Love That Sees People

Introduction

I think we can all agree that we live in a world that is fractured, that is broken. A world that is divided, filled with loneliness and spiritual blindness. People are searching for something, they just do not know what they are searching for. People are hurting, overlooked and often unseen.

Yet into all this brokenness, Jesus at just the right time, stepped in with a radically different kind of love— a love that notices, moves toward, speaks truth, crosses barriers, sacrifices deeply and stays faithfully.

Yes, Jesus came, and yes Jesus brought a new radical way of thinking and doing things that shook the status quo. This series will explore six ways that Jesus loved in a world, much like ours. Hopefully each message will reveal a facet of Christ’s love that becomes a witness through His people. For when His Church, His people, love like Jesus, the world sees what it cannot explain, a supernatural love that points directly to Him!

Love that Sees People

Big Idea: Jesus loved by truly seeing people — the broken, the overlooked, the marginalized— and responding with compassion

Key Scriptures are on slide (Jn4:7-10; Mt9:36; Lk19:10)

Use the slide pictures as the illustration now. Think about the last time when someone really saw you, or when you took the time to see someone. Not just notice you, but saw you, valued you, can cared enough to respond to you? When that happens those moments stay with you because we have seen one of the deepest human needs met, someone who slowed down enough long enough to notice our struggles, our pain, our sorrow, our worth. In a world full of noise, speed, and distraction people are desperate for people to just be seen. Jesus did that everywhere He went and we will see some of that today and in the lessons in this series.

Jesus saw beyond the surface

Turn with me and let’s look at John 4:7–10 “There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.””

Jesus didn’t just see a Samaritan woman at a well; He saw her story, her wounds, her thirst for something real

Where others saw a problem, Jesus saw a person.

Application: Ask God to help you see people’s stories, not just their behaviors. (expand on this; use the people in the illustration; homeless, man filled with worry, girl that is friendless)

Jesus was moved with Compassion

Turn with me again please to Matthew 9:35–36 “Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.” (the focus is v.36)

Jesus didn’t simply observe brokenness- He felt it.

Compassion in Scripture is not pity; it is love that moves, it is love that does something.

His heart broke for people who were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Application: Slow down enough to let compassion (love that moves to do something) interrupt your schedule. - Think about what that may look like.

Jesus Came To Seek And Save

Remember people are looking, but people do not know what they are looking for. Turn again with me, for Jesus did know.

Luke 19:10 ““For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.””

But wait, to understand, who was looking, Zaccheus was looking, back up with me

Luke 19:1–4 “He entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich. Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.”

And then see what Jesus did

Luke 19:5–9 “When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.”

Jesus didn’t wait for people to come to Him; He went to them; He went to Zaccheus!

Zacchaeus wasn’t just a corrupt tax collector —he was a lost man Jesus came to rescue.

Seeing leads to seeking; compassion leads to action.

Application: Look for the overlooked. Move toward the marginalized. Seek out the hurting.

(Conclusion) Jesus loved by seeing people, by really seeing them. And when we follow Him, we begin to see what He sees; the lonely neighbor, the struggling coworker, the overwhelmed parent, or even the teenager hiding behind the humor, and the person who feels invisible in the crowd. - - - If we want to love like Jesus, we need to start where He started with eyes open and hearts engaged.

Major Takeaway

True Christlike love begins with seeing people the way Jesus sees them —with compassion that moves us to action.