A second aspect and a facet of the love that Jesus has for us is kindness. He has forgiveness. That is that He will constantly forgive you no matter how many times you've failed, no matter how many times you've messed up.
He will keep on forgiving you. He calls us to do the same. Our attention can be fixed on temporal things, but God calls us to fix our eyes on eternity and how you can impact the world for Him. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip's son Nate Heitzig shares how God's love deeply planted in your heart can lead to big time revival. But first, we want to tell you about an opportunity you have to encounter the roots of your faith in the land of the Bible. You're invited to join Skip on a tour of Israel in 2022. Visiting the places where the events of the Bible unfolded is a unique and significant experience. You'll be encouraged in your faith as God's word comes to life for you in a way it never has before.
Get all the info at inspirationcruises.com slash c-a-b-q. Now we're in John chapter 13 as we dive into the teaching with Skip's son Nate Heitzig. You need to understand this. The future of the church, the future of the church that your kids will grow up in, that your grandkids will grow up in, the future of the church hangs on our willingness to be one and to be united. The way we build our gathering isn't through boycotts or protests or services or clever campaigns or events. The way that we build our gathering is through love, unity, and community. In Acts 2 44 we read, now all who believed were together. They worshipped together. They prayed together. They read the scripture together.
They ate together. They gave their tithes and offerings together. They shared the gospel together. You and I are a part of the church that Jesus purchased heads and protects and we are called to be together in love and unity and community. Yet tragically so many churches today are shrinking in number. So many churches have faced horrible and divisive splits. Many are disillusioned by what has happened to them in church as well. We hear all too often today, well there's too many hypocrites at church. Who's ever heard that as a response of why you don't go to church? There's too many hypocrites there.
Therefore they decide not to be a part of church at all. They say I've become bitter. I'm angry at the church now. I'm mad at the church.
Why? Because you've suddenly discovered that it's not made up of perfect people but instead people like you. People who make mistakes. People who sin. What do you think the church was? I've heard my dad say for years the church is not a museum for saints but it's a hospital for sinners. If the church was for perfect people I hate to break it to you but you wouldn't be allowed to come. If the church was for perfect people I wouldn't be allowed to come.
None of us would be allowed to come. If the church was for perfect people there would be no church. I spoke to someone recently who mentioned a mutual friend that was no longer attending church. We were talking and she said, well he's still walking with the Lord.
He just doesn't go to church. And I heard that and I'm forced to look at what that person said compared to what Jesus said that the world will know you're my disciples by your love for one another. And I'm forced to say, can you be both a Christian and have no fellowship with other Christians? I don't know that it's possible. You could maybe still have a personal commitment to Jesus Christ but the question, can you really actively live out the Christian life that Jesus has called you to do? The answer to that is a clear no.
You can't. Without being in community, in unity, loving one another. The call upon us is to love one another. That means fellowshipping with one another. That means caring for one another. This isn't a casual request from Jesus.
He's not saying, hey if you think about if you have time love each other. Now this is a new commandment I give to you. A commandment. Love one another. By this the world will know you're my disciples. Love one another.
This leads us to our second point. If we are to love, the question is, how are we to love? Well Jesus answers that for us. We are to love like Jesus.
Look at verse 34. He continues by saying, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another. As I have loved you, you also love one another. Just got real.
Right? If it wasn't already like a high benchmark to love people we don't like, now he's saying you have to love them the way that I love you. You've got to love them to the extent that I've loved you. The benchmark for our love is the love that Jesus Christ has for us. Later on in John 15 12, Jesus repeats this idea and he says, love them as I have loved you. Let me ask you, how is it that Jesus has loved us? Jesus loved those the world hated. Jesus touched those the world shunned. Jesus went to those that the world avoided. And Christian, you don't get to determine what is good enough.
You don't get to determine how far is far enough. Jesus also said to let our light so shine before men, but I'm convinced that if we spend our lives trying to be bright, we're never going to be bright enough. Don't try to be bright. Try to be Jesus.
Don't try to be loving. Try to be Jesus. Remember, we are to be daily conformed into the image of his son, Jesus Christ.
So every day you wake up, we need to learn how to look a little bit more like Jesus. How do I look like Jesus today? How do I love more like Jesus today?
How do I go to those that I don't want to today? How can I die to myself today? How do I live today? How can I die to myself and take up my cross today?
