Sunday Reading: A Fellowship of Differents, by Scot McKnight #3

This is the third installment of blogging through Scot McKnight’s newest book, A Fellowship of Differents: Showing the World God's Design for Life Together. Today I am looking at chapters 5 through 7 which are focused on the theme of love.  In this section McKnight points out that “love” is the main (and maybe only) measure of the godliness of the church. He begins with a biblical definition of love and then shows that love is hard work and that love is characterized by generosity. I am going through the book one section at a time every Sunday, posting some quotes on my Facebook page and a summary here on my blog. I welcome comments on my Facebook page. Quotes from the book are in blue.

In chapter 5, Love is a Series of Prepositions, he gives the biblical definition of love. With all the erroneous ways our society defines love, McKnight points to the importance of defining love by a look at the God of the Bible. We need to see there how God loves Israel, Jesus and the church and love the same way. He uses pretty much the same definition of love he used in his Sermon on the Mount commentary. First love is all about commitment. He adds the adjective “rugged” to denote that it is a commitment that stays in no matter how hard. First it is a commitment of “presence” to “be with” someone. Second it is a commitment of “advocacy” to “be for” someone. Finally it is a commitment of “direction” “unto his perfect design for us.” The hard part is that God calls us to this kind of love with “whoever happens to be with us” in our fellowships.

Love then is not primarily emotion or affection, but rather a covenant commitment to another person. Commitment does not deny emotions; commitment reorders emotions.

Genuine friendships, which are two-way, are always transformative. One reason, then, we don’t love those unlike us in the church is because we don’t want their presence rubbing off on us, or because we can’t control our influence on them.

Chapter 6 is entitled Love Works. Love is not something we do naturally. It requires us to work hard at it in the reliance on the Holy Spirit. To love like God requires as much hard work as a parent does for a child, It also requires a similar level of emotional commitment. It is dangerous, because real love hurts and requires us to come out of our safe zones. It requires time. McKnight points out how many friends Paul had that he was deeply concerned about, and agonized and prayed over.

Love works, but you have to work at it. To love the folks in your church is taxing and trying and testing. Loving others creates all sorts of tension, which is why we need to work at love.

The good parent works at mothering or fathering a child into mature adulthood, and Christian parents work in their love toward Christlikeness. Paul spiritually parented Christians in the church, one Roman after a Jew, one woman after a man, one freed Roman after an enslaved Roman… Love works only if we work at love, and part of that work is aching emotionally.

Finally, in chapter 7, Love Shares. The real mark of love is generosity, especially when we give to people unlike us. McKnight points out that the wealthy within American churches have a tendency to spend vast amounts of money on themselves and give very little to the needy people and ministries around them. This has been my observation of American churches as well. McKnight questions the reality of these churches. If we are not generous (the goal as Paul says is “equality.”) we are not loving.

Paul’s teachings in 2 Corinthians 8 – 9, the limit of our costly love is our means. Give generously of what you have, and if you don’t have much, give little generously.

Generosity does not restrict itself to identity politics, but expands itself to those in need. Ask yourself this simple question: Are you willing for your resources to be distributed to those in need, or do you want them to go to the needy most like you?