Date:   07/12/09

Text:   Matthew 22:37-39

Title:   Loving Others

Theme: Since God has first loved His people, we are to love God by loving others.

Introduction:

  This past week the news media is saturated with news of Michael Jackson’s death and fans paying last tribute to him. Since my oldest son grew up with some of his music, such as Beat It and the famous Moon Walk, the younger Michael Jackson is a familiar personality in our family. O ur son’s imitation of Michael brought many laughs to us. It was sad to see how he fell from the top of his career to being accused of child molestation few years ago. During his last few years of life, he lived in recluse. We learn that prior to his death; he was planning a comeback tour, “This Is It’. His intent was to use this tour to re-establish his reputation of the King of Pop. But that comeback didn't happen. His Neverland Ranch (or nicknamed the La la land) , desire to "live forever," dangling his toddler Prince Michael II out a Berlin hotel window, pointed to a distorted self view and self love. His life seems to be centered on getting others approval and being accepted.

  When we face death, whether it is Michael Jackson or anyone, usually it causes us to ponder: what is really important in life? This is the question we have been asking during this past two weeks. Jesus told the Pharisees that the greatest commandment is to Love God and Love Men. Last week we studied that hidden in the command to love men is to Love Self. We’re to love others as we love ourselves. Today we want to explore together what it means to love others . I don’t think anyone of us would admit that we don’t love others. Yet, if asked are we loving others, we may be hesitant to say yes. You see, because we’re fallen creatures, therefore it is difficult for us to love God and others. Yes, we love, but our love is often very distorted. For this reason, the bible is full of instructions and reminders to love God and men. Now, what does it mean to love others?

   I •  We are to love others by seeing others correctly.

Again, in order to love others, we need first to see others correctly. Last week we looked at the meaning of seeing ourselves correctly. In a nutshell, a proper self-view means that my dignity and worth do not depend on my performance or how others see me. For I am fully pleasing to God and have been accepted by Him. This is how we should see others, those around us. Each person has great worth in God's sight. It has nothing to do with education, social status, profession and color of skin. We are to treat each person with dignity and respect. In practice, it means I will not see you through the glasses of social status, wealth, education, profession, what school you go to, or your appearance. None of this should I affect how I relate to you. There is no little people in God's eyes. Everyone is very important.

Having said this, I also need to remember that there is beauty and ugliness in each person, just like myself. I learn not to put anyone high on the pedestal as if he/she can do no wrong. No, as fallen beings, we can do noble things, but we are also capable and can do things that may disappoint everyone.

There are relationships that we enjoy, for they are two way streets. We give and we take. On the other hand, there are so called the one way relationships. We maybe the person constantly giving. We give our time and energy, causing us to be tired and wanting to run away from him/her. Situations and people like this remind us that in each person is beauty and ugliness. Or put it this way, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde coexist within us. Having realized this, then what?

    II •  The correct world view will affect our love for others.

Even though we may be eager to know how to love others, yet I feel strongly we need to know what some of thinking are behind our behavior. In 2 Cor.10:4-5, “ 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, ” Paul is talking about capturing our minds and bring them under Christ’s lordship, to be obedient to Christ. It is our thinking, value system that drives our behavior.

Let’s briefly take a look at our world. Our society, in both the west and east, is individualistic, autonomous and self serving. We focus on how I feel, what is in it for me, what can I get out of it, at times, I would get what I want at all cost, the end justifies the means. When we come to church, we often ask, what this church can offer me and my family? Responding to this consumer mentality, churches are constantly coming up with all kinds of programs and activities. Thereby we have this saying, the church with the most programs is the winner. Big church keeps getting bigger, at the expense of the smaller ones. Church growth does not occur by conversion but by absorbing believers from the small churches. Living in this value system, it is difficult to love anyone but self.

What is the alternative to this secular worldview? When we come to know Christ, we are to learn to bring our thinking, our value system under God's lordship. We are to see the world through his eyes. What is God's world view, or commonly known as the Biblical worldview?

  When we read the scriptures from the beginning to the end, we see a picture in which God gives good gifts, shows grace and mercy to his people. He loves the world that he gave his only son to them so we can believe in him and have eternal life. He wants his people to live in a community where they show love and respect to each other. The biblical worldview of human relationship is that of covenantal, interdependent, communal, relational and self-transcending.

  In other words, the secular worldview is self centered. The biblical worldview is other-centeredness. It is in this context that we look at loving others.

    III •  We are to love others as instructed in God's Law.

The Pharisees asked which is the great command. They were thinking out of the 10 commandment, which one is the greatest and therefore most important. Instead of picking one, Jesus told them to love God with all their hearts, soul, mind and strength. Ant the second is likewise, love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus had not deviated from the 10 commandments. He summarized the first four commandments in loving God with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength. He then summarized the remaining six commandments as loving your neighbor.

What does it mean to love our neighbors? Do not to murder. Jesus later explained that murder is not just taking someone’s life, but when we curse or hate a person, we have committed murder. Do not commit adultery. This means that we love our spouse and remain faithful to her. Do not steal. Do not take things that don’t belong to us. This could mean material possessions, or another person’s time. Or in our contemporary setting, not to violate copy rights of books, cd’s and computer programs. Do not say untrue things about another person. We are to let our yes be yes and no be no. then finally, Do not covet what belongs to others. Francis Schaeffer puts it this way: we are not to want what I don’t have, and at the same time not to grasp hold of what I have. These commandments, tell us how to love our neighbors. Therefore, if we want to know how to love others, begin with these commandments. There is more,

IV   •  We are to love others as Jesus did.