How can I love the unlovely today? How can I pour myself out until I have nothing left, but I'm going to get up and I'm going to love some more because that's what Jesus Christ did. Remember this, each and every person you see on the street, on the news, in church, is somebody's son or daughter, somebody's mother or father, sister or brother, husband or wife, and we are called to love like Jesus, every single one of them. How can you look more like Jesus today?
How can you reflect the son a bit more within your life? I believe two words perfectly describe the love that God has for us. You know, we're called to love like Jesus and that seems pretty big and grand. After all, God is love, so basically we're supposed to be God.
How are we supposed to be like God? And it seems kind of unattainable, so I want to break it down for you and give you two practical ways that your love can look more like the love that Jesus has for you, and I believe those two words are kindness and forgiveness. I think that really perfectly describes the love that Jesus has for us. As a matter of fact, Ephesians 4 32 has a similar call to John 13 34, but it articulates what it looks like to love somebody like Jesus loves them. Ephesians 4 32 says, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Forgiveness and kindness, these two aspects perfectly describe a love like Jesus.
It says in there, forgiving each other, just as Christ God forgave you, or just as in Christ God forgave you. To love like Jesus means that we have to have a love that exudes forgiveness, and love's forgiveness is the determination in your heart. Remember I said before, agapao, it's a love of the will, it's a choice you make. It's the determination, the choice you make in your heart, that no matter how many times someone hurts you over and over again, no matter how many times someone takes advantage of you, no matter how many times you come on the other end of a relationship or a friendship and you say, I feel like I gave everything and they gave nothing. I feel like I just constantly get destroyed in these relationships because I'm too loving and too forgiving. You need to understand in God's economy, you can't be too forgiving or too loving.
It's the ability to be taken advantage of over and over again, and you still choose to love them. Jesus was speaking on the topic of forgiveness when Peter asked him what he thought was a pretty question. I honestly think it was a loaded question. Peter's one of those guys who like to ask questions that he had the answer to, to make himself look better in front of the apostles.
That's what I think. Maybe I'm reading into it a bit too much, but he's like, hey Jesus, how many times should I forgive somebody when they sin against me? And then before he gets an answer, he gives what he thinks is a pretty good answer. He's like, like seven times?
Like he thought he did pretty good there. Seven times. That's a lot, Jesus. Judas, I think he's like a one and you're done.
You're out. Seven times. Jesus replies to him in perfect Jesus fashion. I tell you not seven times, but 70 times seven. Jesus said, no, no, not seven times, Peter, 490 times.
And of course the number wasn't what is important. The idea is that however many times he sins against you, you forgive him. So who's the person in your life you've written off? Who's the person in your life that you're done?
I want to be clear here. Forgiving somebody doesn't necessarily always mean a restoration in relationship. And there's times when you forgive somebody more for yourself than even for them. But it gets your heart right, where you don't have any bitterness or grudges in your heart. So when you come into church and you sing those songs, you don't have that moment of saying, oh, I'm really mad at that person. Who's the person that you need to seek some restoration with? You need to seek a phone call with or maybe a little coffee shop meeting since we can now have 25 percent of people inside restaurants, because that makes sense.
Who's the person you need to go talk to? I saw a bumper sticker that said, don't get mad, get even. How many times have you heard a Christian say, hey, don't worry, they're going to get what they deserve. They're going to answer for their sin. Basically in essence saying, hey, don't worry, they're going to go to hell. So don't worry about them because they're going to burn in hell.
That's basically what that comment says. As Jesus lay dying on the cross, bleeding out, His concern was for His murderers rather than for Himself. This is what it looks like to love like Jesus. It's a love that turns the other cheek. It's a love that allows itself to be taken advantage of and hurt over and over and over again, and yet it chooses to get up and keep on loving.
Its primary concern is for others, not for itself. Matthew 5 38 to 39 says, you have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I tell you, don't resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, give him your cloak also. Now I know we all always like to think about everything that Jesus says is allegorical, but I think Jesus is being pretty upfront and literal here. If somebody slaps you in the face for being a Christian, turn your cheek and let him slap the other side.
If somebody sues you and takes away your things, freely give them something else. Why do I think it's literal? Because it's literally what Jesus did when he died on the cross. Literally, not allegorically or figuratively.
