Loving People

Week Two: Loving People

Purpose: 1). To explain that Jesus loved people by relating to them with others-centered love and through intentional evangelism . 2). To encourage and instruct our students on how to relate with people with others-centered love and intentionally evangelize. 3). To explain how we do this in the context of our student ministry.

Outline:

· R– Relates with other-centered love

o What did Jesus do?

Jesus loved people by relating to them with other-centered love

Philippians 2:5–8 ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

If I asked you to define humility how would you define it?

· … Jesus emptied himself to serve us, to put sinners before himself. This is the ultimate example of other-centered love.

o How do we imitate that? (Application Points)

John 13:34 ESV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

Ephesians 5:1–2 ESV

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

· , … We are called to imitate that love. Jesus “gave Himself up for us” and we are to do the same for others.

· Encourage a mindset switch from “I live for myself” to “I live for others”

o Give an example of how you or someone you know does this and challenge them to imitate you/them as you/they imitate Christ.

o How do we do this in Refuge/Rock?

We are a community of students. We have the opportunity to give ourselves up for each other in many ways. We can give of our time, resources, energy, talents, emotions, etc.

· I– Intentional Evangelism

o What did Jesus do?

Jesus loved people through intentional evangelism

Luke 19:1–10 ESV

1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

· (emphasize v. 10)… Jesus was driven by his mission to “seek and save the lost”. This mission led to action like inviting himself to lunch with lost people.

· (emphasize v. 10)… Jesus was driven by his mission to “seek and save the lost”. This mission led to action like inviting himself to lunch with lost people.

o How do we imitate that?

Inviting yourself over to someone’s house for lunch might not work as well for you as it did for Jesus, but the key is to put yourself in a place where you can share Jesus with someone.

Fortunately, you all (as students) are already in places where you can introduce people to Jesus. You don’t have to go out to the street corner and preach to crowds (that actually isn’t very effective most of the time), but you can take the opportunity to use a conversation at your lunch table at school to “seek and save” the lost.

o Practical Steps (because evangelism is difficult):

Ask them about what they believe

Give them reasons why you believe what you believe

Share you testimony with them. Tell them how Jesus has changed your life.

o How do we do this in Refuge/Rock?

We encourage you to invite your friends to youth group or church.

That’s just a starting point though, we are called to make disciples, which is to imitate Christ and lead others in doing the same. That takes a lot more than inviting someone to church. Briefly outline the process of discipleship.

Small Group Questions:

1. What is one way you could live out others-centered love tomorrow at school? At home?

2. St. Francis of Assisi reportedly said, “Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary use word”. What do you think he meant by that? Do you agree?

3. Why do you think we are so intimidated by evangelism?

4. Do you feel like you know enough to evangelize? If not, what do you do about that?