Loving Your Friends, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. The gospel teaches us, however, to think differently about people altogether differently. The gospel teaches us that every person has great value, not because of what they accomplish, but because they are made in the image of God. And even more than that, Jesus died for them. Every believer you see walking around in this place is a person who has been purchased with the universe's highest price, the blood of Jesus. And every single believer possesses the Spirit of God. Welcome to Summit Life with pastor, author and apologist J.D.

Greer. I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. Just imagine something with me for a minute. What if the church didn't need great musicians or special events to attract people?

No cool stages or fancy buildings needed. Picture a church that is best known for the way it loves and cares for one another and its community. Today, Pastor J.D. Greer continues his teaching from our series through the book of Romans and shows us how Chapter 12 teaches what gospel shaped love looks like and how when it's on display at the church, it will transform the world. If you've missed any part of the study through Romans so far, remember, you can always catch up online at J.D.

Greer dot com. Today is part two of the teaching titled Loving Your Friends. So let's rejoin Pastor J.D. in Romans 12. Our love should feel like family. Also, love should feel like family. Look at verse 10.

Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Two very interesting Greek words in that verse. The verse of love one another deeply is one Greek word.

Philo storge. Philo is the word for friendship, love. Storge is the word for affection. It's like two words for love put together.

It's like a love sandwich. Love, love, both I love, love, love one another deeply. That's how we translate it. As brothers and sisters is the word Philadelphia, where we get the name of our city, means brotherly love. So love one another deeply, love, love, love, brothers and sisters.

This is how you would literally read it in Greek. Paul is like your love between each other ought to feel like family. It should resemble the love at work in a nuclear family. In a healthy family, if your siblings develop a problem, you don't give up on them.

You don't trade a man for a new model. If your parents become needy in their old age, you don't say, well, I'm sorry, mom and dad. This is not working out for me anymore, right? No, no, you take care of them. You rearrange your life, even if that means they move in with you. You parents, if one of your children's causes a problem at school, or they start to develop an annoying character trait, you don't call them into a family meeting and say, this is not working for your mom and I anymore. It's not you, it's us, but you know, we're just going to need you to find another family somewhere.

Security's here to help you pack up your stuff and move out. You might feel like that every once in a while, but that's not what you should do. You are devoted to them, even with their faults, their family, and a family. The problems experienced by one family member become the problems of every other family member. And when one member of the family is hurting, there are other members of the family that can't really be happy.

I will tell you, there is a group of people at this church that are committed to walk through life with me as if they're my family. That means they take on my problems as if they were their own problems. In fact, they're close enough to me to know when there is a problem. They know when there's a relational problem, or when there's a strain problem, or even if there's a financial problem.

I don't usually need to use a teller, they just know it. And then they bear it with me, they walk with me through it so that I don't walk alone. And I know they're not going to give up on me.

And that means if I'm rude around the table at this year's Thanksgiving dinner, proverbially speaking, you know what, I still get invited back to next year's Thanksgiving dinner because I'm not there because I'm good company, I'm there because I'm family. Love in the family doesn't even need to be reciprocal. Right, if you love your child and your child doesn't love you back, you don't stop loving them.

I love how C.S. Lewis describes this, he's like, true love is never wasted. If it's not true love, then you feel like it's wasted. Like, I love that person, they don't let me back, what a waste. But true love is never wasted.

The kind of love you have for your kid is not wasted because its value does not rest upon reciprocity. It's constant, it just never changes. Paul said that's what the body of Christ should be like. So let's ask an honest question. Tell me what your commitment to this church is like. Is that how we would describe it?

I was talking to some of our pastors this week about how do people relate to the church, and one of them said, well, it's kind of like an intramural soccer team. It's a weekend activity, you enjoy it, you're invested in it a little bit, you give it some of your energy, but you know what, it's only one night a week, so it's pretty low on your list of priorities. Sometimes it's even like your commitment to the new season of The Voice, right? At the beginning of the season, oh, you're excited about it.