He literally did it. He prayed for those who were murdering him. A love like Jesus doesn't react to the wrongs of others. It allows others to wrong itself.
That could revolutionize and possibly change the way you view relationships. A love like Jesus doesn't react to the wrongs of others. It allows others to wrong itself, and it keeps on loving. This is what it looks like to love like Jesus.
This is what love is. A second aspect and a facet of the love that Jesus has for us is kindness. He has forgiveness. That is that he will constantly forgive you, no matter how many times you've failed, no matter how many times you've messed up, he will keep on forgiving you, and he calls us to do the same.
A second aspect is his kindness and goodness towards us is never-ending, and it is abounding. It also says in Ephesians 4 32, be kind and compassionate to one another. If forgiveness will take anything from others, kindness will give anything to others. Or framing light of what Jesus said, if forgiveness allows its tunic to be taken away, kindness will give its cloak away. Kindness is a love like Jesus that is active goodwill. Remember I said before, agapao, it is a love of the will, forgiveness, choosing to forgive over and over again, but it's a love of the will leading to goodwill and benevolence. It doesn't just feel generous, it is generous. It doesn't just desire change, it works for change. And you need to understand this, if love is only learned but not lived, it is a lie. If all you ever do is hear about love, and talk about love, and think about love, and learn about love, but you never walk out those doors and put it into practice, it's a lie.
It's the same thing as what the world has to offer, it's just a word, it's just a feeling. We need to put ourselves into a place where when we're sitting here digesting the word that God has for us, that we're thinking about the areas in our life that we need to put in practice that week. If we're just writing down notes for somebody else to tell them how good the message was, and we're not thinking practically how we can apply it and change our lives because of it, we're missing the point of what the word of God wants to do within our lives. Again, Jesus is the perfect example of this. Romans 2 4 says, do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness, and forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the kindness, that is the goodness of God, leads you to repentance. I love that word kindness, goodness.
I just think of you have those moments in your life where something happens you're like, oh so good, that's like all you can say about it, that's so good. That's the love of God, it's so good, and it leads you to repentance. I find most often what brings people to repentance isn't scaring them into repentance, isn't shaming them into repentance, it's loving them into repentance. A new commandment I give to you, love one another as I have loved you. If we exhibit the love that Jesus has for us to the world around us, it is such an attractive thing when they see the forgiveness and the kindness of God working through our actions. Well we've looked at what it means to love, and more importantly what it means to love like Jesus. Now let's look at our third and final point, and that is this, love like Jesus changes lives. At the beginning of the message I talked about how our society tries so many different things to bring about change, and I asked you the question if we as a church should focus on bringing about social change, if that's the role of the church today, to focus on marches and boycotts and protests, and again the world's trying to change itself but it's not really making a difference. We haven't eliminated poverty, we haven't eliminated murder, we haven't destroyed hunger, disease is still rampant, wars have not ceased, as much as we want to change the world, we can't. Jesus gives us the answer to how we can change the world in John 13 35. He says, by this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
It's a big if. This is how we change the world. We don't change the world through politics, we don't change the world through riots, we don't change the world we don't change the world through boycotts or protests, we don't change the world through environmental change or political change or systemically changing society around us, we change society by loving each other, and when the world sees the love that we have for each other and in turn the love that we have for them, they'll change.
You want to change the world? A love like Jesus changes lives, and changed lives change the world. The world will know you're my disciples by your love for one another. You know it shouldn't be surprising to the world, but it is when Christians love people. You realize that not this church, but the church big C at times is more known for its rejection of certain people than its respect for all people. At times we can be known more for our cruelty than our compassion. At times we can show more harshness than humanity. And Jesus tells us here that the world will know we are believers by our love for others.
Get this, this is huge. Your identity as a believer is not found in your love for God, but rather your love for other people. That's what Jesus said, the world will know you're my disciples not by your love for me, but by your love for each other. That means the world will tell you're a Christian not by your what would Jesus do bracelet, but by how well you love your neighbor.
By how well you love the person in front of you, or behind you, or next to you. If Jesus didn't finish that sentence, how would you fill it in? The world will know you're my disciples if, if your theology matches mine, if you go to the church that I go to, if you teach the Bible this way, if you give this amount of money to these organizations, if you worship in this way or use these gifts.
