Love People

January 14th 2024

Series: The Essentials

Sermon Title: Love People

Topic: Launching into the new year right. Focused on our mission.

Key Passages: Matthew 22:37-40, Matthew 28:19-20, Matthew 22:37 Luke 10: 30-37

Sermon Blurb: In today’s message we will learn how to love people the way God calls us to.

Green in sermons means illustration, something we are looking for a response from, or a picture that goes on the screens.

Yellow means what is yellow will be on the screens and in the handout.

Sermon:

Hello Family Church!

Family Moment –

Start with something personal to help people get to know you.

Celebrate salvation’s / re-dedications / baptisms last week.

Welcome back to our second week in our series called “The Essentials!”

This whole month we are looking at how we live like a FULLY devoted follower of Jesus!

We are LASER focusing on the things….

The activities….

The habits…..

The Biblical fundamentals….

That we believe are most VITAL to our Christian faith.

This whole month we will be talking about the things that we think all of us need to do if we are to become healthy, mature, growing disciples of Jesus.

What will be unique this year is we will be packaging them within the framework of our church’s mission statement.

Anyone remember what our missions statement is?

HINT…we told you last week!

That right…. Write it down again!

Family Church Mission: Love God, Love people,and Make disciples.

Repeat

Each week we will be talking about each of those commands, and how we can grow in each one of them.

Our entire mission statement originated with Jesus.

Let me show you….

Matthew chapter 22 verse 37 Jesus said this…

Matthew 22:37-40 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Right there in your Bible is where we get our “Love God” and “Love people.”

Then in Matthew28 Jesus said,

Matthew 28:19-20 19“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you, to the very end of the age.”

This is where we get our “Make Disciples.”

Love God, Love people, and Make Disciples.

These are the 3 primary commands given to us by Jesus Himself. These are His Essentials, and so they are ours also.

But that question is….

How do we do that?

How do we grow in our love for God? How do we love other people the way God wants us to?

How do we make disciples of Jesus who can make more disciples of Jesus?

The GOOD news is that we are going to tackle those questions this month!

PAUSE

Last week, we jumped into what it means to love God and how we can grow in our love for Him through time reading and obeying the Bible, and talking with Him in prayer and with fasting!

Hopefully you all picked up a Prayer and Fasting guide and have been seeking the Lord throughout this week!

A quick reminder to come back TONIGHT for our Night of Worship and Prayer!

It will be happening at each campus TONIGHT at ADD TIME

PAUSE

Today we are going to look at the second command Jesus gave us…..

The command to Love People...

I just want to warn you...

Love People is so much more than just a quick slogan on our wall or website!

Today we will ALL be challenged to go deeper and further in our love for others...so, are you ready???

PAUSE

Put the commands Jesus in Matthew 22 back on the screens…

Matthew 22:37 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Here Jesus gives mankind the first and greatest command, which is to love God with everything in us.

But the second greatest command is similar...

“Love your neighbor as yourself”.

Jesus says, “All the law and the Prophets hang on those two commands.”

That is an incredible statement to make and one that we will talk more about later...

PAUSE

But, in the same way that we started our study last week defining the word for LOVE that Jesus uses in V.37 in our command to LOVE GOD, we will do the same again this week.

And spoiler alert!!!

It’s the same exact word!

Yes, in the same way that we are to love God with His (Agapo) love, we are also commanded to love our neighbor with His Agapo love also.

Let’s remember our definition for Agapo (AHH-gap-oh) from last weekend...

It is in your notes again, “Agapáō is defined as having a preference for, to take pleasure in, to prize above all other things, to be unwilling to do without, and to long for something or someone else”.

So, think about what Jesus is saying here, as it relates to other people AND God.

Jesus is saying that we are to have preference for our neighbor.

Take pleasure in the relationship we have with our neighbor.

That we prize our people above all other things.

That we are unwilling to do without other people in our lives!

That we LONG for time with other people….

NOW…

If you are an introvert, like Pastor Adam, you are thinking….

NOPE

NOT going to happen!

If you are an extrovert, like Pastor Keith,….. You are thinking….

No problem…

What is the big deal….

Some of you who are not really an introvert or extrovert, like Pastor Erik.... You are thinking..

This just sounds impossible!

We can understand striving to love God with self-sacrificing love…

But our neighbor???

Really???

And what does Jesus mean by our neighbor anyway….

Like, who am I commanded to love that way?!?

Is He talking about our literal neighbor next door, hopefully the one I like... not the one with the crazy kids or the loud parties....

Or is Jesus talking about something different?

PAUSE

So, let’s take a moment to define what Jesus meant when he said this….

