Loving Others As We Travel
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Greg Waybright
- Mark 12:28-34 & John 15:12
- Synced - A Spirit-Synced Way of Life
- 43 mins 42 secs
- Views: 2688
Family Devotional
Synced Family Devotional Sept. 19-20, 2015
Welcome to your first Family Devotional of the series! Our passage for today comes from John 15: 5-12, which talks about being connected to the vine, Jesus. This would be a great time to get outside together: go to your backyard if you have plants/trees, go to a park, or even just get a household plant and set it at the center of the table. Begin by reading the Scripture out loud as a family.
Our Scripture talks about how we are supposed to be connected to God. Jesus is comparing our relationship with him to a branch’s relationship to the vine.
Questions:
How do plants work? How does a plant grow leaves and flowers and fruit? What happens if a plant is disconnected from the roots?
(If your kids are too little to know this, please explain it to them. Make sure to point out the different parts of the plant, showing how the roots dive deep into the ground to get their food and water. You could also rip out a blade of grass and talk about how it will die if it’s not planted in the earth.)
Jesus says that we have to remain connected to him, we have to stay planted in him, we have to be “synced” with him in order to produce fruit, especially the fruit of LOVE. If we want to really LOVE people, we have to stay connected to God.
Questions:
• How do you connect to God? What does a relationship with God look like?
• Jesus tells us that when we are connected to him, we ought to love each other. What does he say love looks like?
Jesus says in verse 13 that “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus loved us like this, didn’t he? He laid down his life so that we could be free. He died on a cross for our sins, bringing us forgiveness and hope. Now, we probably won’t be laying our lives down like that for someone anytime soon, but we can always be putting other people first. Sometimes we are tempted to be selfish with our toys, our money, our time, our energy, our clothes... But Jesus tells us here that to LOVE someone means that we put other people’s needs in front of our own. It means we share, we give, and we help people.
Questions:
How can you love someone in your family like this? How can you love someone at school like this? How can you love your neighbors (especially neighbors who don’t know Jesus) like this?
Prayer: Spend some time thanking Jesus for his love. Ask him to help you love the people around you.
Daily Devotional
Synced Daily Devotionals Week 1
Love - Week 1
Monday
Mark 10.17-22
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Jesus looked at him and loved him.
This one sentence gives this passage an entirely different feel than if it was absent. Without these words Jesus’ actions could be interpreted in any number of ways. Maybe he was being mean, trying to set this man up. Maybe he was being sarcastic, using his wit to hurt this man. Or maybe Jesus was being cruel by giving this man an impossible command – sell everything and give the proceeds to the poor – in full knowledge that he couldn’t and/or wouldn’t do it.
But Jesus looked at him and loved him.
He wasn’t being mean or sarcastic or cruel. Instead, he loved this man.
But there’s a really important part of that sentence that is easy to overlook – Jesus looked at him. Jesus saw this man for who he was – a confused but faithful Jew who had placed his riches (and/or the reputation that came with them) in a place that should be reserved for God.
And as Jesus looked at this man, seeing him, warts and all, he loved him. Jesus didn’t wait for this man to shape up. He didn’t tell him that he had to believe and behave before he could belong.
No. Jesus looked at him and loved him.
Furthermore, Jesus didn’t look at this man and see who he could become and love that potential person. No. Jesus loved the man standing right in front of him.
And here’s where we get a clearer idea of what it might look like for us as we live a Spirit-synced life.
The Holy Spirit will encourage us from within to look at the people in our lives. The Spirit will demand that we see them for who they are, not who we want them to be. He’ll have us pay attention to their failures and their successes, their downfalls and their strengths, their circumstances and their will power. He’ll have us look at them.
And then he’ll call us to love them.
In Jesus’ case that meant saying something hard to a person who had it all. This man was a good Jew, from what we gather here, and he was wealthy, which granted him great power and prestige in the ancient world.
It was to that man that Jesus spoke the truth in love. It was to that man that Jesus said what was hard.
Love doesn’t mean giving someone what they want. It doesn’t mean coddling them. It doesn’t mean overlooking who they are.
No. Love means putting the interests of others before our own no matter the cost or benefit.
That’s what Jesus did for this man.
And, let’s be honest, that’s what Jesus has done for us.
Now, as we are synced with the Spirit, we are being called to emulate Jesus.
So, in our lives, let us look at all those that God has cross our paths, and, by the power of the Spirit, let’s love them.
~Matt Barnes
Tuesday
John 11.32-36
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.“
Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
How many times have we heard the verse from the children’s song that says – “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so?" I believe that stanza tells all we really need to know about Jesus – He loves us unconditionally. No matter who we are or what we do, He will love us unconditionally. The challenge for us is to go forth and do likewise.
Have you ever realized how Jesus models for us grieving as a part of His perfect love?
In our passage today from John 11:32-36, we see this stanza lived out to the fullest. To set the stage, Jesus had been told his friend Lazarus was dying. His disciples urge Him to go and heal him but Jesus declares Lazarus is only asleep and He, Jesus, will awaken him later. Jesus waits and finishes his ministry and arrives at Lazarus’ house to hear people mourning for Lazarus, as they assumed he had died. Martha confronts Jesus in anger for not coming earlier.
So what does Jesus do? He tells his friends “I am the resurrection and the life…whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Let’s see what else He did:
Jesus loved Mary and comforted her
Jesus was moved by the weeping of friends
Jesus wept himself
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead
As I think about applying this on a daily basis, I urge you to rely upon the fact that Jesus loves you and will never forsake you even up to the point of death. Just like in Psalm 23, He will be your Good Shepherd and walk with you even through the shadow of death.
