Easter Changes Everything: How I LOVE

Easter changes how I LOVE PEOPLE

“You ever run into someone from your past… and they start talking to a version of you that doesn’t even exist anymore?”

-They bring up old stories

Old habits

Old labels

Old mistakes

“And you’re standing there thinking… that’s not even me anymore.”

“And if we’re honest… sometimes we do the same thing.”

We see people as who they used to be

We relate to them based on old experiences

We love them through outdated versions

“We freeze people in time… and then wonder why love feels so limited.”

“But Easter changes that.”

Because:

I’m not who I used to be

And you’re not who you used to be

2 Corinthians 5:17

“17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!”

“That means I don’t just get a new life…

I get a new way to love people.”

“Because if I’m still loving people the same way I did before Jesus…

then I’m loving from an old version of me.”

“And resurrected people don’t love from the past…

they love from the resurrection.”

Acts 9

“Acts 9—Saul has an encounter with Jesus… and everything changes.”

Remind them who Saul was:

Threatening Christians

Hunting believers

Approving executions

“This man wasn’t just broken… he was dangerous.”

“And in one encounter with Jesus…

he goes from hunting Christians… to being hunted.”

From persecutor → persecuted

From violent → surrendered

From retaliating → enduring

“And here’s what’s wild…

you never see Saul trying to get even.”

“Because when Jesus changes you…

He doesn’t just change your direction—He changes your disposition.”

“Resurrected people love people in a resurrected way.”

1.) I love from a NEW IDENTITY

Your new IDENTITY has a new CAPACITY to love people…. Because you have a NEW SOURCE…

(LAST WEEK - HOLY SPIRIT)

Romans 5:5

“5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

**You don’t manufacture LOVE… you RECEIVE it…. Then RELEASE IT**

Prior to Christ we loved like the world

-conditional, reactive, love based upon our history and others history

After Christ LOVE CHANGES

Love out of the OVERFLOW… not the EFFORT

The difference is the same difference as a cup vs a fountain…. In a cup there is a limited supply a limited source… when a fountain keeps pouring, because it KEEPS receiving

2.) I LOVE because HE LOVED

Its not a question… its not an opportunity… its an expectation of the resurrection… that we LOVE

1 John 4:19 “19 We love because he first loved us.”

Romans 5:8 “8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

you don’t learn to LOVE FROM PEOPLE…. You learn to LOVE PEOPLE from the cross!

Jesus didn’t wait to love us until we changed… He didn’t wait to love us until we were deserving… he didn’t wait to love us until we agreed…

If your version of love requires agreement, you are loving out of the old self, not the resurrection.

**Jesus didn’t love the best version of you…. He loved you at your worst and called you to your best***

3.) Resurrected LOVE has ACTION

So often we live out of our resurrected faith, but we LOVE out of our OLD SELF….. YOU are new, and this new LOVE has new action.

1 John 3:18 “18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

Love is not proven by what you FEEL…. It is proven by what you DO,

Jesus set the EXAMPLE when he washed his disciples feet… in fact they tried to refuse, because they didn’t understand this ACTION of LOVE…..

John 13:14–15 “14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”

Your NEW YOU has a NEW WAY of LOVING….. even WRONG PEOPLE

Jesus washed the feet of people that would betray HIM, deny him and abandon HIM…

Simply put JESUS served people that were about the HURT HIM….

Easter doesn’t call me to love GOOD people, it calls me to LOVE ALL PEOPLE.

And LOVE that doesn’t have action isn’t born in the resurrection

4.) I love BEYOND my HURT

**you can’t love people well if you’re still living from old wounds**

This is why Paul… who was Saul… who used to KILL CHRISTIANS and then was attacked by them…. Writes to the church

Ephesians 4:31–32

“31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

You cannot run past this…. You cannot cover it over.. you cannot paint over this… we have been hurt and the enemy of our souls wants to hold the NEW YOU hostage to your OLD HURTS…. We’ve all been hurt, and then we compare and justify our hurts…

JESUS set the standard on the cross of what this new love looks like

Luke 23:34

“34 Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.”

EASTER calls me to FORGIVE

The old you loves OUT OF THE HURT… the new you loves out of HIS FORGIVENESS AND HIS LOVE… and we are called to this

Easter doesn’t just change how GOD sees us….. it changes how we see people…. All people… EVERY MAN WOMAN AND CHILD>… the people you live with and the people you avoid in life.. the people you laugh with and the people who have made you cry… the people you understand and the people you can’t understand….

If agreement is required for you to lOVE THEM.. that is the OLD YOU

To explain how profound this new you and new love is together… I want to look at our main verse one more time

2 Corinthians 5:17–19 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

This is what we get to GIVE, because we received it…. The ministry of reconciliation

SALVATION:

The first step is to truly understand that you are LOVED…deeply, God isn’t mad at you… HE IS MAD ABOUT YOU… he isn’t running away from you… HE is running towards you right now with the action of the cross… the most powerful symbol in all of time is a love note to YOU.. individually.

CHARGE:

Who is God calling you to love in the NEW YOU in a NEW WAY… put action on it…