The word for “neighbor” used here in the Greek is “Plesion” (Play-see-on). This word, you can see in your notes, is defined as

Plesion is defined as any other human irrespective of nation or religion with whom we live or whom we happen to meet.

That’s very broad, right?

Not just your literal neighbor!

But ANYONE around you at ANYgiven time!

Wow!

So, not just my family?

Not just my friends?

Not just you all here at my church?

Not just the neighbors that I actually like?

Not just the co-workers that I actually like?

EVERYONE!?!

Even people who are very different from me or even mean to me?

PAUSE

Yes….

Jesus was commanding us to sacrificially love ANYONE that we are around at any given time.

No loopholes!!!!!

BUT….it is even harder.. in reality if you look at what Jesus’ words are….

Look in your Bibles…

Jesus did stop with just love (agape) your neighbor…

He added AS much AS yourself!!!!

Now, I love this because it’s true that most of us don’t have a problem loving ourselves, right?

I mean, even recently, Megan Trainor and Demi Lavato have both written songs about it entitled, “I Love Me”.

It’s the mantra of this generation!

And yes…. I know who those singers are….and NO…you should not really listen to their music!!!

PAUSE

Honestly, when you look at a group or family picture who’s the first person you look for?

YOURSELF because WE LOVE OURSELVES!

Most of us naturally think of ourselves and our needs first...

We make sure that our needs are met.

It’s in our nature to provide, protect, and care for ourselves.

So, Jesus is saying “In the same way that you naturally put yourself first, looking out for your needs... now I want you to do that for OTHERS around you...

Wow!

Now, not only did Jesus make this command simple and straight forward, but He also told a parable to help it hit home...

PAUSE

In Luke’s account of this passage in Matthew 22 includes something interesting…

Flip to Luke 10….

Here you will see an expert in the law questioned Jesus about who is my neighbor?”

Luke says that he was seeking to justify himself.

In other words, he didn’t like that Jesus said “you’ve got to sacrificially love everyone, so he looked for a loophole by asking Jesus to define the word “neighbor”.

Who are you commanding me to sacrifice for?

So, as Jesus often does, He shares a story... Luke 10 starting at verse 30…lets read this…

Luke 10: 30-37 “30A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers.

They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.

31 A priest happened to be going down the same road,

and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.

32 So too, a Levite,

when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

33 But a Samaritan,

as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.

34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.

Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.

35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper.

‘Look after him’, he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expenses you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

In other words, your neighbor is anyone around you at any time...even those who are very different or even despised by you….

And Jesus EXPECTS us to help all people…

Even people who hate us…

Or think different about politics…

Or think different about social issues…

Or are NOT Christians….

PAUSE

This is an incredible story, isn’t it?

This story powerfully illustrates what it looks like to follow Jesus’ command to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

And what we find from Jesus’ story is that most people will NOT...

Even religious people like the Levite and the Priest, struggle with this.

And here is the reality….

We can ALL come up with “reasons” why we couldn’t help this poor guy out.

Just like I am sure they did back then….

I know you have said things like:

· I want to help…..but I’m too busy, I don’t have time.

· I’ve got more important things to do.

· I don’t want to get dirty, someone else (maybe less important) can take care of that.

· It's not my problem, someone else will handle it.

· Those people chose their plot in life…so they can deal with their junk on their own….

· Those people’s livestyles are so OBHORENT to me…no way I will help people like them unless they CHANGE first….

Anybody honest enough to admit you’ve “been there, done that”???

PAUSE

BUT….

See…..

Jesus shows us what it looks like to actually fulfill this command.

Look at the Samaritan in your Bible.

Look back at verse 33.

It says that he “SAW” the man lying in the road.

Now, to be fair, all 3 men “saw” him... but the Samaritan “saw” him and ALLOWED himself to be moved with compassion…

The verse say “when he saw him he took pity on him.”

So, while the two religious guys saw the man (with judgement) and kept going...

The Samaritan saw him (with pity) and drew near to him.

Now, the term “took pity on him” isn’t the best translation of the word used here and other translations us the word compassion….

He was MOVED WITH COMPASSION!

And that brings us to the next point to write down today...

Loving people God’s way requires seeing others with compassion.

(Repeat)

The Priest and the Levite saw the man and were moved away from him to the other side of the road...

When the Samaritan saw the man, he was moved with compassion and verse 34 it says, “He went TO HIM...”

And that’s the choice we all have to make when we see people every day...

Will we see people as burdens or distractions, or will we see people with compassion.

Will we see people as problems to avoid, or as people to help and love.