When called upon, be ready and willing to walk with someone just like Jesus does for you. Your presence at a difficult time is displaying God’s love to your friend or neighbor. Follow Jesus’ model to mourn deeply, grieve, walk with, and have empathy for those you love. By following His example, you are living out the Great Commandment to “Love your Neighbor.”
~Bill Mead
Wednesday
John 11.1-11
11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
Why is it that we stay in abusive relationships or hold our tongue when loved ones ask us questions we feel they wouldn’t like to hear the truth about? Is our idea of love so filled with fuzzy bubbles, fuchsia hearts, and positive vibes that we don’t perceive anything else as loving? Love doesn’t always feel great, but it always acts in the best interest of the beloved.
When I was preparing to propose to my wife Caryn, we had a not-so-fuzzy loving moment. We were at a place in our relationship where we needed to know we were committed to moving forward together.
Caryn called me and asked me where we stood, and my response to her was simple “I don’t know.” At that moment one hand was on the phone talking to her, my other hand clutched my newly acquired engagement ring and I pondered my love and commitment for her. How agonizing it must have felt for Caryn to hear that, only to be proposed to months later. Many times in Scripture we see Christ’s love manifested in similar not-so-fuzzy ways.
In John 11:1-11 we see this story of not-so-fuzzy love on display. Christ is attending to ministry when he finds out a dear friend is deathly ill. Everyone connected to both have a strong sense that Christ will drop what he’s doing and head straight to handle this concern, but to the surprise of the beloved Jesus doesn’t. Christ stays for a few more days attending to what He must and by the time he attends to Lazarus it’s too late and Lazarus is dead. Then Christ puts His love on display and raises Lazarus back to life!
Could it be that Jesus saw this as the most loving thing to do? Was it more loving for him to attend to those who needed him in the city and come and demonstrate an even greater commitment to Lazarus’ and his family by raising Lazarus back to life?
How often do we display this greater love? Do we cave in and pacify our children when they whine and whimper for the toy, candy, or device or do we love them and delay their gratification trusting that it is better for them? Do we stay silent on the issues that we know need confrontation in order to keep the peace or do we confront the issues and become “peace makers”?
How can you follow Christ’s lead in love?
Please take a moment to reflect on any impressions you feel and write down one or two ways you will prayerfully make adjustments.
Now, schedule a time to share them with a friend who will keep you accountable and encourage you along the way.Christ proclaimed the world will know we are His followers by our love! May we follow His lead!
~Mark Fields
Thursday
John 15.9-17
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.”
In Singapore, I had the privilege of going to a rather prestigious all-boys Christian school. One of the things that I remember clearly about this school was the assembly hall in which we had chapel services once a week. Hanging on one of those walls was a plaque with names written of former students who had died in the course of serving in the nation’s armed forces. Written at the top of the plaque was the scripture we just read, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
What made this plaque even more poignant to me was that one of those names was of a relative of mine, who died tragically in an accident while serving as a pilot in the Air Force. I never met him, since he died before I was born. Sometimes, during chapel, I would gaze up at his name emblazoned on that plaque and wonder what his life might have been if he had not gotten into his plane that fateful day, and what loss and sadness our family went through when they received the terrible news.
While we mourn the tragic loss of any life, especially those given in service to their country, we see that the context in which Jesus spoke these words was quite different. Jesus knew that his time had come, and he willingly laid his life down for his friends.
That’s how much Jesus loves us. Jesus’ life was not taken from him. Rather, he gladly laid his life down out of love and compassion for us. It was according to God’s plan. Jesus knew very well that there was no other option for humanity to be saved and he did not shrink from the challenge. This changes everything about his death.
I find it interesting that Jesus in this passage tells us that obeying him is evidence that we love him. We are called to love and obey God with all of our hearts, and when we obey God he calls us his friends!
And in the next breath Jesus points out that obeying him means loving each other. How difficult is it to love one another? In this passage, we remember that Jesus was about to go to the cross as he spoke these words. So love is costly – and sometimes it will demand all that we have, all that we are.
We are reminded that love is a choice, a decision. It can be really hard at times to love someone, but we are encouraged to remember Jesus’ hard decision to go to the cross for us. We are here today because of his love and grace. Can anything he asks us to do be too hard?
~Walter Alexander
Friday
John 13.34-35
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
We live in a culture that is obsessed with newness.
We all want to own a new car, even though new cars are one of the worst investments we can make.
We all want to look and feel younger (a bit closer to being a newly-minted human being), even though we know full well that our experiences – good and bad – have helpfully shaped our lives as more mature adults.
We all want to watch the latest movies, even though we all know that ticket prices are utterly outrageous.
And we all want to have many new experiences (implying that they are better than our tired old experiences), even though we often have pleasant and God-honoring rhythms which are born out of our typical set of experiences.
New is not always better.
So when we read this passage it’s easy to carry all of that baggage with us. We are either obsessed with newness and our ears perk up when Jesus talks about it, or we avoid new things like the plague and we tune Jesus out.
But Jesus’ point here has less to do with the newness of his command and more to do with the importance of it.
Jesus says to his closest friends and followers that they should love one another. They should put the interests of one another first.
What’s so new about this? Doesn’t the Old Testament contain lots of commands for folks to be loving too? Yes, and quite often.
But the newness of this command is found through examining its importance. This command to love one another was so important that Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, became human, lived a perfect life, died a traitor’s death, was risen from the dead on the third day, and ascended to heaven to intercede for those who believe in him.
