Embracing Christ's Command to Love Unconditionally

"So, one of the toughest things to do as a follower of Christ is to love people. Always. Because people can be hard to love, right? And you know who counts in that statement, too? Us. We can be hard to love. We people, too. We hard to love sometimes. I know we will go home and we had arguments in our head with our family members, friends, about how we was right. We probably wasn't. We was hard to love in those moments." [00:37:07] (38 seconds)


"But we have a mandate as the body of Christ from Scripture to do what Jesus has said. And that's the title of my message, to love one another. So turn your Bibles to John 13, and we're going to read verses 34 and 35. Two little verses, right? Man, but the Word of God is powerful. So John 13, verse 34 and 35, and I'm going to read it. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you." [00:39:24] (38 seconds)


"The prerequisite for obedience to God and his commands does not hinge on his difficulty. Never has. Just because it's hard doesn't mean that you're not supposed to do it. You're supposed to do it anyway. We do hard things all the time. Raise kids, raise family, deal with difficult people in our own lives, deal with a job that we might hate. We go there because we have a responsibility. Those things are hard." [00:40:25] (26 seconds)


"See, it's different if I say love your neighbor as yourself. Okay, cool. But if Jesus comes to you and said, I want you to love your neighbor as I have loved you, I need you to think about all the things that Christ has done for you. Is that the kind of love you're putting out to the body of Christ, your family? So a higher quality. Y 'all know what I mean when I say higher quality." [00:42:21] (27 seconds)


"And that quality is based on Christ's love that he has for us. It is sacrificial, it's selfless, it's unconditional, and it serves us. This is the zenith example of what it looks like to love one another according to how Jesus did. So if he is setting that bar, then we have a high bar to reach. So I cannot, I cannot choose to love somebody the way that I decide when I've been given a command on how to do it according to how I have loved you, right?" [00:43:42] (32 seconds)


"To first start it out here when somebody tells us to do something, we go, man, Jesus was perfect. How can I mimic Jesus? First off, stop making excuses. That's lame. I've heard people say it so many times. That's an excuse for you to do what you want to do. Man, he was perfect. I can't do that. You didn't even try. I need you to try just a little bit. Be kind to somebody." [00:45:41] (21 seconds)


"Using his perfection as a reason to fail or not even try is unacceptable and unbiblical. But the power to obey God doesn't even come from us. It comes from God. The power of the Holy Spirit is in you if you are a follower of Christ. And he's not asking you to do it in your own strength. Second, we ought to try every day to strive for perfection, even knowing we won't reach it." [00:46:28] (24 seconds)


"Acts of generosity with time, talent, and money is another way to show love. And that's within our own context. Secondly, a practical way to show love is being compassionate. And what that means is trying to be compassionate means you want to relieve the suffering of others. I love that definition. Because I've felt that before. You see somebody suffering. I just want to help, want to relieve it in some kind of way." [00:48:03] (26 seconds)


"Jesus came, bled, died for our sin. He gave up his life, even when we were dead in our own transgressions. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's what the Scripture said. He decided to love us while we were yet sinners, and he didn't have to. We have to show love to our family. We have to show love to our family. We have to show love to Christ." [00:53:29] (26 seconds)


"The best part is Jesus told us to do it knowing, like I said earlier, that we have the Holy Spirit. The one who takes away all excuses. He does. Because again, if you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit. And the excuse of you not being able to do A, B, and C is just that, an excuse. God never said do it under your own power. I have given you what you need. That's what the scripture tells us." [00:54:52] (23 seconds)


"So, by this, there will be a perpetual and tangible knowledge shown to all of us and to the world if we love each other. The witness of the gospel will be in action. And there will be no doubt that we belong to Jesus. So, let me just throw a ton of scripture at you just to back this up. Romans 12 .10. Love one another with brotherly affection." [00:56:41] (23 seconds)