Highlands Fellowship Experiencing Life with Jesus: Pure Love Transcript
0:00 Well hey everybody and welcome to Highlands Fellowship. It's so good to have each and every one of you here with us today whether you're in Marion, Bristol, here in Abingdon, in the chapel, in our country tent, in the cafe, online or on TV. It is just so great that we get to spend this time together and if you happen to be new with us here I want you to make yourself feel right at home and you are welcome because as we like to say around here, Highlands is home. And today is actually a very special day for me. Today is my anniversary. It's mine and my wife's 18th anniversary, been married 18 years and I just want to say, Maegan, I love you, I'm so thankful for you and looking forward to seeing what God continues to do in and through our relationship and you've just always been such a rock for me and a presence that God has put in my life and I'm so very grateful. And to all of you here at Highlands, I just want to say we covet your prayers. We know that there are many of you praying for us and as we talked about last week, there is spiritual warfare in our lives and we experience that just like you do and so continue to pray for us as we seek the Lord and try to lead the church well but we're excited about what God is doing and so thankful for our church family.
1:13 Today we're in week four of a six-week message series called "Experiencing Life with Jesus" and this series really is about why we exist as a church. So our mission here at Highlands Fellowship is really pretty simple. It's we exist to help people experience life with Jesus. That's what we're all about. That's what we're trying to accomplish every time we get together. It's why we preach, it's why we worship, it's why we have small group, it's why we invest in our students and in our children, it's why we love on our communities, it's why we go on mission trips, it's really why we do everything that we do. Because of the change that God has made in our lives through a relationship with Jesus Christ, we believe that there is nothing more important than helping people discover what it actually means to experience life with Jesus and I think it's so important because sometimes we make Christianity about a lot of things other than Jesus, right? We'll make it about going to church or we'll make it about knowing all the right things that we will trying to be a good person, a following list of rules and regulations, but Jesus didn't come simply to give us a religion. Jesus came to give us life. In John chapter 10 verse 10 Jesus said I've come that they may have life and have it to the full. So over these six weeks we're asking a very simple question. What does it actually look like to experience life with Jesus? In week one we talked about total dependence and this is recognizing that we need God and we can't live this life on our own strength.
2:52 In week two we talked about an unwavering faith and this is where we learn to trust Jesus even when life doesn't make sense and even when we find ourselves in the middle of the storms of life. And then last week we talked about an unyielding resistance to our spiritual enemy. Life with Jesus means that I stand with Jesus even when the enemy comes against me because we are all gonna face spiritual warfare and we must be prepared. And so the memory verse for this last week was actually James chapter 4 verse 7 and it says submit yourselves then to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. And so I would encourage you to continue to memorize God's Word so that we are prepared and we have this card for you that gives you next steps and also memory verses about what you can get and how you can actually continue to build your relationship with Jesus Christ. Simple things that we believe will make a big difference in your life as you follow after Jesus Christ. And then today we're gonna be talking about something that should be one of the clearest pieces of evidence that we're experiencing life with Jesus and that is pure love. Pure love or loving like Jesus because when you experience life with Jesus you don't just receive his love no you begin to live his love out.
4:14 And I love how Peter describes this in 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 22 where he says this, "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply from the heart." Now I want you to notice what Peter is saying here. When Jesus changes your life it changes the way you love people. Like it's not just something you say, it's not just something you believe, it's something that you begin to show in your life. It's gonna show up in how you treat people. Love one another deeply from the heart. That's pure love and that's exactly what we're gonna see in the story that we're gonna talk about today. There's a story that Jesus tells in Luke chapter 10. So if you have your Bible or a Bible app go ahead and open those up to Luke chapter 10 verse 25 because when Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan he's not just teaching us who our neighbor is, he's showing us what it looks like when it moves from our heart into our lives and how we act. So we're gonna read this story that most of us probably have heard at some point in our lives. It's the story of the Good Samaritan. And so let's look at Luke chapter 10 verses 25 through 37. This is what it says. "On one occasion an expert of the law stood up to test Jesus. Teacher he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? What is written in the law? He replied, how do you read it? He answered, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. You have answered correctly, Jesus replied, do this and you will live.
6:04 But he wanted to justify himself so he asked Jesus, and who is my neighbor? In reply Jesus said, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road and when he saw the man he passed by on the other side. So too a Levite when he came to the place and saw him pass by on the other side. But a Samaritan as he traveled came where the man was and when he saw him he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put him on his own donkey, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave it to the innkeeper. "Look after him," he said, "and when I return I will reimburse you for any extra expenses you may have. Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert of the law replied, the one who had mercy on him. Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise." And this is such a powerful story and it really causes us to consider a number of different things in our own lives. But what I want to do is I want to look at three perspectives.