Jesus says it much more compactly: As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
So the newness of the command to love one another – to put one another’s interests first – is found in how important it was to God, important enough for Jesus to sacrifice himself.
And what’s the result of this love? Why is loving one another so important for us to do as followers of Jesus?
First, in so doing we obey Jesus, the one who gave himself for all of us.
And, second, when we love one another, the watching world will know that we’re disciples of Jesus. That sentence needs some unpacking.
What’s a disciple? A disciple is a fancy word that means something like a dedicated pupil. To put it in modern lingo – a disciple Jesus is a person committed to a life of obeying Jesus by imitating his life.
So how does our love of one another indicate to the watching world that we’re life-long learners of Jesus? Because the love that Jesus demonstrated for us and that we’re to share with one another is so rare in this world. When we truly love sacrificially, it will stand out against the overwhelming background of selfishness in our human cultures.
So Jesus made the ancient command to love new by demonstrating it in his life. Let us do the same, being led by the Spirit to put the interests of one another before our own!
~Matt Barnes
Saturday
John 13.1-5
13 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
No socks, no shoes, just dirty old feet. That’s what you would be left with at the end of the day in Jesus’ time. You had spent hours upon hours walking on dirt roads through villages and towns without any modern sanitary regulations. Your feet would pick up some serious filth. At the end of your travels when entered someone’s home, you probably would want to pay them respect by making sure your feet were clean. Maybe a servant would come and assist with the cleansing.
But who cleans the disciple’s feet in this scenario? Jesus.
Time and time again Jesus performed acts of love in front of the disciples while they were surprised and almost resistant to his powerful love. Every time Jesus gave an act of love or servanthood, the first reaction of the followers would be to resist. It was difficult for them to fathom that God could do something so humbling. God would enter into their space and come down to their level.
I’m about to become a parent and one thing I am not looking forward to is the plethora of dirty diapers that await me. But for me as a parent, it is something that has to happen. I literally have no choice. I must keep my child healthy and clean, even though she may be resistant (and maybe me too!). But I know that my heart toward my child will always be love. I am willing to keep up that rhythm because I deeply love her, and she obviously can’t do it herself. If she could she would be a super baby.
Jesus is lowering himself out of love and trying to convey to the disciples that there are some things that they cannot do themselves. And they felt really uncomfortable with Jesus cleaning their feet. This was their hero and their Savior.
But maybe the more discomfort we feel in the situation is an indicator of the greater evidence of love being displayed. In those moments when we feel unlovable, worthless, or dirty, we may feel inclined to resist. But if we accept God’s cleansing gentle love, and approach, we will realize the purpose is for our transformation.
1. Name a time in your life where you felt resistant to someone’s act of loving service towards you.
2. Name a time when you finally let yourself receive an act of loving service.
3. Obviously we can’t run around trying to wash the feet of friends and random people. But we can mimic Christ’s humbling approach to His disciples. Think about the heart of Jesus behind the cleansing of the disciple’s feet. How do we take that same heart and transfer it to those around us. What actions would take place to show that same kind of servanthood?
~Perry Hawkins
Study Notes
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Synced: Loving Others as We Travel
Galatians 5:13-17, 22-26
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23a).”
We’re going to be talking about fruit over the next few months. It’s a special kind of fruit, one that the Apostle Paul called “the fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22-23a. Look at that verse and I’ll ask you two questions: Question 1: Is it one fruit or 9 fruits?
It’s clear that what the Bible is talking about is one fruit. It’s talking about the development of a way of life in which all of these beautiful characteristics are growing in us just as the whole of a piece of fruit grows together. Let me show you the picture of the anatomy of an apple: http://www.geochembio.com/IMG/apple-fruit-anatomy.png.
Do you see in that picture that there are many different components to an apple and yet it is one apple? What the Bible is saying is that when you place your faith in Jesus, Jesus gives his Holy Spirit to you to dwell within you (cf., Jn 1415-28; 16:5-15) and this Spirit begins to produce a wholly new way of life that includes all of these components. Like fruit, this new way of life doesn’t happen in a moment – but it’s a process of growth. We’ll be talking weekly about that process this fall. But here’s what I want you to notice now: This fruit of the Spirit is like other kinds of fruit in this way, i.e., an apple tree produces apples. Never will you find an apple tree that is worrying and struggling out of fear that an avocado is going to grow on it.
And the Spirit of God produces fruit that looks like the life of God. Paul says it’s beautiful. It’s not a life of sexual unfaithfulness, strife, fits of anger, envy, etc. (see 5:19-21). No, it’s like what we read about in vv. 22-23a. Boiling it down, God’s Spirit begins to produces in us a way of life that looks more and more like Jesus. See http://s7.leapfrog.com/is/image/LeapFrog/rotten_apples_misc?$lp-content-img$.
Question #2: Is there a reason why love is first on the list of the Spirit’s fruit? It’s clear to me both from the context (see vv.13-14) and from the entire NT that the answer is yes. All the laws that God gave in the Old Testament were good. They were given so that people could live life as God has created people to live. Read through the Psalms and you’ll see that the people of Israel who loved God knew this. Many Psalms are song about how much they loved God’s laws.
Now, notice this carefully: When Jesus was asked about the greatest of all God’s commands, he boiled them all down to one all-embracive command with two parts, i.e., love God and love people. When Paul said in 1 Cor 13 that we might do all the good things God would have us to do but if we do them without love, those things are like “a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” So, here in Gal. 5, “love” affects all the other parts of the fruit. If love isn’t growing in your life, then the other parts of life will rot.