The moment you feel that first pang of boredom, you flip the channel, right? And so people just don't come back because they look at it like a list of services. Or maybe it's like a free trial, here's the worst one, of some streaming service. You know when you do this, you sign up for the two-week trial, but you don't actually want to go all in with the two-week trial, so you just change email addresses.

I know you've done it. Because you're like, well, I like the services that I'm getting, but I don't want to actually be committed, I don't want to join this, I don't want to go financially invested. But see, the reality of the church is that it's supposed to be like a family. This church is not an event you attend on the weekend, it's not a religious channel you tune into, it's a family that you belong to. A family where you get committed, where you lock the door, so to speak, on relationships, and you're like, I'm here, I'm not leaving.

Right? I mean, you know, when my wife and I got married, so the best marriage advice we got from one of our mentors, is he looks at us and he's like, you're gonna have to, you're gonna have to lock the back door, proverbially speaking. You're gonna have to lock that door, metaphorically speaking, because at some point you're gonna feel like walking out.

You're gonna feel like it's just too hard. We got irreconcilable differences. People tell me, like, we got divorced because we got irreconcilable differences. I'm like, my wife and I got a laundry list of irreconcilable differences. But we locked that door. And I'm like, all right, this irreconcilable difference needs to get reconciled.

Right? Because like I've told you, I mean, you know, this is what, 19 years ago I got married. After 17 awesome years of marriage and two other ones, right? There have been a lot of times I felt like walking out that door and so has she. But we know that, no, we're in this thing. We've locked the door and so we find a way to make these things work.

And we press through these things and we go into them. And that's what love in the family, that's what love in the church is supposed to look like. This should look like family. You show up for family dinner, not because you like what's on the menu, but because it's family. By the way, what that means is that leaving a church and going to a new one, ought to be a serious, serious decision.

Right? Because you're not just changing channels, you're leaving one family and joining another one. I'm not saying there's never a time to do it.

I'm not saying that at all. I'm only saying that you don't flit around between churches like you're changing channels based on what you're in the mood for. Wherever God leads you to be in a local church, whether that's his church or some other church, it should be like family.

Get connected to a family and not just attend an event. Number four. Number four, our love should recognize the inherent worth that God has placed in every person, Paul says.

I love this next part of the verse. I'll do one another and show an honor. Hey you, hyper competitive people, here's something you can compete at. To show honor means to recognize and acknowledge the value that somebody has. Every culture does this, right? But the basis of honor in most cultures is on your stature or your rank or your accomplishments. In old Europe, it was always based on your family pedigree.

You know, what kind of class you were. In the United States, it's supposed to be based on your accomplishments. The gospel teaches us, however, to think differently about people, altogether differently. The gospel teaches us that every person has great value, not because of what they accomplish, but because they are made in the image of God. And even more than that, Jesus died for them. Every believer you see walking around in this place, every believer you see at any of our campuses, is a person who has been purchased with the universe's highest price, the blood of Jesus. And every single believer possesses the spirit of God. And they are destined one day to rule with Christ and to judge angels. And I know that looking at some of them you're like, I just don't see how that's true.

But it is true because God said it. It reminds me of my favorite, one of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes, where he says this, it is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses. To remember that the dullest and most interesting person you talk to, who you think about right now.

All right, think about them. May one day be a creature which if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship. Or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare if they don't accept Jesus and their sin just takes over them.

The pulse is you treat them like that, treat every person like a celebrity, outdo one another and show in honor, trip over each other to show honor. One of the distinctive features of Jesus' church ought to be this. In fact, historian Rodney Stark, historian of the early church, says that was one of the distinguishing features of the early church, was the honor they showed to all people. The church was the only place in the Roman Empire, he said, where the poor, the immigrants, people of different rank and class and nationality, were all treated with equal honor. The honor that comes from being a son or daughter of God. And the church, he said, was the only place where the slave and the master were equal. And it was incredibly attractive to the Roman world because it pointed to a new humanity.

