Celebrating Jesus Daily

All You Need Is Love

"All you need is love, love. Love, that is all you need."

"What the world needs now is love, sweet love.
That's the only thing that there's just too little of."

"Don't you want somebody to love? Don't you need somebody to love? Wouldn't you love somebody to love? You better find somebody to love."

"C'mon people now, smile on your brother. Everybody get together, try to love one another right now."



A generation has passed since "The Summer of Love," when the lyrics quoted above ruled the airwaves, describing the great hunger and thirst in mankinds collective consciousness for the type of love, acceptance and forgiveness which can only be found through the personal experience of the love of God.

The apostle Paul spoke of this love in the third chapter of Ephesians.

Eph 3:14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

The desire to love and be loved is the desire for fullness, for completeness. For thousands of years men and women have attempted to fill the vacancy in their soul with every sort of substance and activity imaginable to human ingenuity. Without success. Nothing of earth can become a reasonable and fulfilling substitute for the greatness and graciousness of the love poured out on mankind through the sacrifice made at Calvary by God's only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

God the Father having an almost unimaginably strong desire of love for His creation gave the world the greatest gift in all the universe when He sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world not to condemn it but to save it.

The Greek word translated condemn in verse 17 is "Krino", meaning: to judge, to pronounce an opinion concerning right and wrong, to be judged, i.e. summoned to trial that one's case may be examined and judgment passed upon it. To pronounce judgment, to subject to censure , to go to law, have suit at law.

God did not send His Son to do any of the things listed above, He sent Him to save the world. The Greek for saved is: " Sozo," translated elsewhere make whole, heal, be whole and carrying the meanings: to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction from injury or peril, to save a suffering one (from perishing), i.e. one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health to preserve one who is in danger of destruction, to save or rescue, to save in the technical biblical sense

That last entry is so beautiful; "to save in the technical biblical sense." Yes God the Father sent Jesus Christ to save our eternal spirits that we might send all eternity in fellowship with the Trinity, but the salvation purchased for the world through the shed blood of Christ is not limited to our eternal salvation.

It also has rich promise for the life we now live. Forgiveness, peace of mind, physical strength and health, all things pertaining to life and godliness are wrapped up in the word saved. Scofield's notes on
Rom 1:16 state that the Hebrew and Greek words for salvation encompass all the redemptive acts and processes of God.

No wonder Paul prayed that we as the church of God would become rooted and grounded in the true love of God. That we would come to a place of truly comprehending the enormity and all encompassing immensity of that love. That we would enter into an experience of God's love which would surpass mere head-knowledge or doctrinal acknowledgement of it.

And for what purpose? That we might be "filled with all the fulness of God." The words filled and fulness translate the Greek words "Pleroo" and "Pleroma".
Pleroo: to make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the full, to cause to abound, to furnish or supply liberally, i.e. to complete to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be wanting, to make complete in every particular, to render perfect, to carry through to the end, to accomplish, carry out, (some undertaking)
Pleroma: that which is (has been) filled, a ship inasmuch as it is filled (i.e. manned) with sailors, rowers, and soldiers, in the NT, the body of believers, as that which is filled with the presence, power, agency, riches of God and of Christ.

It looks like Lennon was right: All You Need Is Love .

When it is the love of God. When it is the love expressed through the Father giving His only begotten Son that through Him all who believe might be saved. When it is the love which fearlessly gives and keeps on giving even when rejected by the object of its' affection. That object being "the world".

Read the scripture again. "For God so loved the world" . Not the church, not the religious people, not the really nice or really good people. The world.

Greek: "Kosmos".
Kosmos: the world, the universe, the circle of the earth, the earth , the inhabitants of the earth, men, the human family the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ, world affairs, the aggregate of things earthly, the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments riches, advantages, pleasures, etc, which although hollow and frail and fleeting, stir desire, seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ kosmos has very frequently an unfavorable meaning, denoting the inhabitants of the world, mankind in general, as opposed to God.

God loves His whole creation. He is a restorer and a re-creator. There is a day coming in which He will create a New Heavens and a New Earth in which there will be not even the faintest hint of any of the pain, suffering or evil endured during this present age. He will people this New Earth with the sons and daughters of His great love.

1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

He is calling all the peoples of the world to become His sons and daughters. Every tribe, every nation. Paul speaks of this in the book of Romans.

Rom 10:11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Because God loved He gave a gift to the world. If we say we have the experience of that love then we must imitate our Father and reach out to the world with the Good News of salvation of Jesus Christ. To paraphrase the great Missionary Pastor Oswald Smith: "No one has the right to hear the Gospel twice, until everyone has heard it once."

There are over 3 billion people on the earth today who have never even heard the name of Jesus much less heard the Gospel of God's love explained to them in their own tongue. Because our Father loved the world He sent Jesus to preach the Good News of salvation.

Before His crucifixion Jesus prayed:

John 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
After His resurrection He told His disciples:
John 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

His last words to the Church before His ascension to Heaven were:

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

Christianity was never meant to be about fancy buildings, expensive cars, gorgeous clothes and building personal kingdoms here on Earth. Christianity is about taking the love of God to the dark places of the Earth where the love, life and light of God have never been made known.

Genuine Christianity is giving up that which is most dear in order to send salvation to a world chained in sin and darkness without hope and separated from the love of God not only in the present age but for all eternity unless a preacher is sent that they may believe and be saved.

Paul put it this way:

Rom 15:20 Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation:
21 But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand.

To paraphrase Oswald Smith again:

"You must go or you must send." Let the love of God come to fulfillment in your life. God loves the world. He is calling them to Sonship in His family and the only voice He has is that of the one's who are willing to travel to the hidden places of the earth with the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

The people groups I am talking about have never seen a TV - Televangelism will not reach them. They don't have radios - Radio Evangelism won't reach them. Millions of them are illiterate - Tract Evangelism won't reach them.

The only way for them to hear the Gospel, believe and be saved is the plan Jesus laid out:

"Go (physically) into all the world and preach (personally) the gospel to every creature..."

Certainly God wants us to prosper. Of course God wants us to be in health. But His commandment to us is love. Love that gives. Love that sends. Love that will not be satisfied until the gospel is preached to every nation (Greek: ethnos - people groups) for a witness. That they might believe and be saved.

1Co 13:1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
1Co 13:2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
1Co 13:3 And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing.
1Co 13:4 Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
1Co 13:5 doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil;
1Co 13:6 rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth;
1Co 13:7 beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
1Co 13:8 Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away.
1Co 13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;
1Co 13:10 but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.
1Co 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things.
1Co 13:12 For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known.
1Co 13:13 But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.