And, that’s exactly what seemed to be happening in the local church Paul was writing to in Galatians. The people said they were Christians but, as v.16 points out, they were “biting and devouring one another.” Paul let them know in no uncertain terms that, when you see lovelessness in your life, the Spirit of God is not ruling in your heart. In other words: Lovelessness is proof you are not synced by the Spirit.
With that in mind, we’d better see what the Bible says about love. It’s different from what the world says. I want to do this by considering 1) what love is, 2) what love looks like, and 3) how love grows.
What Love Is
The central characteristic of love as the Bible speaks of it is that love is not self-seeking. To the contrary, it is self-sacrificial giving. Love is longing for the best to happen in the life of the person you love. More than that, love is acting intentionally in such ways that other people are benefitted by what you do.
Do you see how different this is from the way our world speaks of love? I recommend a book to you about by Philip Kenneson, Life on the Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51iokyy6viL._SX318_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg In it, Kenneson writes, “Cultures like ours encourage us to consider all aspects of our lives in terms of self-interest. So, how do we cultivate a life marked by God’s love – a love that is always directed toward the needs of others – in a culture so thoroughly saturated with self-concern?”
So, the world says to you that you can’t really love a person if you don’t feel in a certain way about them. And Jesus says back to you, “What love is about is not so much about your ever-changing feelings about someone but about your readiness to lay down your life to bring benefit and help to the one you love. The entire story in the Bible is about God’s unrelenting, “you-and-me-directed” love. Jesus came to this sinful world. Jesus died for us while we were sinners. Jesus gives us his Spirit to empower us to be different.” This is love! How did the Apostle John put it? “This is the way we know what love is: Jesus laid down his life for us. That’s how. So, we who follow him ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If you say you are a Christian and have resources and then you see a brother or sister in need and you close your heart and do nothing, how does that show that God’s love is in you? Fellow Children of God, let us not love simply in words or emotion. True love is always shown in action.”
So, here in Gal 5:14, Paul quotes Jesus by saying, “The whole law of God (i.e., the whole of the commands telling us how God made us to live) is summed up in one phrase, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Do you know what we’ve done to that phrase in the American church? We’ve reinterpreted it into saying, “First, you must love yourself. If you don’t love yourself, then you can’t love anyone else. So, (we say) first, focus all your attention on self-esteem and self-love.” Listen to me now: That’s NOT what Jesus was teaching. That’s not what Jesus did. That self-centered focus is nothing like the love of God. What Jesus and Paul were saying is that any of us as functioning human beings will seek to meet our own needs. When we are hungry, we’ll seek to find food. When we are lonely, we will seek to find a relationship. When we are bored or depressed, we’ll seek to fill the emptiness. In the same way as you care about those needs for yourself, focus your life on meeting the needs of others. Then you will live.
So, when you live a life of love synced by the Spirit, the first thing that you will find is that you turn from always being concerned about yourself and you will grow to live life guided by bringing blessing to others.
What Love Looks Like
To see what this kind of others-directed, Jesus-like love looks like in the lives of everyday people, I can do nothing better than to take you to the famous story of the Good Samaritan that Jesus told in Luke 10:25-37. The setting is in v.25: On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The lawyer was not the same as a lawyer in our day. This lawyer was an expert in the “Torah”, the laws of God found in the five books of Moses. So, he would have had a very positive understanding of God’s law because he believed that all God’s laws were given “so that it may go well” (Dt 5:33) with those who obeyed them.
As he did so often, Jesus answered the lawyer’s question with a question. Remember that the man was an expert in the law. So, Jesus asked, “How do you read what God has said in Torah?” And the lawyer answered correctly, “Love the Lord your God with all being; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus is saying that the first part of the 10 Commandments tell us how we are to love God and the second part tells how to love our neighbors as ourselves. As always, a life of love according to God is not simply a matter of having loving emotions. No, a life of love is demonstrated by loving actions toward God and others.
This confrontation leads to Jesus telling the story that illustrates what loving others as you love yourself looks like. If Jesus told the story told to our church, it might start something like this:
A businessman who was a member of LAC was taking a trip to the south side of LA and decided to go through skid row. When he did, his car was stopped; he was pulled out, beaten, robbed and left to die on the street. It seemed providential that the youth pastor of his own church was going through skid row that evening because he was meeting with a group of SoCal youth ministers to plan an evangelistic outreach to the homeless. So, the youth pastor saw the man but didn’t take time to find out his identity. He drove on by because he was leading the planning meeting and didn’t have time to stop.
A few minutes later the Sr. Pastor of LAC drove down the same street because he was headed to the Union Rescue Mission down on San Pedro St and its Director, Andy Bales, had asked him to speak at a fundraiser on the theme, “The importance of helping those who are hurting.” But, the pastor was late for his appointment, so he hardly noticed that a man was crumpled and bleeding on the street and drove on past.
At this point, Jesus introduced a third man passing by the hurting man who had been left to die. Remember that Jesus was speaking to a Jewish religious leader so the man Jesus chose to be the protagonist in the story was the most offensive man possible, i.e., a Samaritan. The Samaritans were all lumped into the category of being immoral, unethical people who didn’t care at all about God’s commands. Choosing a Samaritan to play the role of the example of love offended every synagogue-goer in Jesus’ day. Whom would Jesus choose if he were telling this story to us at LAC today? (I’ll talk a bit about that.)
