Loving Others

Jesus said that loving others is the second most important thing his followers must do, second only to loving God.  Jesus’ followers must love others the same way that we love ourselves (Mark12:28-34; Luke10:25-37) and treat others the way we like to be treated (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31).  In these verses Jesus makes it clear that loving God and loving others are two commands that sum up everything that God expects his children to do.

Most of Jesus’ commands to his followers are about how we treat others.  We are to be merciful to others (Luke 6:36).  We are not to judge others (Matthew 7:1-2; Luke 6:37).  We are to forgive others (Forgiving others is really important. See the article “What did Jesus say about forgiving others?”).  We are to love even our enemies and do good to those who hate us, we are to bless those who abuse us and pray for those who treat us badly (Luke 6:27-28).

All this was revolutionary teaching in Jesus’ time, and it is revolutionary today.  Jesus said that it is our love for each other that will show everyone that we are his disciples. (John 13:35)

Loving others is an essential part of doing the will of God, and Jesus made it very clear that he expected his followers to do the will of God.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’  Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’” (Matthew 7:21-23)

Jesus then tells the parable of the wise and foolish builders, illustrating and reinforcing his teaching about the importance of not just hearing his words, but acting on them.

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell – and great was its fall!” (Matthew 7:24-27)

Other examples of Jesus teaching on the importance of doing the will of God include:

“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:50; Mark 3:35);

“You are my friends if you do what I command you.” (John 15:14); and

“If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (John 13:17)

“For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.” (Matthew 16:27)

So, it is very important that we do the will of God.  If we rely on our faith, our beliefs, our creeds or our doctrines to save us, but do not do the will of God, then we are risking hearing Jesus say: “I never knew you”.

The will of God is that we love him and love others.  Specifically, we must look after those who are in need. We must give to those who are poor, befriend those who are alone and promote justice for those who need justice.   Here are a few of the many verses from our Bible showing that God wants us to look after those in need.

• In Genesis God says: “I have chosen (Abraham) that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice”(Genesis 18:19);
• In the law given to Moses there are many, many examples of commands to look after others. Just one example must do for this post: “Give liberally and be ungrudging …for on this account the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’”(Deuteronomy 15:10-11);
• In the prophets, to take one example, “what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”(Micah 6:8);
• In the gospels, Jesus’ chilling teaching on what will happen to those who do not look after others (Matthew 25:31-46). (It’s too long to reproduce here.)

This emphasis on loving others does not mean that we can earn salvation by our good works.  As our brother Paul put it:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Unfortunately, many Christians use this verse to suggest that works are unimportant.  This is a misleading and dangerous thing to teach.  Paul himself emphasized the important of good works in the very next verse, saying that God always intended good works to be our way of life.

“For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” (Ephesians 2:10)

We cannot guarantee our salvation by looking after others.  Salvation is the gift of God and God alone.  But God commands us to love our fellow human beings, and he is particularly concerned that we should love those less fortunate than ourselves:  the poor, the lonely and those who need justice.  If our love for others does not result in us taking care of them, then it is not love.

Jesus is Lord.

 

Jesus said that forgiving others is essential if we want to be right with God.  Indeed, Jesus made it clear that God will not forgive us if we do not forgive others.

“For if you forgive others their offences, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your offences.” (Matthew 6:14-15.  See also Luke 11:4)

“Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your offences.” (Mark 11:25)

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37)

 

Jesus also made it clear that his followers were to keep on forgiving:

Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church offends against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?”  Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but I tell you, seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:21-22.  See also Luke 17:3-4).

Jesus follows these words by telling the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:23-35), finishing with these unrelenting words:

“So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:35)

 

We forgive others because this is what Jesus told us to do.  But there is another good reason for doing so – forgiving others is good for our own mental health.  When we truly forgive others, from our hearts, we let go of any anger or bitterness we feel towards them.  So, God wants us to forgive others because it is good for our health.  God is a good parent.  He loves us, his human children, and he wants us to be healthy.

 

Jesus, while he was being crucified, set the supreme example of what it means to forgive others:

“Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.”  (Luke 23:34)

 

 

 

 

What is the Good News?

Jesus said the Good News is that the Kingdom of God is near (Mark 1:15).

Jesus was talking to Jews in 1st century Palestine. They knew about the Kingdom of God and the coming of the Messiah. They were expecting it, hoping for it, praying for it and Jesus came along and said it was near.  But he made it clear that the Kingdom of God wasn’t the kind of earthly kingdom that his listeners were expecting. Not at all.  He said:

“The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; no one will say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is inside you.” (Luke 17:20-21)

and

“My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight… but my kingship is not from here.” (John 18:36)

Jesus wasn’t talking about the sort of kingdom that his listeners understood. His kingdom is a different sort of kingdom.  But it is a kingdom and God is the King.

If you enter a kingdom you accept the King’s authority. You accept the King’s rules and you obey them.  But the rules of the Kingdom of God are not like the rules in an earthly kingdom.  Not at all.  The rules of the Kingdom of God are positive.  The rules in an earthly kingdom are usually a long list of what subjects are not allowed to do. The rules in the Kingdom of God are a relatively short list of what subjects are commanded to do.  “Love the Lord your God”, “Love your neighbour”, “Treat others the way you like to be treated”, “Be merciful”, “Love your enemies”.  Even those few rules that are phrased as negatives are positive in practice: “Don’t judge others”, “Don’t worry”, “Don’t trust earthly treasures”.   (A list of Jesus’ commands can be found on the homepage of this website. http://followtheteachingsofjesus.com)

These are the rules.  This is how the King wants his subjects to behave.  This is the Good News.

All the rules of the Kingdom of God can, of course, be summed up in one word:

Love.

In the context of the Kingdom of God, love is not a mushy word. It is a command. It is a rule. If you become a subject in the Kingdom of God and accept the King’s authority you must love.  Being a subject in the Kingdom of God means living in a love relationship with the King and it means living in love relationships with His other subjects. This is how God wants us to live. This is how God has always wanted us to live.  This is the Good News that we are to share with the world.

What makes us share the Good News badly?   Traditions, doctrines, rituals and jargon.  We focus on things that are not found in Jesus’ teachings, so they are not part of the Good News.  We focus on our buildings (Jesus did not tell us to build buildings), our church services (Jesus did not tell us to hold church services) and studying our Bibles (Jesus did not tell us to study scripture).  We follow rituals that have long lost their meanings.  We use jargon that cannot be understood by non-churchgoers.  All these things are not found in the teachings of Jesus and distract us from sharing the Good News well.

What we need to do is live the Good News by following Jesus teachings in our everyday lives. Then and only then, when we get the opportunity, can we talk convincingly about what it means to be part of the Kingdom of God.

 

We are living in a post-Christian age. An age where a very large proportion of society finds Christianity to be irrelevant. The Good News is not irrelevant. The Good News really is the answer to the world’s problems. So why doesn’t the world respond positively to the Good News?

Because we Christians are sharing it badly

 

One last point.  Jesus said:

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38)

Consider Jesus’ words carefully.  This is not a call to evangelism – it is a call to prayer.  Let’s pray that God will send out the laborers that he chooses for this work.  And let’s pray that he will enable them to share the Good News well.

 

Jesus is Lord.