Loving like Jesus

Bible passage: John 15:9-17

Series on Being Like Jesus brings us to the one characteristic of Jesus that is above all others.

More poetry and songs written about it than any other subject. It makes the world go around. It’s all you need. It’s a many splendoured thing.

In tennis it means nothing but for most people it’s what matters most.

Love is our subject – just after Valentine's Day – not talking about romantic love so much, or sexual love, or brotherly love, but God's love which is practical and committed and sacrificial.

Look at some texts in John – Apostle of love – says more about love than any other writer in the NT.

John 3:16 – God loved the world so much he gave
John 13:35 – people will know you are my disciples if you love one another
John 14:15 & 23 – if you love me you will obey
John 15:9 – as the father loved me, so I have loved you – remain in my love
John 15:12 - love like I have loved you
John 15:13 – love lays down your life
1 John 4 – just as much a hymn to love as 1 Cor 13 – this is love: that God loved us and gave us his son.

Jesus' example of love – what kind of love did Jesus show? Loving's easy – easy to love those you like, to love yourself, to love Liverpool or Chocolate – the world love can extend so far that loving in some sense is easy.

But we want to ask How did Jesus love and how can I love like that – and that's not always so easy.

Love for the outcast

Jesus made a decision to love those who were unloved and those whom society had rejected.

Jesus went to be with the tax-collectors, the prostitutes, the poor and excluded.

When the religious leaders brought to him a woman caught in adultery he didn't condemn her, he forgave her and told her to sin no more.

Who can we love in Jesus' name? Where would Jesus be these days?
He'd be with the homeless – those who we se sleeping in shop doorways that we'd rather pass by – Jesus would be there.
He'd be with asylum seekers, people who are escaping from mistreatment, sometimes torture, who come here and are treated like lepers.
He'd be with drug addicts and those with HIV and AIDS

We find it easier to love those we like, those who love us – but Jesus told us to go the extra mile, to love the unlovely.

Churches in St Helens run a centre where homeless people can go to get a meal and company – get medical attention and advice. Run entirely to show the love of Jesus.

Churches in Liverpool are showing care for asylum seekers through Asylum Link – setting up advice centres and providing food and clothes – particularly now that the new laws have left many asylum seekers destitute.

May say don't agree with government policy – don't want asylum seekers here – in a sense that doesn't matter – not the issue – people who are rejected and unloved needing to see the love of Jesus in action. Loving comes before judging.

Think how we can do that – show the love of Jesus to the unloved around us – money, volunteer work, supporting a good cause – doesn’t have to be major commitment, in little ways to

If we're loving like Jesus we need to love the outcasts, those that society has rejected, those we might find it difficult to like.

Love for the church

Loving is for the outcast – but it's also for those close to you. Jesus never meant to start a new religion – he wanted to see all people, starting with the Jews, coming to be his followers. Didn't set out many rules and regulations about the way his followers should be when they were together. Left behind only two specific practices . One was communion – when you meet share bread and wine to remember me. The other was baptism – when people come to faith in Jesus they should be baptised into Jesus and his church.

Didn't leave any other rules and regulations about how church should be church, except one, which stands over them all – he said Love one another. Not addressed to the world at large but to the church, to those who followed him. He said that we would be identified nit by what we wore or the songs we sang or little fish symbols on our cars of lapels – we would be identified by the love we have for one another.

Jesus loved the church so much he died for us – church is described as his bride, his beloved. Church doesn't mean the building- we know that – doesn't mean the institution - our meetings or the way we do things. Church means people – people we share with in faith. Church should b a plural rather than singular – the church that Jesus loves is his people coming together in worship and faith and witness and action.

If we are going to love like Jesus we need to love one another – to love the church – that is each other. To be loyal to each other, to go out of our way to be there for each other – to offer support and care and concern, to provide for each other in need.

Bible says to the church "don't give up meeting together but encourage one another" (Hebs 10:25)

If we're followers of Jesus the church isn't optional, it's where we should be to support one another and worship and learn together. That's part of loving like Jesus.

Love that pays the price

The quality that marks out the love of Jesus is sacrifice. Jesus' love is not changeable according to who is loved or whether they deserve it. Jesus' love is love that doesn't count the cost – tough love, For Jesus that love led him to the cross and he said that the greatest love is being willing to lay down your life for others.

How did God love us – he gave up his son. If we want to be loving like Jesus we have to ask how much are we willing to give.