In the story, it’s the least likely person who loves truly, i.e., who stops to use whatever he has to meet the needs of another human being. Jesus’ whole point is that it’s often the one we think is disregarding God’s commands who might be doing what is at the heart of God’s commands. He’s trying to shock us all out of complacent religion that just goes to church and still lives for self into a true Christ-like faith that shows God’s love to others. He’s saying that we can know everything about God’s Word and still not live according to it. What does his story teach us about what love looks like? When you love as Jesus loves:
#1: You will count it your calling, even your privilege, personally to show God’s love to people
The two religious professionals were caregivers by profession – not by hearts’ conviction. If the man had shown up at the temple, they would have given him forms to fill out and then decided if he was qualified to receive any help.
We all know that politicians all over the world do this. They argue for laws to help the poor – but have no relationships with the poor personally. In church, it’s very possible for me to preach a sermon about caring for the poor but then ignore a person in desperate need. Or, any one of you in church could see a person in genuine need and say, “Oh, we have pastors who care about such things.” Let me say this clearly: When the Spirit of God is beginning to produce Jesus-like love in your, you will long to show God’s care when you identify genuine need like this man on the Jericho Road had. In fact, the more you love in this way, the more you will love to love. It’s evidence that the Spirit of the God who loves people is working in your life.
#2: You will not limit the kinds of people you are willing to help
It’s natural to want to help those you like or those you know. And, it’s good and right to extend love and help to those close to you. But Jesus fashions the story to emphasize that God’s heart is for all people. When you walk with God, you will know it because your heart will become like his! The protagonist in the story, the Samaritan, loved a man who was, by ethnicity, his enemy.
I can imagine the excuses we could make as to why we shouldn’t stop and show love to this man:
- “It’s his own fault. He shouldn’t have been on this road anyway.”
- “I don’t know the man. I mean, if he was a part of my adult class, then I might do something.”
I’m sure you know that these are the kinds of excuse that have kept some churches and church people from helping people in distress. Jesus is the Lord of our church. And he tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves and he tells us that our neighbor is any human being who bears the image of God – including those who have done some dumb things. When the Spirit of God is growing the fruit of love in us, we will reach out to hurting people like the Samaritan did simply because they are people.
#3: You will seek to meet needs whenever you have opportunity.
Looking for how you can bless those you meet will be a part of the focus of each day. Showing God’s love in practical ways will become a priority in your life. I’m sure that the priest and Levite were busy men. They had important work to do. And, I imagine their families were waiting for them… But, if they had consciously prayed that day, “Lord, bring someone across my path to whom I might show you love…”, I believe that would have made a big difference in what they did.
How much of a priority should the loving like this take in our lives? May I remind you that all of the laws of God boiled down to their basic essential is: “Love the Lord your God with all your being and love your neighbor as yourself.” We can do lots of good stuff as individual Christians and as a church, but if we miss this, we miss the heart of the matter.
Jesus told this story so that the lawyer in Luke 15 would know how to live – really live. He was saying that we really live lives of joy and peace and patience when we use whatever God has given us to bless others. The others you serve will be blessed. That’s for sure. But, Jesus promises you will be blessed too when you live a life of Christ-like love.
This is exactly what Paul was speaking about in Galatians 5:13-26. Living a life of self-interest is a bondage, he says. It’s like a kind of slavery when we live always focused on making ourselves happy. And a church of people always saying, “This is what I like… That is what I want…” – is a messed up place. Paul says, “A church of self-interested people will bite and devour one another (v.15). It will be a place in which people provoke and envy one another (v.26). But a church filled with people who love as Jesus loved, a life synced by the Spirit, will always be a community of joy, peace, kindness, faithfulness etc. Jesus said, “The world will see it and know we are Christians by our love.”
How Love Grows
The people of Israel had all of God’s commands that told them how to love God and love people. And, many of them thought God’s commands were right and good. They just had one problem: They couldn’t keep the commands. They didn’t have the power to keep the law. As Paul wrote in Rom. 7, “Those things I wanted to do, I could not do. Those things I didn’t want to do, I did.” So, I know that simply giving you rules about what you should and should not do is not sufficient.
You and I need help. And that’s what Galatians 5 is about. What you and I long to do but cannot do in our own strength; God’s Spirit can begin to do in and through us. The evil and self-centeredness that rules cannot inhibit in our lives, the good that all our passion cannot bring about in our lives are overcome by the power of the Spirit of God who dwells within us as we seek God together within a Christ-centered community. We are people of the Spirit. This kind of life is like fruit – it doesn’t happen immediately but as a part of a growth process: http://blog.uvm.edu/fntrlst/files/2013/10/apple-growth-1200.jpg So, at the end, let me give you a few steps to take:
Step 1: Let today be a new beginning of repentance of sin and faith in Jesus – Tell him today that you need his mercy and surrender in faith to his Lordship just like the day you first believed. I think that the only thing that will motivate people like us to life this way is knowing deep down that Someone who owed you nothing has given his life to save you. Someone saved you only because he loved you. Only when we experience that will people like us treat people like this Samaritan treated people. You and I need to be stunned by the fact that someone you once rejected loved you so much that he saved you.
Step 2: Begin each day this week asking God to open your eyes to the needs of others. You can’t love people unless you pay some attention to them. I believe that if the priest and Levite in Jesus’ story had done this, it would have changed their lives.
Step 3: Take some time in your morning prayer to acknowledge the presence of God’s Spirit in your life. Doing this may see strange to you at first – but soon it will become a part of your ongoing awareness. Ask God’s Spirit to slow you down enough to stop and find out what others are going through. Tell Him you want Him to direct your steps and sync your life.
Step 4: Share your commitment with a Christian friend or your small group. Make this a matter of accountability and mutual prayer. Love is a relational word. It always involved others. And the context of our passage on the fruit of the Spirit is a community of believers who, as we will see in Gal. 6:1-4, help one another to grow in Christlikeness. It’s as the subtitle in Kenneson’s book puts it: “Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community.”
