Christ. He is the most amazing thing that ever happened to me, and if you let him, he will transform your life in ways you could never imagine. Keep an open heart and mind, and let the Holy Spirit speak to you as you read this.

Chapter 1

Love the Lord

So many people in our world have their priorities completely out of order. My life prior to recommitting my life to the Lord and fully surrendering to His will was a perfect example. I spent about four years in Bible college and two years as a volunteer youth leader. I had a multitude of Bible knowledge, but I lacked any sort of true relationship with Jesus. This is a problem so many in the church today face. We know God, but we know nothing of His heart. We think that knowing of God is the same thing as knowing Him personally, and it simply isn’t enough. I knew the Bible and could quote a whole lot of different scriptures, but I did not put them into practice in my life. There was no application of the scriptures to the way I lived my life. Without allowing the word to get in you and transform you completely, you end up looking like the man James speaks of the following: For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and at once forgets what he was like (James 1:23–24). What James is essentially saying is that if we hear the word, but do not listen to it and do what it says, it would be like me seeing my hair was an absolute mess in the mirror when I get up, forgetting about it, and then not understanding all the odd looks everyone gave me. I knew my hair was a mess. I had a chance to fix it, but I didn’t do anything about it since it just wasn’t that important to me. It is no different with the word. We hear what the Bible says, but we make no attempt to correct it, and then we are caught off guard when the consequences of that sin blindside us. Knowledge of something is useless without practical application. If I know the proper way to assemble a bike but then proceed to assemble it in whatever way feels right, I will end up with a mess on my hands.

God’s word should be like a mirror to our souls, showing us the areas where we are a mess so we can surrender them to the Holy Spirit and allow him to clean them up, allowing us to walk in a manner worthy of following Jesus.

In my own life, I spent all my free time creating idols. I was too busy playing video games, watching sports, surfing social media, and watching TV and movies. These things were far more important to me than God or my family. I let sin have a strong foothold in my life, and it wasn’t until God pulled me out of my life and into a situation that frankly was a living hell at times that I was forced to deal with my sin and finally meet him face to face. Sadly, I feel this describes many today. We go to church, maybe serve on the worship team or volunteer for an outreach or two, but then we go home to our sins. We love the idea of God but do not know and love the actuality of God Himself. We lack a true life-altering relationship with our creator and savior.

Sports, TV, movies, music, etc.… these things are fine on their own and not by default a sin. The problem is when we take them in excess and put them ahead of God’s will for our lives. When we do this, we are practicing idolatry. God’s first command in Exodus 20:3 was, You shall have no other gods before me. Anything we value more than God can become an idol. As a follower of Christ, we must put our love for God first. The Pharisees asked Jesus, ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?’ And he said to them, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment’ (Matthew 24:36–38). Jesus desires a relationship with us, so much so that he came in the flesh and suffered great pain and death for us on the cross. Jesus tells us, Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay his life down for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you" (John 15:14–15).

First off, how amazing is the thought that the God of all creation should consider us His friends and brothers? This thought should stir up some excitement in you; if it doesn’t, this is a great opportunity to look in your heart and try to discover why it does not. Jesus desires a relationship with us. He wants to speak to us. He speaks through a variety of methods. Through prayer, through scriptures, and through fellowship with others who are in a relationship with Him. He desires that we spend time with Him in praise and in worship. He had that relationship with us in the beginning, literally walking in the garden with Adam and Eve, but then sin entered the equation. He longs for the same walks he had with them for us, so much so that