7:26 Three different perspectives. I want us to look at it from the perspective of the lawyer. I want us to look at it from the perspective of the Good Samaritan and then also the victim's perspective. And what I want to do is I want to pull out a lesson that we can learn from each one of them. So let's start with the perspective of the lawyer. So this is the person who's asking Jesus the question that got him to tell the story in the first place. And so here's the lesson. Love is something you do. Love is something you do. Like have you ever been in a situation where you knew exactly what you were supposed to do but knowing it and actually doing it? There are two completely different things, right? And I think that's where the lawyer finds himself. He's an expert of law. Like he's a Bible scholar and he knows the scripture so well. He knows the answers, right? Now he asked Jesus, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Well Jesus asked him what's written in the law. And the lawyer gives him the right answer. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus says, "Well you've answered correctly. Do this and you will live." Like do this is what he says. And that's the problem. The lawyer knew the answer but Jesus was calling him to live out the answer, right? To actually do it. You see, life with Jesus isn't just something that we believe. It's something that gets lived out. And that's really the lesson that Jesus is trying to teach him. Love is something you do. Love just isn't a word that we just define, right? It's not just something that we talk about. It's not simply an emotion that we feel. Love does something. That's why Jesus says in John chapter 13 verse 35, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another." Jesus says, "Here's the evidence. Here's how people will recognize that you belong to me. Not just by how much Bible you know.
9:41 Not just by how much church you attend. Not by whether you can answer every theological question correctly. No, they'll know you and they'll know that you belong to me by the way you love." And I think this is where we can all find ourselves sometimes. We can know what we're supposed to do, but knowing it isn't the same as doing it. And maybe you've asked, you know, "How do I grow spiritually?" And honestly, sometimes the answer isn't nearly as complicated as what we make it out to be. You know, read your Bible. Spend time in prayer. Build your relationship with Jesus. Love people. Serve people. Forgive people. Encourage people. You know, sometimes we want a complicated answer because a complicated answer doesn't require as much from us as a simple one does. Jesus says, "Do this."
10:42 So here's the question that I want you to wrestle with. Are you experiencing the love of Jesus without allowing that love to actually change the way you live? You see, you can know about God's love and never allow God's love to actually move through you. You can soak up grace and never extend grace. Like you can receive forgiveness and refuse to forgive. You can experience compassion from Jesus and remain completely indifferent toward the people that are around you. But when you experience life with Jesus, His love begins to change the way you live. Love is something you do. That's what we learned from the lawyer. Like he knew the right answer, but Jesus challenged him to actually go and live out the answer.
11:40 And then Jesus shifts the perspective because it's one thing to know that the love of God is something that you do. It's another thing to understand who we're supposed to love. Remember, the lawyer asked Jesus a question, "And who is my neighbor?" And he wanted to know where the line was. Like he wanted to know who qualified. He wanted to know who he was responsible for loving. And Jesus answers the question by putting the Samaritan in the center of the story. Because the Samaritan didn't just see somebody who was like him. He saw somebody who was hurting and in need. Like he didn't see an inconvenience. He saw an opportunity to love. He didn't see somebody who was his responsibility. He saw compassion. And that's where we get the second perspective in this story, the perspective of the good Samaritan. And here's the lesson that we learn. The lesson is this. Jesus changes who we see as our neighbor. Jesus changes who we see as our neighbor. So Jesus tells the lawyer about a man who is traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. It's a dangerous rocky road. The robbers attack him. They beat him, they steal from him. They strip him of his clothes and leave him half dead on the side of the road. A priest comes by that road and he sees the man, but he just walks by. A Levite comes down that same road. He sees the man and just walks by. And then a Samaritan comes along. And when he sees the man, he actually stops. He moves toward him. He has compassion on him. He even bandages his wounds. Like he takes him and puts him on his own donkey. He takes him to an inn.
13:29 He takes care of him. And he even pays for ongoing care. Now we can easily miss what Jesus is doing here because, you know, it's a short story and some of us have heard that story a lot of times. And so we just look over what Jesus is actually trying to teach us. But to Jesus's audience, the Samaritan would have been the last person, the last person that would be a hero in this story. Like there was this deep hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Samaritan had every reason to keep on walking, but he didn't. Why? Because compassion moved him toward somebody who was in need. And Jesus is expanding the lawyer's definition of neighbor. The lawyer wants to know, well, who is my neighbor? And Jesus essentially says, stop asking who qualifies as your neighbor and actually start becoming a neighbor to other people. That's a different way of looking at it because sometimes we want to know who we're responsible for loving. Like Jesus wants us to look at the person that is right in front of us and ask, how can I love this person? And here's where this gets difficult because it seems like we have some filters on our love, right? The priest had a reason to walk by. The Levite had a reason to walk by. And if we're honest, so do we. We have reasons to walk by. Maybe it's time. We've got work, we've got kids, we've got our schedules, you know, I've got things to do, got things going on. Maybe it's money.