In fact, do this now: Tell God that beginning now, you will come to church each week with a goal of looking for needs you might meet ‑‑ instead of asking what you will get out of being in church! And leave church with the same commitment. So much pain and distress would be relieved if only God’s people would live with a desire to love as Jesus loves. The lonely elderly, those hurting from broken families, those struggling to recover from difficult marriages, those who are victims of unemployment… I could go on and on. No matter where you look in this world, need is there. You and I are the ones Jesus sends into this world to love people. A life synced by the Spirit of God begins with love.
{tab-ex=Chinese Translation}
Synced: Loving Others as We Travel - Chinese Translation
同步：愛中同行
加拉太書 5:13-17, 22-26
“聖靈所結果子，就是仁愛、喜樂、和平、忍耐、恩慈、良善、信實、溫柔、節制（加拉太書5:22-23）
下來的幾個月里我們要來談聖靈的果子。這個很特別的果子，就是使徒保羅在加拉太書5:22-23節中提到的。看這幾句，我要問你們兩個問題：
問題＃1：聖靈的果子是一個還是九個？
很清楚聖經說的是一個果子。說的是一種生活形態的開展，其中九種美好的品格作為一個果子的整體在我們裡面成長。看一個蘋果的解剖圖http://www.geochembio.com/IMG/apple-fruit-anatomy.png.
圖片中一個蘋果的多種組成，然而還是一個蘋果？聖經教導我們當你將信心建立在耶穌的身上，耶穌賜下他的聖靈內住你的心中，祂的聖靈開始結出一個包括這些成分的全新的生活方式，就好像果子一樣，這樣新的生活方式不是即刻促成的，乃是一個過程的成長。今秋我們每周來談這個過程。在這裡我要大家注意的是：聖靈的果子就如同其他的果子一樣的道理，就是甚麼樣的樹結甚麼樣的果。你找不到一顆蘋果樹會害怕擔心掛慮它長出鰐梨來。
神的聖靈結出的果子看起來就像神的生命。神的靈開始在我們裡面產生一種生活的形態越來越像耶穌。不是一個爛的果子，就像19-21節中我們肉體所結的果子。
問題 #2: 愛排在聖靈果子的第一位有沒有原因？對我來講很清楚，不論是從聖經的上下文(看13-14節) 還是整本新約，答案都是的。神在舊約中頒布給人類的律法都是美好的。人接受律法才知道如何好好生活。
注意：當人問耶穌甚麼是最大的誡命時，祂總結歸納一個誡命的兩個部分，就是愛神和愛人。所以加拉太書這裡，“愛” 擺在果子系列的首先。愛關係到果子的全部。用另一句話說，如果你的生命中沒有愛，生命中的其它部分都會爛掉。看來保羅在寫給加拉太人的書時候，就是當地教會中發生的情形。人說他們是基督徒，但是16節指出，他們“相咬相吞”。保羅毫不含糊地告誡他們，如果你看到自己的生活中缺乏愛，神的聖靈就不在你的心中掌權。換句話說：缺乏愛就是你和聖靈沒有同步的證明。
存這樣的思想，我們最好來看聖經怎麼說愛。和世界所說的不同。我要從這個角度切入1）甚麼是愛？ 2）愛像甚麼？3）愛怎樣成長？
甚麼是愛
聖經中講到愛的特點是不求自己的益處。相反，愛是自我犧牲的給予。愛是盼望美好的事發生在你愛的人身上。還不止如此，愛是付諸行動，使你所愛的人因為你的用心而受益。
你有沒有看到這和世界所說的愛的不同？我建議你讀一本 Philip Kenneson 的書《葡萄樹上的生活》－在基督教社區中培養聖靈的果子。http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51iokyy6viL._SX318_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg 在書中， Kenneson寫到：“我們的文化鼓勵人在生活的各個方面追求自我的利益。所以，我們要如何培養一種帶著神愛的印記的生活－一種總是以別人的需要為導向的愛－在一個被自我利益完全浸染的文化中？”
這個世界對你說，如果你對一個人沒有感覺，你就不能愛這個人。耶穌這樣回答你，“愛與你對一個人不斷變化的感覺沒有太大的關係，而是願意犧牲自己的生命給你愛的人帶來利益和幫助。整本聖經都是有關神對我們堅定不移的愛！使徒約翰怎樣說？“ 主為我們捨命，我們從此就知道何為愛”，所有，“我們也當為弟兄姊妹捨命。如果你說你是基督徒，有能力資源，看到有需要的弟兄姊妹，你無動於衷，愛神的心怎能存在你裡面呢？小子們哪，我們相愛，不要只是在言語和感覺上。真正的愛總要在行為上。”（約翰一書3:15-18）
所以在加拉太書5:14，保羅應用耶穌的話說，“ 一切律法的總綱（就是整個律法告訴我們神造我們要怎樣生活）總結一句話就是：“ 愛人如己”。你知道在美國教會我們怎樣實踐這句話嗎？我們重新詮釋，變成為，“首先，你要愛自己，如果你不愛自己，又如何能愛別人呢？所以我們說第一要專注你的自信心和愛自己。” 耶穌不是這樣教導，耶穌也不是這樣做的。那是自我中心，和神的愛毫無關係。耶穌和保羅說的是我們每個人作為可以發揮作用的人類應當尋求滿足個人的需要，我們餓了，會去找吃；孤獨會去找伴；悶了沮喪會去找填補空虛的時候。同樣的，你關心自己的需要，也要專注你的生命來滿足別人的需要。這樣你就活起來。
所以，當你過一個愛的生活，與聖靈同步，會發現頭一件事就是你從自我關心掉頭，轉向以帶給別人祝福而導向的生活。
愛像甚麼？