Will we see people and move AWAY from them, or see people and move TO them in love and compassion.

PAUSE

This Samaritan’s compassion moved him TO the bloody, beaten man in need.

He went to the mess.

He went to the problem.

He went to the burden.

He went to the pain.

He went to the need!

While everybody else found excuses to move them away, the Samaritan found compassion to move him tothis man in need.

This is where his Agape love started, and it’s where ours must start also.

We must see people differently.

We must see people as God sees them... with compassion.

PAUSE

Look at what his love for others does next... verse 34 says,

“He bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.”

This is what it means to sacrificially love someone else “as we love ourselves.”

This brings us to our next point to jot down today,

Loving people God’s way requires caring for their needs as we would our own.

(repeat)

The Samaritan goes to the man (who again, was his cultural enemy) and begins to care for his needs as he would do for himself.

He gets his own hands dirty and bloody,

he uses his own wine and oil,

he puts the man on his own donkey,

he brought him to a safe place,

he took care of him by paying for his bills with his own money!

And in doing so, he loved his neighbor as he loved himself!

This shows us that not only was he moved with compassion towards the man in need…

Not only did he care for him as he would have cared for himself...

He also was willing to go the extra mile and do more than was required of him.

That leads us to our next point, which is this,

Loving people God’s way will be uncomfortable, inconvenient,and costly.

(repeat)

Let's consider all the ways that this Samaritan “loved” his neighbor...

He sacrificed his time by spending over a day with this guy in need.

That means that he didn’t get some stuff done at work.

He didn’t get to go home to his wife and kids.

He didn’t get to watch his favorite TV show.

He didn’t get to enjoy his favorite meal.

He sacrificed his precious time for the sake of someone else.

He sacrificed his stuff...

He got his clothes dirty.

He used his oil/wine to clean this guy’s wounds.

He used his donkey to carry the man while he likely walked.

Maybe it was his favorite shirt..

Maybe it was his oil and wine for dinner…

Regardless he allowed his stuff to be used for the needs of someone else.

He sacrificed his money…

He spent over $500 to pay for this man’s medical bills.

This wasn’t his father or son or uncle or friend.

Maybe this was all the money he had.

Regardless, he lavishly spent it on a stranger who was in need!

He sacrificed his reputationby being associated with people who were considered his people’s enemy.

Did any of his Samaritan friends see him associating with a Jew?

Did other Jews look at him strangely for helping one of their own?

Would people assume he was connected to a crime for helping someone who was clearly beaten up badly?

He sacrificed his comfort / convenience….

This would be the greatest hurdle in our culture today…

We want to know what is ANYTHING going to cost before we do it.

What will it take?

How much time will I have to sacrifice….

How much money will this cost me…

How much sacrifice?

PAUSE

Church, think about... This is extravagant love, is it not?

We are talking about sacrificing all this for a stranger here...but, Jesus says, “Sacrificially love ALL people...regardless of nationality or religion.”

And this guy paints a picture for all of us as to how we are to live out this specific command in our own lives!

(Share an example from your own life of Agape Love in action)

I remember one occurrence as a Missions pastor leading a team to a Muslim country in the Middle East. It was just after 9/11 and everyone on our team was very nervous and worried about radical Islam.

We arrived in the country and were driving from the airport to another city a few hours away. As we drove into a small village, we came upon a lively scene. There was loud music, men were crossing the street dancing and singing...clearly celebrating something. Everyone in our vehicle got nervous...what was all the fuss about? “Were they celebrating a terrorist attack”...honestly, that’s what some people were thinking.

Just then it became clear...there was a man on a decorated chair being carried along by other men...it was the groom and his wedding party. Our vehicle stopped to watch the entourage and as we did, the group of men noticed us. It wasn’t hard, we were a group of Americans packed into a van sticking out like a sore thumb. What would they do? Well, they began to point and smile and wave us over. They wanted us to join their wedding party.

What?!? We were strangers, foreigners, even some might say enemies. But, they began to speak in broken English beckoning us to join in the dancing and the celebration. I went up to the groom to get his permission and with a huge smile he nodded and gave me a thumbs up. For up to an hour, our team danced, sang, and celebrated the wedding of a man and family that were total and complete strangers to us. We were treated like royalty, given gifts and made to feel like we were the ones being celebrated.

It broke the ice (and the hearts) of those on our team that had judged these people so harshly. We were left shocked and flabbergasted. Would this kind of hospitality and generosity ever happen in America if the roles were flipped? NO WAY! But we were shown a picture of what Jesus meant by loving your neighbor as ourselves. We were the man on the side of the road and these Muslims were the Samaritans. And we would never forget that form of radical hospitality and kindness.