A humanity that was not based on Jew or Gentile, or rich or poor, the color of your skin. It was a humanity based on the united resurrection of Christ, and therefore the church valued those that nobody else valued. In fact, one of the most interesting ministries that the early church had, we translated as a baby run. They would, so in the Roman Empire, before they had all the surgical procedures of abortion and all that kind of stuff, if you didn't want your baby, a lot of them would just leave it on the doorstep.

Let it die overnight as it's exposed to the elements, and then the next morning sanitation would come along and they would pick up these discarded babies and they would throw them away whether they were alive or not. That was abortion in the early Roman Empire. Well, the Christians knew that this, that these were babies made in the image of God, and so they started to do these things called baby runs. It was early pro-life advocacy where they would listen for the cries, walk through the neighborhoods at night, every night, and they would see where child, children were left, and they would go pick them up. This was the beginning, they say, of the orphanage system.

It's because they understood that that baby, even if unwanted by its mother, was precious to God. We ought to be a place where groups that get overlooked by society are shown great honor because we recognize they are precious creations made in God's image, whether they are the immigrant or the orphan or the rehabilitating prisoner or the unborn. One of the most beautiful things I've ever heard a church do, I've always wanted for us to do it here, but we haven't yet, and hopefully one day in the future we will do it, is this church threw a prom for mentally handicapped high school students. Those with Down syndrome and disabilities.

It was called Night to Shine. Tim Tebow actually is involved helping host this now. Recognizing that many of these boys and girls would never get to experience a prom, they hosted it on their church campus and they just went all out. Lights and music and food and the student ministry is involved and lots of volunteers and everybody dresses up in tuxes. Some of the kids come in limousines as every student comes into the banquet hall. They form this tunnel and all the parents and all the volunteers, they just yell and clap and cheer for that person as they're coming in. You can just see the joy that lights up on their faces and it's so moving because they're being shown honor because of how God sees the person.

That ought to be a distinguishing feature of Jesus' church. Listen, I've told you this. I don't know everything there is to know about the immigration question. I really don't.

I don't know what all the solutions are. I am neither called nor competent to stand up here and tell you this is what ought to happen with immigration. But what I do know is that every single immigrant is somebody made in the image of God and deserves to be honored as such and that Jesus died for every single one. The reason that I know that racism and prejudice are evil is because they refuse to recognize the honor and the dignity that God has given to somebody and it bases it on something else.

The reason that abortion is wrong, the reason it is evil is because it fails to recognize that baby, that child, even if she has a cleft palate or is unwanted by her parents is a human being made in the image of God. We recognize and we want to give honor to those to whom honor are due and we're not distinctive because we give honor to those that our culture says deserve it. We become distinctive when we give it to people who are made in the image of God that other people don't pay attention to. It's one of the reasons we even work so hard at trying to make guests feel welcome here. The moment they drive on the property of one of our campuses, we want them to understand you matter to God and that's why we treat you like we do. It's why we say the sermon starts in the parking lot because we want the first expression that they see to communicate you matter to God.

We know that Jesus died for you and we're gonna treat you like that. Outdo one another, he said, and show in honor. You a competitive person, then here's where you should compete.

Trip over each other trying to outdo one another and show in honor. And you know the other best part? It follows along with our teaching here on the program so you can stay plugged into Summit Life even if you miss a day on the radio. Simply sign up at jdgrier.com slash resources to start receiving these daily devotionals today.

That's jdgrier.com slash resources. While you're there, check out other free resources available to our Summit Life family, all available because of the generosity of our loyal supporters. Now let's get back to today's teaching with Pastor J.D.

Greer here on Summit Life. Number five, Paul says our love should brim with the inherent optimism of God's promises. Our love ought to brim with the inherent optimism of God's promises. Look at this, you got six commands here. Do not lack diligence and zeal, be fervent in the Spirit, serve the Lord, rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction, and then be persistent in prayer.

Now I'm gonna lump all six of these commands into one category. And it's not because I'm lazy and not because we're running out of time. Both those things may also be true, but that's not why I'm doing it here. I'm doing it because I think they all speak about an attitude that Paul is telling us to keep in our ministry to one another. This is important. These are not about our relationship to God here. You would read these and think, oh, this is just about me with him.