在加拉太書5:13，保羅告訴我們“ 愛心互相服事”。這和我們感覺被逼著去服事人，為著要守規條，為了叫別人開心而活不是同一回事。而是敞開自己，以至與我們所愛的人同感受，同期待美好的事在他們身上發生。出於愛，我們想要服事他們，是神信任我們可以給他人帶來的祝福。
你要想看看以別人導向的生活，像耶穌一樣的愛的生活，在每天人的生活中是甚麼樣的。我要指給你看的再沒有比路加福音10:25-37 節中耶穌講的“好撒馬利亞人”的故事更好的了比喻了。第25節的場景是：有一個律法師，起來試探耶穌說：“夫子，我該做甚麼才可以承受永生。” 律法師和我們今天的律師不同。這個律法師精通“律法”，是神在摩西五經中的律法。
正如耶穌常做的事，祂用問題來回答律法師。記住這個人精通律法。所以，耶穌問。“ 律法上寫的是甚麼，你念的是怎樣呢？ ”律法師回答正確，“你要盡心，盡性，盡力，盡意愛主你的神；又要愛鄰捨如同自己。”
這個對話引到耶穌講到撒馬利亞人的故事，形容愛人如己是像甚麼樣的。
耶穌引進第三個人，他經過一個受傷被撇棄路邊，奄奄一息的人。記得耶穌在和猶太人的宗教領袖談話，這個被耶穌選為故事主角的是一個備受攻擊的人，比如撒馬利亞人。耶穌時代的猶太人通常把所有的撒馬利亞人都通通歸類為不道德的人，認為他們不在乎神的命令。當耶穌選擇一個撒馬利亞人來扮演好人的角色時，她冒犯了耶穌時代每一個上教堂的人。
在耶穌故事中，祂選擇一個最不可能的人來體現神的愛是甚麼，比如一個撒馬利亞人過著一個有愛的生活，注意到受傷的人，他停步，傾囊相助另一個有需要的人。耶穌要說的是常常那些我們以為無視神的律法的人，可能他們卻正是行在神律法的中心的人。祂給那些在宗教上自滿的人極大的震撼，他們雖然上教堂，但還是為自己活。耶穌要祂的跟隨者來做最重要的事，比如，向需要的人伸出手給予神的愛。耶穌要我們知道，我想是我們每個人的內心深處都明白的，比如我們可以知道神話語一切的意義，但是仍然行不出來。
這個故事教導我們神的愛是甚麼樣的呢？當你像耶穌一樣去愛的時候：
#1: 你會視為神對你的呼召，甚至是你的特權，個人性地向人表明神的愛
我知道對於像我這樣的一個牧師要講關愛窮人的道很容易，然後卻忽略在困境中的人。我也知道人是多麼容易聽這樣的道，然後走出去，仍然活著只顧自己的需求。我要很清楚地說明：當神的聖靈開始在你的裡面結果子的時候，祂開始在你的心裡種下耶穌對人愛的種子。這種子在你裡面成長的時候，當你能夠分辨人的真正的需要，就像這個躺在耶利哥路上的人，你會渴望向他表明神的愛。事實上，你越是這樣去愛，越發喜愛如此去愛。你看到裡面不斷增長對人的愛，就可以確定愛人的神的聖靈在你的生命中動工。
#2: 你不會為給予甚麼樣的人幫助設限
人去愛自己知道的人，或者你喜歡的人很自然。愛你親近的人是對的，好的。但是耶穌點綴這個故事在於強調神的愛是普及全人類。當你與神同行，你就會知道，因為你的心會越來越像祂！這個故事的角色，撒馬利亞人愛的這個人是在道德上被視為敵的。
至於為甚麼我們不能停下腳步來向這樣的人表達神的愛，我可以想像各種藉口：
- “這是他的錯。他本來就不該躺在路上”
- “我也不認識這人。我意思是說，如果他是在我的成人班上，我也許會為他做些事。”
當神的聖靈在我們身上結果子的時候，我們就會為受傷害的人，像撒馬利亞人一樣伸出手來，因為他們也是人。
#3: 有機會你就會尋求來滿足人的需要－並且你這樣做的時候有喜樂。
尋找機會遇見你可以帶來祝福的人成為你每天生活注重的一個部分。用實際的方法來向人表達神的愛成為你生命的一個首要的部分。當然牧師和利末人都是大忙人，他們有更重要的事要做。我可以想像他們各樣的任務清單等著他們… 但是如果那天他們真誠地禱告， “主呀，你帶一個人來，讓我可以向他表達你的愛…”, 當他們遇見一個絕望的人，我相信他們的行為一定會有改變。
你想這樣將愛放在首位的生活是怎樣的？讓我提醒你所有的神的命令都歸結到一個簡單的本質就是：愛主你的神，並愛你的鄰捨如同自己。我們基督徒個人可以做許多的好事，但是如果缺失這點，我們就錯失了中心要點。
耶穌講了這個故事，所以路加15章中的律法師就知道如何生活－如何真正活著。他說的是如果我們用不論神賜福的甚麼帶給人祝福的話，我們才能活出一個真正喜樂，平安，忍耐的生活。被你服事的人得蒙祝福。但是耶穌應許如果你過一個基督一樣愛的生活，你也會得福。
這正是保羅在加拉太書5:13-26節中說的。過一個以自我利益為中心的生活是一種捆綁。總是專注於怎樣讓自己快樂的生活是一種為奴的狀態。上教會的人中心專注如果是，“這是我喜歡的，這是我想要的、、、” －那是一個糟糕的地方。保羅說，”一個以自我為中心的教會相咬相吞（ 15節）。這種地方人們互相地激怒對方，彼此妒忌（26節）。但是一個教會充滿神的愛，與神的聖靈同步的生活總是呈現出一個有喜樂、平安、良善、信實等品質。耶穌說，“世界會因為我們的愛看見並且知道我們是基督徒。”
愛如何成長
我可以給你一個可做或不可做的清單。我可以說，“我要你登記簽名在這裡服事，在那裡做事。”但是，我確信這不是神要我做的。以色列民有神的誡命－要愛神愛人。但他們的問題是：無法守神的誡命。他們沒有能力持守神的律法。如同保羅在羅馬書7章中說的，“ 我所願意的善，我反不做，我所不願意的惡，我倒去做。”所以我知道只是告訴人你該或不該做的事的規條是不夠的。
你和我都需要幫助，這就是加拉太書5章說的。你和我都渴望做的事，靠我們自己的能力做不來，神的靈在我們裡面動工，透過我們來成就。我們是聖靈的工作。這樣的生活，保羅說就像果子－不是一下就促成的，而是一個成長的過程。看下面的比喻: http://blog.uvm.edu/fntrlst/files/2013/10/apple-growth-1200.jpg
因此，歸根結底，我給你一些牧者的挑戰供你思考，協助你的成長：
挑戰1: 讓今天成為一個新的開始，從罪中悔改，信靠耶穌－告訴他今天你需要祂的恩典，在信心中順服祂的主權，如同初信之時。我想唯一可以帶給我們這樣一個人動力的乃是深知一個不欠我們任何東西的人為我捨命拯救。人為你捨命只是因為祂愛你。只有當我們有這樣的經歷，才能對待人就像撒馬利亞人待人一樣。你我都必須被這樣一個事實震懾－就是一個你曾經拒絕的人，祂愛你如此之深，以至拯救了你。
挑戰2: 這星期開始每一天求神打開你的眼睛看見別人的需要。除非你關注人，不然你就根本不能愛人。我相信如果耶穌故事中的祭司和利末人這樣行，一定會改變他們的生活。
