Motivation

Why do you do what you do?

After leading a meeting the other night about flourishing in the third third of life, I had trouble sleeping. Someone kindly mentioned that my wife and I were examples of flourishing. If you know me, that made me uncomfortable. My many character flaws stand out to me, even if they are not known by many. In any case, I began thinking about the investments we are making in relationships with family, friends and other people God brings into our world. What is it that motivates this desire to mentor and shepherd others? Why are we concerned to help others flourish in the third third of life and to finish well? It almost seems suspicious to care so much in this world in which we live. I grieve over the too many articles I have read about abusive spiritual leaders. As I thought about this in the night watches, I could only come up with the motivation

of love

I am not saying that I always have pure motives. I like receiving affirmations and compliments and there are moments when I serve someone out of some twisted sense of duty. But I think love is the only motivation that can sustain any of us who serve others. And so, the next morning, I was stopped as I read 2 Cor 5:14,

2 Cor 5:14-15 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

A great verse on which to meditate during this Easter week. It was His love that led Him to the cross, voluntarily offering himself up for us. And, the only sustainable motivation for service is when Christ’s love for me constrains, controls or compels me (depending on the version you use). The Greek word for control was worth a little study.

From Pure Life Ministries

The core of this word is to hedge or hem in. To be so overtaken by something that you have choice but to move with it and its current. You are at its mercy. The Greek word that is translated here as “constraineth” is used only 12 times in the bible, but it is used in a variety of situations. It is often used when talking about people being overcome with diverse diseases. Their bodies had no choice but to respond in certain ways to the infection controlling their body. They were constrained by disease.

Paul tells us here in verse 14 what it was that gave him no choice, what forced him to act the way he did on the Narrow Road. And notice how it is stated. It is the love of Christ, not his love for Christ that has the constraining power over his life.

Oswald Chambers wrote, ““(Paul) was overpowered, subdued, and held as in a vise by ‘the love of Christ.’ Very few of us really know what it means to be held in the grip of the love of Christ. We tend so often to be controlled simply by our own experience. The one thing that gripped and held Paul, to the exclusion of everything else, was the love of God.”

From Theological Lexicon of the NT

This love suggests the Lord’s seizing us to hold us and maintain us in his sovereign and exclusive possession. It takes possession of us so forcefully that it compels us to love in return (cf. the persistence in Mic 7:18; Ps 77:9) and wraps up our whole being. More than pressure, it is a compulsion that orients our whole life and all our conduct. The fervor of this agape, which is suggestive of a fire (Matt 24:12), can be compared to a burning fever (Heb 10:24) and thus implies intense emotion, the giving of one’s heart. Finally, since according to St. Paul the agape of Christ is essentially linked to the cross, this love in a way oppresses the disciple, just as Christ was in anguish at the prospect of his passion; it judges him and convinces him to die with his Savior. He is forced to it, as it were.

Word Biblical Commentary Ralph Martin

The love of Christ compels us to be included in Christ and his mission. The point is that “compels” signifies a positive force. Paul cannot but follow his plan of ministry because it is God’s plan. What Christ has done for Paul is the basis of the apostle’s life. (This compelling power of Christ’s love is clearly seen in Phil 1:21; 3:7–11. “It is the logic which demands his [Paul’s] willingness to suffer the loss of all things for Christ’s sake; and it is the reason for his overmastering ambition to win Christ, to be found in Christ, and to know Christ.

IVP NT Commentary Linda Belleville

The basic sense of synechō (to compel) is to hold something together so that it does not fall apart. From this we get the meanings to “hold fast” (that is, to not allow to slip through one’s fingers) and to “surround” or “hem in” (that is, to not let escape). The idea is that Christ’s love completely controls and dominates Paul so that he has no option but to preach. The hymn writer George Matheson knew of this kind of constraining love when he penned the words “O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee; / I give Thee back the life I owe, That in Thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be.”

The more I think about this compelling love and the idea of fruit bearing or flourishing, John 15 blasts through my brain with John’s emphasis on abiding.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

5 Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

I love this song by Aaron Keyes and somehow this simple humble version of his song, Abide, hits the spot. How these words are for me. How desperate I am to abide and depend on Him Enjoy.