But no, no, no. In context, they're about our ministry to each other. And Paul is saying in light of the promises of the gospel, you should be fervent in your zeal and your devotion in how you are ministering to each other because you know what the gospel promises for that person.

When I stand up here to preach to you, I keep in mind the promises of the gospel that I am never preaching to anyone as long as they have breath in their body that Jesus is not capable of saving. Because I serve a God who raised people from the dead. And they're not degrees of deadness. You're just dead, right? You don't get more dead or less dead.

You're dead. And I'm preaching to people that God raises from the dead. And so like Paul said, I will be steadfast.

I will be immovable. I will always abound in the work of the Lord because I know my labor is not in vain in the Lord because I serve a God of resurrection. And I know when it looks like death is overtaking something that God brings life back from the dead.

So I'm not giving up. We've got missionaries right now that are serving in contexts that are so difficult. And what they have to remind themselves of is that they are serving a God whose compassion is higher than the stars of the universe and whose power to save is able to bring people out of the grave and they keep pressing on because they are fervent in the spirit because of the promises of the gospel. I can rejoice in the hope of God's good promises when I walk with somebody who is going through pain because I know that God is relentless in his commitment to his children. And I can say, you should wait on God. You should wait on God because God is always good all the time and you wait and you will see the salvation of the Lord. Even you shall faint and be weary and young men shall feel exhausted but they who wait for the Lord, oh God will renew their strength and they will mount up on wings as eagles. They will run and not grow weary.

They will walk and not faint. So wait upon God, friend. Wait upon God.

He's good. And when somebody is afflicted severely, I can help them bear with patience, like Paul says, because I know that God really is working all things out together for good. And I know that they may not see it at the moment and I may not see it either, but I know that given enough time, you're gonna see that God's gonna work that out for good.

And you're gonna, Genesis 50, 20, what Satan means for evil and what your ex-spouse means for evil and what that person means for evil and your boss means for evil. God means it for good. And if you wait upon God, you're gonna see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

So wait, wait. And I can be persistent in prayer because I've got a God. The gospel shows me who hears and answers prayer because if God went to the grave for somebody, then God's gonna listen to my prayer. He that did not spare his own son, will he not also with him freely give us all things? So Jesus told them this parable so that they would always pray and never lose heart.

He compared it to a widow that was going before a judge who day and night kept bothering the judge until the judge gave her the answers she needed. Jesus said, you therefore are to persevere in prayer day and night until God answers your prayers and changes the hearts of the ones that you love, to see from everlasting to everlasting, the Lord's faithful love is toward those who fear him and his mercy extends even to their children's children. That is a gospel promise I'm not letting go of in my family until he fulfills it. God, you have promised you're gonna be kind not just to me, but you're gonna be kind to my children and you're gonna be kind to their children as well. These are the gospel promises on which I stand. They're the gospel promises out of which I preach and they're the gospel promises out of which I pray. They brim with optimism and therefore so do I. I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, Psalm 27 13.

I will fix my eyes upon God because he is my refuge and he will not let death overtake me, Psalm 141 eight. So yes, I am optimistic about my ministry here. I'm optimistic about the future of our church. I'm optimistic about our family. I'm optimistic about the future of the church because the promises of God brim with optimism and hope. As William Carey said, the future is as bright as the promises of God. My God never slumbers or sleeps. You can never overestimate his mercy and so I cast myself upon his goodness and that's what Paul is telling us to do in those verses.

Brim with optimism. Number six, finally, our love should express itself in tangible actions. Our love should express itself in tangible actions. Verse 13, share with the saints in their needs.

Pursue harsh fatality. And I don't have long here but we'll be pretty quick on this one. But Paul indicates here that our love should not consist of mere words. Our love has to be matched with actions. By the way, most scholars will tell you that Paul is saying two different things here, not just repeating one thing twice, redundantly. Share with the saints is different than pursuing hospitality. And that's because in the Bible, listen to this, hospitality typically means love for the outsider. Taking care of the needs of the saints is how we care for people in the church. But if all you do, watch, if all you do is have other Christians into your home, then you're never really practicing hospitality because hospitality is love for the outsider. Opening our homes in hospitality is how we show love to people outside the church.