PAUSE

If you’re like me, right now you are reeling a little bit.

Sitting in this Scripture shows me just how selfish I really am.

Just how much of a slave to comfort and convenience I really am.

Just how far I have to go in my Agape love for others around me.

Maybe, like me, you are thinking to yourself, “How can I grow in this area?

How can I do a better job of loving (truly loving) people around me?”

And the GOOD NEWS is that Jesus answers that in this passage we started on!!!!

Go back to Matthew 22….

Let me show you….

Matthew 22:37 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Did you catch that?

All the law and the prophets hang on these two commands.

What does that mean?

Jesus is saying, listen to this, that if we truly love God with all of our being and if we truly love people around us sacrificially, like the Samaritan did, then we will fulfill all of the other laws and commands in Scripture!

In other words, all of the laws and commands in Scripture can be summed up in these two commands...

Love God and Love People!!!!!

Now do you see why these two commands are the greatest and the most important for us here at Family Church?!?

Let me head to closing today….

I want to talk about 3 primary ways that you can do this.

And this is the final point in our message today...

We can grow in loving people God’s way through serving, giving and gathering.

(repeat)

First, let’s take a look at serving here at the church and in the community around us.

You may (or may not) be aware that we have many serving teams here at Family Church.

We would not be able to do anything here at the church if it weren’t for our amazing, awesome volunteer serving teams.

From greeters to the donut table...

From the scooter table to the café...

From the water/lemonade table to the ushers...

From the security team to the kid’s ministry...

From the prayer team to grounds crew... the list goes on and on.

All of these volunteer roles are opportunities to serve in our church and to grow in our love for one another as we sacrificially meet the needs in the lives of others around us.

And if you want to sign up for one of those teams…

Just grab the connection card in the seat in front of you right now and check off where you would like to serve and drop in the offering boxes as you leave and we will reach back out to you!

PAUSE

The second way to grow in your love for others is through giving, financially, here at Family Church.

We saw this in the way that the Samaritan loved his “neighbor”... how he gave of his possessions and his finances in order to care for his needs.

As you give to the Lord through your local church God is able to meet needs of those around us (and all around the world) through our generosity.

You can give here at family church in the offering boxes by the doors.

Online.

Through your bank bill pay.

Through you financial planner and so forth.

Because when you give we can be a blessing TOGATHER to so many!

Like how last year we built a medical clinic in Kenya to bring medical care to over 1,500 rural Kenyans!

Or how we launched the El Salvador and Redwood campus to reach more people for Jesus!

Or how we gave away over $20,000 in benevolence help to people in our community in need….

PAUSE

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is there your heart will be also.”

So, as we give our treasures to the Kingdom of God, we find that our hearts follow suit and our love for God and others grows.

Now, maybe you’re here and you’ve never given to a local church.

If that’s you, the biblical starting point is called a tithe.

A tithe simply means tenth.

God asks us to give 10% of our income to the work of God through your local church.

PAUSE

The last way that you can grow in your love for others here at Family Church is through gathering together with other believers.

Coming to church consistently is a part of that…

Small groups are a part of that.

We currently have over 50 Small Groups here at Family Church, which is great, but that means there are still a LOT of us not in group.

The reality is, one of the primary ways that we grow in our love for others is through the regular practice of doing life together.

This is how a big church becomes more like a family.

This is where your needs for community, friendship and fellowship get met.

This is where you can use your gifts and talents for the good of others in your life.

And, this is where you can grow in the Word, in prayer and in outreach in practical ways.

We have an opportunity for you to get connected with other like minded believers here at Family Church. It’s an event called Group Start and it’s coming soon (enter the date here)

Group Start is an interactive event where you will get paired up with people a lot like you around food and fun!

You’ll learn how to do a small group and decide whether or not you’d like to move forward with that group or not!

That would be a great Next Step for many of you!

PAUSE

As we close our time together, let’s consider what God is speaking to each one of us today... here at Family Church we like to end our sermons with what we call our “Life Application”.

We don’t just want to listen to God’s Word and then leave and do nothing. We want to be those who actually do what He says.

So, here’s your

Life Application: This week, commit to loving those around you as much as you love yourself. Consider how you could serve, give, and gather MORE this year. As a result of today’s message I will ______________________.

Prayer:

Make sure to do a salvation call.

Offering Talk:

Thank you again for taking part of your weekend to spend time with us!

If you would like to give God your tithes or offerings, there at boxes by the doors as you exit that you can place those or any connection cards in.

Have a GREAT week!