The one thing you leave behind
Is how did you love, how did you love?
It's not what you believe those prayers will make you bleed
But while you're on your knees
How did you love, how did you love, how did you love?"
Chorus from "How Did You Love?" by the band Shinedown
"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." John 15:12
How?
Jesus came and went to save the lost -- He sought people out. He went to them. He didn't wait for them to come to Him.
"When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”" Luke 19:5
He sought out Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus needed to see Jesus in his home.
"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”" Luke 19:10
Jesus intentionally sought!
Action--intention--purposeful
He sought a relationship with someone. Go find those people. Go to where they are.
"Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:18
Love through action.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
"God does not love that which is already in itself worthy of love, but on the contrary, that which in itself has no worth acquires worth just by becoming the object of God's love. Agape has nothing to do with the kind of love that depends on the recognition of a valuable quality in its object. Agape does not recognize value, but creates it. Agape loves, and imparts value by loving. The man who is loved by God has no value in himself; what gives him value is precisely the fact that God loves him. Agape is a value-creating principle." Anders Nygren
Nygren continues, "(agape love) is spontaneous and heedless, for it does not determine beforehand whether (loving) will be effective or appropriate in any particular case."
God said, "Do what I did...Love how I love" and He will take care of the rest. We are to love like God loves, with agape love.
Who Should We Love?
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:43-48
Love the way God loves.
This kind of love is not easy and NOT optional.
Radical Love of Jesus.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:15-29
18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Leviticus 19:18
Love the unlovable.
20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen." 1 John 4:20
If you can't find compassion for a person you need to do a self check. Jesus was accused of drunkenness and gluttony because he hung out with people others wouldn't hang out with.
Who are you?
If we claim to be children of God...
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23
Then the above verses should describe us.
If we are disciples of Jesus ...
21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister." 1 John 4:21
NO EXCEPTIONS.
God loved us first.
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
"38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39
That person is worth your time and your love and hearing the gospel no matter their behavior or treatment of you. We don't need to fix people. Just bring them to Jesus. Come just as you are.
What should we be doing?
"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law." Romans 13:8
We are to love -- love one another. That is what our debt to Jesus is.
God will ask us, How did you love?
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.