Now I will say the order of this is important. Sharing with the needs of the saints and their needs, that comes first because we're family. And just like in our families, in our nuclear families, there should be no needy people here. We ought to be so committed to one another in a way that we bear each other's financial burdens or any burdens, whether it's financial health, problems with the marriage, problem with the kids. Whenever that happens, if somebody belongs to this family, other people ought to be around them. They ought to sense when that is happening, they ought to come alongside of them and they ought to help them bear that burden. But see, then that love and commitment to each other should start spilling out into the streets in the form of hospitality.

That's where we begin to bring in the inside, bring in the outsider. I've always loved the words of the Roman Emperor Julian. They called him Julian the Apostate, one of the worst persecutors of Christianity in church history. He's writing to a friend complaining as to why the church is growing.

Look what he says. The Christian cause has been specially advanced through the loving service rendered to strangers. It is a scandal that there is not a single one who's a beggar, the nerve of those people.

Not a single one who's a beggar. This is an enemy talking about the church and those godless Galileans, that's his pejorative for Christians. They care not only for their own poor, they take care of ours as well. All those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should be rendering to them. Here's a critic of the church talking about why the church is growing. You can't find a needy person near them.

You know what he's saying? The Roman Emperor is saying the church is a better welfare program than all the Roman Empire can put together. And they take care not only of their own poor. We can't find a needy person among them because they take care of each other. If they did what they're supposed to do, we would need to have taxes because they just take care of each other.

And then it just spills out into the streets and they start taking care of ours also. That's what I'm talking about when I say that love in the church is the greatest defense of the faith. How did the church multiply? It didn't multiply because they had great musicians. This was an era where they didn't have great musicians in the church. They didn't have facilities.

They didn't have senators or people in Congress. They just loved each other. And that love was so rich with the spirit of Jesus that it was so incredibly attractive, more than lights, more than talents, more than facilities ever could be, how they loved each other.

There it is. There it is, six ways we should love each other. Your love should be without hypocrisy, grounded in God's truth, should feel like family, should recognize the inherent worth God has placed in every person.

It should brim with the inherent optimism of God's promises and it should express itself in tangible actions. Y'all, isn't that the kind of community that you want to be a part of? Isn't that the kind of family, another kind of community that our world yearns for? Do you have that kind of relationship with your church? It's time to join a family and experience the love of the body of Christ. What a wonderful reminder during this challenging season to be engaging in the lives of others. You know, this is the home stretch of our three-part series through the book of Romans. And a little while ago, I sat down with Pastor JD and talked with him about jumping back into this series.

And here's what he had to say. I know this has been a pretty long series. There was a lot that we tried to soak out of this book, but there's a lot more that's still there. And we want to help you continue to soak yourself in the book of Romans. Like we've talked about, every spiritual awakening in our country has come from a generation reawakening to these incredible gospel truths. And as far as printed resources go, you got one more opportunity to really soak in the content of Romans. Right now, you can get the second installment of Tim Keller's Romans Bible study. You know, Tim Keller, most of you know, just went on to be with Jesus recently. He had a humongous impact on me. This is a way that you can take a spiritual mentor and hero of mine and actually let him walk you through some of these verses and these chapters that we've been soaking in.

If you'll just go to jdgrier.com, you will see exactly what I mean. We would love to hear from you. We'll send you a copy of Pastor Tim Keller's study through Romans chapters eight through 16 as a way to say thank you for your financial gift of $35 or more to this ministry. We wouldn't be on the air today without friends just like you who have partnered with us in the past, and we'd be honored if you would consider doing the same today. To give, call us now at 866-335-5220. That's 866-335-5220. Or give online right now at jdgrier.com. I'm Molly Vitevich inviting you to join us tomorrow when we flip the scenario from loving our friends to the more difficult task of loving our enemies. See you Friday for Summit Life with J.D. Greer.