All You Need is Love - Part B

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 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. This month, we're offering the book Soaring Through the Bible for Kids. God's Word can be a challenge to read and understand, even for adults. And this kid-friendly version of Pastor Skip Heitzig's popular book, The Bible from 30,000 Feet, gives young children and tweens a panoramic overview of all 66 books of the Bible, helping them see the context and significance of each. Soaring Through the Bible is a travel guide from Genesis through Revelation for Kids. Each chapter provides a flight plan for exploring a portion of the Bible, along with a brief synopsis that shows what the chapters are about and language kids can understand. Creatively designed, with kids in mind, Soaring Through the Bible also features fun illustrations and fascinating facts to keep young minds at hearts engaged and interested. Soaring Through the Bible for Kids will prepare a child for take-off on a lifelong journey of learning and loving God's Word. We will send you a copy of this unique book along with a booklet for you by Skip titled Why Truth Matters. Simply make a donation to support and expand this radio program with a gift of $50 or more.

Call 1-800-922-1888 or order online at connectwithskip.com. We're going to be in John 13 as Nate begins his teaching today. 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 suddenly discover 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 it, if you have time, love each other. No, 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 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 gonna get up and I'm gonna 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, that you need to seek a phone call with, or maybe a little coffee shop meeting since we can now have 25% 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 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 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 frame it in 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 four 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, is 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 wanna 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 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 wanna 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 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, as 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 gonna 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's Nate Heitzig with a message from the series Give Peace a Chance. Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskipp.com. Now, here's Skip to tell you about a trip to the Holy Land coming up in 2024. This is Pastor Skip and we still have space on this trip that Lenya and I are hosting. We will be touring Israel from May 1st through May 12th. I hope that you'll join us firsthand to see some incredible sites like the Sea of Galilee.

I'm sure you've always wanted to see that. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the Garden Tomb, the place many people believe is where Jesus rose from the dead. The final deadline for registration is December 31st, so there's still time to take action and join Lenya and I for the trip of a lifetime.

Find full Israel information at connectwithskipp.com. We're glad you've joined us today. Connect with Skip Heitzig exists to bring more people into God's family and connect listeners like you to his unchanging truth. That's why we make teachings like this one today available to you and others on air and online.

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Thank you. Come back tomorrow as Skip begins a message titled Making What Everybody Wants. We've had enough of worldly peacemakers and their continued failure. Nobody's been able to do it. No one has been able to bring peace. In fact, the Bible even predicts that there is someone who is coming in the future. The ultimate peacemaker goes by an interesting title, the Antichrist. Make a connection Make a connection At the foot of the crossing Cast all the burdens on his word Make a connection A connection Connect with Skip Hyten is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.