When Love isnt Love

I have a hard time admitting sometimes when I need help. I like to think that I can do things on my own. I have a hard time calling someone to give me a hand till I have no other course of action but to rely on someone for help. Now I am getting better at this but it is still a problem sometimes. Humans in general have the same problem. We have a hard time calling out admitting that we need help, that we need someone to save us.

In the message of Christmas that we are going to go through this advent season we are going through How Moses prophesied of someone like Him that was going to come was going to lead and save God’s people. We see this now in Jesus. The first thing that we went through is Jesus the prophet, that came to deliver the message of God to us. This message was the fulfillment of the redemptive plan of God. This message calls us to repentance from our sins and to turn to God as our only source of life.

But we are also told to love others, to meet them where they are at no matter what kind of sin they have gotten themselves into, to those that do not know Jesus we are to love them as Jesus loved them. But do we really know what this looks like? It is tough to figure out exactly how we let this play out. But because I jumped the gun on advent, I have some space to fill and so I thought I would run on this tangent for a bit.

Do we claim to love those around us that do not know Jesus yet forget to tell them of the message of repentance. Though Jesus did love others and meet them where they where at, He also loved them enough not to leave them where they where at and shared with them the message of repentance and forgiveness. We need both love and calling other people take up their cross and follow Jesus. No matter the personal cost to us.

So what we are going to look at for the next couple weeks is examples of How Jesus did not just love others but he called them to turn their lives over to Jesus. and so must we not only love others but tell them of their need for repentance.

Start with Love

In this short series I am going to go through stories in where Jesus loved others, met them where they where at but loved them enough not to leave them where they where at but called them to repentance. But we do need to start with love. Jesus taught this throughout the NT.

John 13:34–35 CSB

34 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

sure this command seems to be given to the followers of Jesus to other followers of Jesus. That is important to remember.

This is important to remember, as sometimes we struggle with this more then the other side of this command to love our neighbors and all those around us. Why is it that we struggle sometimes with loving those that are our brothers and sisters in Christ? The bible doesn't say we all have to always agree on everything except the essentials of the word of God. We are not always going to want to do everything the same way, we all have differing opinions. But that is okay.

If Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophetic word of God of the redemptive plan of God then we are told that we have a part to play in that as well. let me explain what I mean by that.

We are arr taught that we need to be loving others, that is how people will know that we are disciples of Jesus. but we move next to what kind of love this is. we read about this in 1 John.

1 John 4:7–8 CSB

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

so far we see the same message that we have just gone through. That is, if you say you love God you must love others for Love is of God. If you do not love those around you then you do not know God for God is a God of Love. It is the next part that I want to focus on though.

1 John 4:9–10 CSB

9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

In this way was God’s love revealed to us. not that we love others but that Jesus was sent to earth so that we might have life. Not just any life but eternal life. we are not the example of love, but the example of love that we have have been given is Jesus dying to be the propitiation (atoning sacrifice) for our sins.

if this is what love means, if this is the love that we are to show others we need to take a look at How Jesus showed this. But at a rudimentary glance we see that this is a sacrificial kind of love.

The death of Jesus on the cross was something for the glory of the Lord God for the sake of our sin. He did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage but gave himself up so that we might have freedom in Him. He became sin so we might become righteous in Him.

We start with this and we must not forget this. The love that we are to show others was modeled for us in the way that Jesus gave himself up as a sacrifice for our sins. He loved for others sake. We must do the same. Now we look into

How Jesus Modeled love

I wanted to go through this ground work before I go into some of the encounters that Jesus had with others. one of the complaints that The religious leaders had at the time was that Jesus was hanging out with all the wrong people according to them.

Matthew 9:11–12 CSB

11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 Now when he heard this, he said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick.

You see people didn't like the fact that Jesus hung out with those that where in need of Him. After all is was not proper for a Jewish Rabbi to do such things. so now I want to move forward a few chapters.

we have so far established the fact that we are called to love others as Jesus has shown love to us. We have established that Jesus met with the least of these to show them love as well. The people that no one else really wanted to hang out with. we go to the story of the rich young ruler.

AT the time this happened Jesus was teaching in Judea along the Jordan river.