挑戰3: 早上花點禱告的時間來體會神的聖靈在你生活中的同在。起先這樣做的時候你可能覺得有點怪－但是很快會成為你持續不斷意識的一個部分。求神的靈幫助你慢下腳步，與生活同步。
挑戰4: 與基督徒朋友或你所在的小組分享你的委身。讓人可以監督和彼此帶禱。愛是個關係的字，總是與人有關。聖靈果子的這段話是對著一群信主的社區團體，如同加拉太書6:1-4節中，大家彼此幫助，滿有基督長成的樣式。如同Kenneson 的書的副標題: “ 在基督教社區中培養聖靈的果子。”
其實，現在就採取行動：告訴神從現在開始，你每周來到教會帶著一個目標 1) 向神表達你的愛，然後 2) 尋找那些你可以幫助的有需要的人－代之於尋求你在教會可以得甚麼！離開教會的時候帶著同樣的委身。現在就開始過一個像耶穌一樣，與聖靈同步的生活。
如果神的子民都過一個渴望愛人如耶穌一樣的生活，不知道可以減少多少的痛苦和苦難。孤獨的老年人，破碎家庭受傷的人，在困難的婚姻中掙扎的人，失業的受害人… 我可以一直數下去。不論你看世界的方方面面，到處都是需要。你我是耶穌派遣到世界去愛人的人。一個與神的聖靈同步的生活從愛開始。
祂的荣耀，
格雷格Waybright博士
主任牧師
Greg Waybright • Copyright 2015, Lake Avenue Church
Small Group Resources
Synced Small-Group Questions - Love - Week 1
Fruit of the Spirit – Love
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Video Questions
- How did love show up in the story from the video?
- How was this love the result of being connected to the Spirit?
Love is choosing to put the interests of another or others first, no matter the potential cost or benefit.
Scripture
Read John 13.1-5:
1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
- What does Jesus’ washing his disciples’ feet signify?
- How can we follow in Jesus’ footsteps?
General Questions
- How do you love God? What methods do you find to be most meaningful?
- Why does God want us to love him? Does he need our love?
- What role does the Spirit play within Christian community?
- What about love within Christian community is difficult? What about it seems to come naturally to you?
- How do you think your friends, neighbors, and family members who do not yet know Jesus need to be loved? How can you be the one to show them this love?
- How do you think they would answer the question of how they need to be loved? How can you be the one to show them this love too?
Challenge
Pray for an opportunity to love someone tangibly and practically in your life who needs it. The person could be within the church or someone who does not yet know Jesus. If you sense the Holy Spirit leading you to act, don’t hesitate! Just obey and tell your group about it when you meet again!
Prayer
Father, words will never be sufficient to express to you our gratitude for loving us in the way you do. You created the universe, including us. You preserved for yourself a people. Among this people you sent your Son to be born into poverty and to grow up in virtual anonymity. He lived a perfectly exemplary life. He died a sacrificial death and was risen to new life by your unlimited power. And he promised to be with us all the way to the end of time and he has made good on this promise by sending us the Spirit. Father, teach us to love in the ways that he loved. May we, by the power of your Spirit, live our human lives the life we see him living in the Scriptures. In Jesus’ name, Amen.