No, Jesus said you are my disciples if you have love for one another. The first thing we so often forget is the simplest thing. If there is one thing that should characterize the church, it is love. It is the simple bedrock foundational truth upon which the entire gospel holds. Love. Jesus loved us for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. It is love.
It is the center. But so many things get in the way over time. The longer we immerse ourselves in religion, the more prone we become to forgetting what makes it work in the first place. We become so caught up in events and services and theology and ministry that we forget the why.
Let me ask you this, a lot's happened in 2020 and I have a feeling that 2021 is just the beginning. And it's important what's happening in the world. Let me ask you this, has your attention to what is momentarily important diminish your passion for what is monumentally important? Because what is monumentally important is that your neighbor goes to heaven, not that they agree with you politically. What is monumentally important is that lives are changed by the power of the gospel for the glory of God, not that society changes through new legislation or bills that are going to pass. Are we more inclined to protest than we are to pray? Are we more interested in who's in the White House than who is in here in God's house? Are we more interested in boycotts than we are in the salvation of our family and friends?
Have we left our first love? Tim Keller says this, when the world sees the church doing evangelism, making converts, it only sees us increasing our numbers and increasing our power, but when it sees us sacrificially serving the needs of our neighbors, whether they believe or not, then it may see that we are motivated by love, not the desire for power. We must both preach the gospel and serve those who can do nothing for us in return. The way we build this church, the way we build this gathering, is love. And the future of the church hangs on our willingness to love, and that love reflects Jesus. I want you to imagine for a second how hostile the world is to Christianity right now, but imagine a world where people were skeptical about what we believed, but envious of how well we loved each other.
If they looked at our beliefs and said, that seems weird to me, I'm not quite there, but man, the way they love each other, the way they care for each other, the way they love me, even though I don't like them, the way they treat me with kindness and compassion. Imagine what would happen if the world saw that. I can tell you what would happen. Their lives would be changed because of it. They would see what we have and they would want what we have.
They would want that relationship and that love that they are missing in their lives. A love like this, a love like Jesus, changes lives. This is what revival looks like.
If we can get this, if we can nail this down, this is what revival looks like. Seeing people excited and passionate about the simple gospel, not fighting and bickering about specific doctrines. Seeing Christians more focused on how to make others feel comfortable instead of how to make themselves more comfortable. Focusing on our own character, our own motives, our own heart, and our own application of God's word, not what other people are doing.
The minute we become so comfortable in our pews that we forget about people, we perish. That concludes Nate Heitzig's message from the series Give Peace a Chance. Now we want to share about a special resource that gives you incredible insight into what's going on in the Middle East and why it matters for you. The beating heart of Bible prophecy is the land of Israel and the Middle East. Joel Rosenberg has his finger on the pulse of the world-shaking changes happening right now, and he unveils them in his new non-fiction book, Enemies and Allies. This is the first book of its kind that takes you inside the Oval Office, inside the palaces of the kings and crown princes, the presidents and the prime ministers in Israel and in the Arab world. As we ask them, what do you think about religious freedom, about making peace with Israel, about the threat from Iran, about U.S.-Arab relations, U.S.-Israel relations. Enemies and Allies from multiple New York Times bestselling author Joel Rosenberg takes you on an unforgettable journey inside the turbulent Middle East. You'll go behind closed doors to hear from the very kings and crown princes, presidents and prime ministers who are leading the charge.
Enemies and Allies includes exclusive never-before-published quotes, insights and analysis from the author's conversations with some of the world's most controversial leaders. Your hardcover copy of Enemies and Allies is our thanks for your generous gift of $35 or more today. To give, call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskipp.com. Thank you for joining us today. Our goal is to connect listeners like you to God's truth, strengthening your walk with Him and bringing more people into His family. That's why these teachings are available to you on the air and online.
If they've inspired you to keep living for Jesus, please consider giving a gift today to encourage other listeners to listen in the same way. Just call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskipp.com slash donate. That's connectwithskipp.com slash donate.
Thank you. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares what it means to be a peacemaker for God and the rewards you'll gain when you are. Peacemaking is part of our calling because in the list of Beatitudes, blessings that Jesus is describing His followers with, He gets to verse 9 and says, blessed, blissful, fortunate, satisfied. Oh, how happy are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.
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