Matthew 19:16–17 CSB

16 Just then someone came up and asked him, “Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?” 17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” he said to him. “There is only one who is good. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

Matthew 19:18–19 CSB

18 “Which ones?” he asked him. Jesus answered: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; 19 honor your father and your mother; and love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 19:20–21 CSB

20 “I have kept all these,” the young man told him. “What do I still lack?” 21 “If you want to be perfect,” Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Matthew 19:22 CSB

22 When the young man heard that, he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.

I want to focus on two different aspects of Jesus encounter with the man. Jesus met the man while He was teaching the crowds. He treated Him with love but also taught Him the truth. This rich young ruler was not really one of the least of these, but He was one that approached Jesus wondering about what He must do to inherit eternal life.

As Jesus was teaching them He loved them, He met them even when He wasn't supposed to according to Jewish tradition anyways. I am not saying that this young man was one of them, but He is the first example that we are going through anyways. The question that was addressed was one of eternal life.

The example that we where given is that as Jesus loved others and shared the message of the gospel so must we.

The message as we have said was one of eternal life and the kingdom of God. So in this example Jesus was already teaching the people, but with the young man he gave him a challenge that left the young man feeling sad. The response is one that we get as well. when we tell people of the message of the gospel, sometimes it ends with them feeling the ssme way.

So we go first to the message.

Jesus had just challenged the people saying that one must be like a child to enter the kingdom of god. To humbly obey the law in childlike faith. The type of faith that believes completely without question. One must give up ones doubts and trust in God for eternal life.

It starts by entering a form of existence contrary to the way you are born. We are not born following the law of God, and Jesus claim here is that we ust follow the law of God, which we know is impossible.

Matthew 19:17 CSB

17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” he said to him. “There is only one who is good. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

Note Jesus does not say that you must follow the law to earn salvation. The young man here thinks that he can earn salvation, so Jesus challenged His traditional view of what this actually meant. It was common for Jews at the time to believe this, and Jesus was challenging this view. no where does it say that Jesus believed you can earn salvation, Just that following the word of God is important.

Even the young man had questions about this for His answer shows us this. He says I have already done this, I am following the law. He has no problems claiming that he has strived to live a good life, He has done good things but in his heart there seems to be a question of what more He can do.

Matthew 19:20 CSB

20 “I have kept all these,” the young man told him. “What do I still lack?”

Many people think that they are good enough to inherit eternal life. What do you think when people tell you that they are good, that they have never really done anything wrong? are you okay challenging them on that. No one is good but God we tell them. There is none good enough is what Jesus helped the guy find out. to love others means that we will point them to eternal life.

There is another aspect that sometimes we all miss though. And that is the aspect of absolute surrender.

Matthew 19:21–22 CSB

21 “If you want to be perfect,” Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard that, he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.

the main point of this is not sell everything you have, but rather come follow me. Instead of grilling the young man on where and what laws he surely has broken he moved right along to His inner being to show Him that he has truly missed the mark.

Discipleship is what is called for, complete and total surrender to the Lord God. When I was training to go overseas for almost 5 months. We where allowed 2 checked bags a piece and we where bringing over a full sound system. I loved music, I had my discman and a 5 inch ring binder full of cd’s that went everywhere with me. But all i had room for was a few changes of clothes, and a pocket bible. The struggle was real but I began to realize my first world problems where not really problems and i could live without them for a while.

to love others means that we will begin to show them that they are not really as good a they think they are. What is really needed is not so much good deeds as it is complete and total surrender to Jesus.

So what?

So when is loving others not really loving others? When we are content to leave peopel where they are at and just be nice to them. Relationship building is a process but we can not use that excuse forever. but it needs to start with us.

Love your brothers and sisters in Christ.

it starts with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. As Jesus thought of the glory of God and others first, so must we as well. It is not about us and loving others needs to start with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

but also with them we are not called to leave them stumbling in their sin, we are called to deal wiht our own personal sin then help them understand when they are living in sin as well. if we cant learn to love and disciple eachother then what hope do we reallyhave. But on the other side of that imagine what we could become, get excited about what it will look like when we start to accomplish this for the glory of God. Get excited about hwta this will look like when we continue to do this.

Challenge those around you

do you claim to love those around you? then do not be scared to point them to Jesus. We are going to elarn from the example that Jesus gave them to us showing that there is more then just being good to others. Jesus calls us to complete surrender to him. so must we as we live our lives in the midst of those around us call them and remind them that if they to want eternal life then total and complete surrender to God is what they need.