What does God want us to pursue in our relationships with others in our local church? In volume 13 of his works, John Owen lays down a number of rules which I thought I could share over the next several weeks. Here is the first.Rule One: "Affectionate, sincere love in all things, without dissumulation towards one another, like that which Christ bare to his church."In other words, we are to feel tender, warm, fond, positive feelings of liking towards one another, demonstrating real, from the heart, not just going through the motions and checking off some sort of this is what I am supposed to do so that other people I am doing the right thing but instead because I really do love the other person, in every thing I do towards them, without being fake, without being false, without simply being polite, but really, really caring for the other person, the way that Christ cared for us as a church.Proof:John 15:12 "This is my commandment that you love one another..."John 13:34,35 "...by this all men know that you are my disciples..."Romans 13:8 "Owe no man anything but to love..."Ephesians 5:2 "Walk in love as Christ has loved us..."1 Thessalonians 3:2 "The Lord make you to increase and abound in love..."1 Peter 1:22 "...see that you love one another with a pure heart..."1 John 4:21 "...he who loves God loves his brother also..."Romans 12:10 "Be kindly affectionate toward one another with brotherly love..."How many different ways do these verses express the nature and importance of love? It is a command, it is the mark of being a believer, it is something we owe each other, it is something that is to characterize our whole lives, it is defined by Christ's concern for us, it is something we should constantly be growing in, it is something that we should overflow with, it is something that should come from a pure heart, it is something that flows out of our love for God, it involves affection, kindness and should be family like love.Explanation:John Owen comments on these verses saying, "Love is the fountain of all duties toward God and man," all our other obedience flows out of love "the substance of all rules that concern the saints," love sums up everything that we are supposed to do as a church, "the bond of communion," love is what keeps us close "the fulfilling of the law," it is how we obey God's word, "the advancement of the honour of the Lord Jesus, and the glory of the gospel" if we want to make Jesus look great, here's our strategy, bold, risky, sacrificial love."The primitive Christians had a proverbial speech, as they said, from Christ, 'Never rejoice but when thou seest a brother in love,'; and it was common among the heathens concerning them, 'See how they love one another!' from their readiness for the accomplishment of that royal precept of laying down their lives for the brethren...And of no one thing of present performance is the doctrine of the Lord Jesus more excellent and eminent above all other directions than in this of mutual, intense, affectionate love among his followers, for which he gives them innumerable precepts, exhortations, and motives, but, above all, his own heavenly example...Now this love is a spiritual grace produced by the Holy Spirit, in the hearts of believers, whereby their souls are carried out to seek the good of the children of God as such, uniting the heart unto the object so beloved, attended with joy, delight and happiness in their good."In other words, this love is not just a personality trait, it is something supernatural. It is not merely external, it comes from the heart. It is not just doing your duty. It is where your heart actually wants the good of others, where your heart is actually knit with the other person, and that is proved by the fact that you actually are really, really, really, excited about their good.Motivation:Because this kind of love is so important and such an all encompassing kind of command, Owen points us to several different motivations for pursuing it as a church.1. The command of God...(It is hard to think of many other commands God repeats more often or lays more stress on.)2. The intense, inexpressible love of Jesus Christ...(Not only does God call us to love, he has shown us what love looks like.)3. The eternal, peculiar, distinguishing, faithful love of God towards believers...(Not only does God call us to love, he has and does love us.)4. The eminent renewal of the old command of love with new enforcements...(Jesus stresses the importance of this command in fairly extreme ways.)5. The eminency of this grace - in its divine nature, in its usefulness, in its acceptance with the saints...6. The impossibility of performing any other duty without it...(If you take love out, you empty the best duties of their value. Just think of what religious activity becomes without love. Here is something potentially awesome, religious activity and yet if you take love out of it, it suddenly becomes dangerous and destructive.)7. The great sin of a lack of love with all its consequences....(What happens if you take right teaching out of a church? All kinds of terrible consequences, obviously. We would get very passionate if someone teaches false doctrine in a church because we know very well the damage it can do. And that's right, we should get passionate about that. But do we get as passionate about a lack of biblical love? We need to get passionate in a loving way about a lack of biblical love, because a lack of biblical love has devastating consequences in the life of a church. It makes the gospel look ugly, it makes it difficult for people to listen to the Word of God, it tempts people to bitterness, it promotes disunity, it pulls people apart from each other, it doesn't represent Jesus or God well, it keeps people from receiving the personal support and help they need and we could go on and on.)