The upside down (6)

What is love?

Love is a lot more than what we think it is now.

Ultimately to love someone is to sacrifice for them

John 15:13 ESV

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Jesus goes on in this passage to say that we are His friends if we do what He says

Matthew 5:43 ESV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

Jesus is quoting this verse in

Leviticus 19:18 ESV

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Here the people took this out of context as well. They knew that they should love their neighbor, but they took that to mean only the people of Israel.

More than likely, they also took some of their own personal thoughts and added it to scripture.

The Israelites had been persecuted, put in slavery, exiled and held captive. When Jesus says “you have heard that it was said to hate your enemy” more than likely He is referring to what has been passed down.

Do not read your own life into the words of Jesus

When we do this, we tend to make the Bible about us rather than what God is saying. Rather than listening to the words of Jesus and then applying His word to our lives, we decide that our lives can inform us of scripture, which is completely backwards

Matthew 5:44–45 ESV

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Jesus again hits the heard of people. It is hard to love those who hate you. It is hard to love those who persecute you, it is hard to love your enemies, but isn’t that what Jesus did?

Romans 5:10 ESV

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

The Bible clearly states that prior to salvation, we were enemies of God. Prior to Jesus dying on a cross and us accepting the free gift of salvation, we were enemies of God, and yet Jesus still loved us enough to die on a cross. To pay the punishment for our sins. To make a way where there was no way.

Do we love like Jesus?

Matthew 5:46–47 ESV

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

Next Jesus goes to a very logical argument here. Clearly it is easy to love those who are our friends right? Even sinners do this. Everyone does this. Even when you think about the worst of the worst people, gangs for example, don’t they greet their friends, or those in the same gang as them, and do anything for them?

Francis Chan recounts a story of a moment in his ministry when He was talking to a former gang member who just got saved, the man was on fire for the Lord, but after a while stopped coming to church. Francis Chan decided to meet with him and find out why.

The man very plainly said that even in church, even surrounded by believers that he felt more love from his old gang members than he did in the church.

We as believers do not even love each other well. If we are told to love one another, but we do not do that well, then we cannot love our enemies as though Jesus did.

What needs to change?

We have talked about it a few times, but I believe it starts here

Love God with everything first

This sounds easy, but we over look it.

There is a reason that Jesus says this is the first and greatest command, because out of our love for the Lord, the rest will follow. Because when we love God with everything that we have, it becomes easier to say “whatever you want God, I will do.

Love God with everything first

Recognize how much Jesus loves you

Paul did this really well right? He was a pharisee, someone high up in the jewish world, and someone that Jesus would have been “attacking” here in this moment. Yet when he encountered Jesus, when he followed him with everything, he listened to the call of the Lord and radically pursued the gentiles. People who would have been considered his enemies, and shared the gospel with them. To the point of being thrown in jail.

Love God with everything first

Recognize how much Jesus loves you

Find practical ways to love people

There is no point in saying that we need to do something unless we put it to practice

Matthew 5:48 ESV

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Jesus knows that us being perfect is impossible, but we should be striving to follow the Lord and what He says as much as possible.