Besides pointing us to the commandments, Jesus also provided us with an example on how to love others. In John 13:1, “… having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ” And what follows was a series of events that eventually ended in his death. With the introduction in vs.1, these events become demonstration of how Jesus loved his own people.

1  •  Serving others with a servant heart.

Jesus and his disciples were at this house for their last dinner together. As a Jewish custom, servants were supposed to wash the guests feet when they came into the house. Apparently, no one was there to wash Jesus and his disciples’ feet. We read that Jesus got up and started washing the disciples’ feet. It was not just a service, but actually taking on the role of a servant. Matthew 20:28, “ 28 "even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

How did Jesus love his disciples? By being their servant. This is how we are to love others. Our lives are to be other-centeredness. When people are lonely, we befriend them. When they lack financial resources, we reach out to assist them. Of course, many of us will think of mother Teresa, how she devoted her entire life to serve the poorest and the weakest in India . We may also say, we are not mother Teresa, therefore we can’t do this. We can bring it closer to home. In this and many other churches, Christians offer rides to bring others to the church. I am not talking about on the way or down the street. Rather, individuals have to go out of the way, to pick up someone and bring him/her to church. Some offered others a place to stay. Or we offer to take people without cars to do the weekly shopping. Instead of spending time with the family during holidays, we open our homes so that those without families here can come and enjoy the warm fellowship and good food. I know of a family, based on a phone call from a friend in another state, opened their home to a cancer patient while he was here for treatment. To love others is to serve others, to have their needs in mind and to be other-centeredness. To love others is time and energy consuming, it is a one way street.

Now, how about when we are being treated like a servant? You see, to serve like a servant is very different from being treated as a servant. We are willing to go out of our way to provide you with a ride. But when we find out that you think we ought to do this, our feelings are hurt, right? Our ego may be too big to swallow it. Yet in John and other gospels we learn that after this, Jesus was treated like a servant, or even worst than a servant; he was treated as a criminal. He was treated without dignity and respect. What did he do? He endured to the end. He loved his disciples by serving them. He loved his people by enduring the shame and suffering of being treated like a servant. We are to be ready that when we reach out to serve, we may be treated like a servant. In those moments, we are to ask God to help us to be patient just as Christ did.

2  •  Sharing the good news with others.

In the Matthew passage, Jesus connected being a servant to being a ransom for many. He has come to serve, to be servants to all, but he also come to save and redeem the sinners. This is the gospel. Then in this John’s passage, we are told that he loved his people to the end. What does it mean? He loved them by serving them, by being their servants. He also loved them by willingly died on the cross so they can be reconciled to the heavenly father, that his people will receive his gospel. This what Paul says in 1 Thess 2:7-8, “ 7 But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. 8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. ” Paul says, we love you, we are very gentle among you. We love you so much that we do two things: first we give ourselves to you, second, we bring you the gospel message.

As I shared with the students several weeks ago, this passage in 1Thess 2 first impacted me around 1975. First time I saw the right connection between love and sharing the gospel. We love so much that we want to share the gospel message. I have also shared this with you in many different occasions that we Christians because we want to share the gospel with others, we reach out to love and care for them. In many evangelical churches, we see this: because we want to tell you the gospel, therefore we love you. Because I want to tell you the gospel, or invite you to a meeting, therefore I invite you over for dinner. But the biblical order is just the opposite, we love therefore we share the gospel. Because I truly love you, for you are very precious in God's sight, therefore I also want to share with you the good news that Jesus loves you.

  Dear brothers and sisters, this is loving others as ourselves. We see others with their intrinsic dignity and worth. It has nothing to do with their performance and appearance. Having come to know Christ, he wants us to develop a value system that is other-centeredness. He wants us to truly love others. Not for our own merits but love them as God loves them. We love by serving them and share the gospel message with them. This two go hand in hand and cannot be separated.

Conclusion:

  Michael Jackson was an accomplished musician and singer. Whether he is the king of pop can be debated. Yet looking at him and ourselves, isn’t it true that we do see more similarity than differences? We can also live a fairly self-centered life. We think of our own well being more than those around us. We want the attention to be on us, we want others to cater to our own expectations and standards. We want to have the final say.

  However, when we come to know Christ, he wants to turn our value system upside down. Instead of self-centeredness, he wants to be other-centeredness. This can create such a havoc in our lives. We are not used to it. For this reason the scripture is full of instructions and illustration on how to love others. We begin by loving God, loving self correctly then truly loving others. Loving others means to be their servants and not kings. Loving others means sharing with them the good news of our lord Jesus Christ.

  As a church, we are to love those that God has brought to us. We are to go into our community to love those around us. As we love them, we also share with them the good news of Jesus loves us. When we stop sharing the good news with others, we have already stopped loving them. We have already forgotten how God has first loved us. We love because He first loved us.

  Whenever we listen to this command, we recognize that Christ alone can truly love God with all his heart, soul and mind. He alone can truly love men and love them to the end. When we come before this command, it reveals our sins, our inadequacies. It also reveal how much we need to Christ. May this most important command, keep us closer to him. For without him, we cannot keep this commandments.