15:12 You know, if I helped everybody, I'd just go broke, right? Maybe it's inconvenience. Well, I don't have the energy right now to help. Maybe it's differences. That's not my kind of person. Maybe it's past experiences. Maybe they've hurt you before. Maybe it's assumptions, right? Like they made their bed and so now they can lay in it. We can come up with all kinds of reasons to move to the other side of the road and keep walking. But Jesus says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Luke chapter 6 verse 31 says, "Do to others as you would have them do to you." In other words, put yourself in their shoes. See their needs. See their humanity, right? See them the way that Jesus sees them because experiencing life with Jesus changes the way that we see other people. It changes who we notice. It changes who we move toward. It changes who we're willing to serve. It changes who we're willing to give. Like it changes who we're willing to actually love. And here's the question for all of us, all right? What is getting in the way of loving the people Jesus has put around you? What's getting in the way? Who is easy for you to love? Who is difficult for you to love? Because Jesus isn't asking us to love people only when they're convenient, right? He's not asking us to love people who only look like us or think like us or vote like us or live like us or agree with everything that we say. Jesus says, "Love your neighbor." That's what he says. And your neighbor is the person that God has right in front of you. Now, that doesn't mean that we can solve every single problem or meet every need that we encounter. But it does mean that when God puts an opportunity to love someone right in front of you, you don't automatically walk around it. You stop.
17:28 You see. You respond because love is something you do. But there's one more perspective in this story that I think we often overlook. That is the perspective of the victim, all right? And here's the lesson that we can learn from him. Jesus is the Samaritan we all need. I mean, we spend a lot of time looking at the lawyer. We spend a lot of time looking at the Samaritan. But let's take a look at the victim here. I mean, this man is lying on the side of the road. He's been beaten. He's been robbed. He's wounded. He's helpless. Like he can't save himself. He can't. He needs somebody to come and intervene for him. And here's the uncomfortable truth. That's us.
18:18 That's us. There's something bigger happening in this story than Jesus simply teaching us how to be nice to people. Jesus is showing us something about ourselves. We're the person on the side of the road. Like we're the ones who've been broken by sin. We're the ones who have wandered away from God. We're the ones who couldn't rescue ourselves because sin doesn't just make us do a few bad things. No, sin robs us. It damages us. It separates us from God. And we don't have the power to save ourselves. Like we need somebody to come to us and save us. And that's exactly what Jesus did. Jesus is the Savior that we all need.
19:07 I mean, think about the picture that Jesus gives us. The Samaritan sees the man. Like he doesn't walk around him. He doesn't say, "Well, you know, he got himself into this mess. He doesn't say, you know, it's gonna cost me way too much. He doesn't say somebody else will find him and take care of him. No, he stops. He moves toward him. He takes care of him. He pays the price. And when you look at what Jesus has done for us, that is the picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 5 verse 8 says this, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." While we were still sinners. Not when we had cleaned ourselves up. Not when we had figured everything out. Not when we deserved it. While we were still sinners, Jesus came for us. Like he moved toward us. He took our place. He carried our sin and he went to the cross. And he stretched out his arms and he gave his life. And three days later, he walked out of the grave victorious. Jesus didn't just tell us about his love. Jesus demonstrated love. That's why the story is so much bigger than, "Be a good person."
20:35 It's not simply, "Go be the good Samaritan." It's first, recognize the Savior who came for you. Because before we can love like Jesus, we have to understand how deeply Jesus has loved us. Before we can extend grace, we have to understand the grace that we've received. Before we can show mercy, we have to understand the mercy that has been shown to us. Like before we can love people who don't deserve it, right? We have to remember that Jesus loved us even though we don't deserve it. Jesus is like the good Samaritan and he has come to be our Savior. And when you really experience that kind of love, I'm telling you, it changes you. It changes you. It changes how you see yourself. It changes how you see God. It changes how you see other people. So how will you respond? You know, Jesus ends this story by asking the lawyer, "Which of these three was a neighbor to the man?" And the lawyer says, "The one who had mercy on him." And Jesus says, "Go and do likewise." Go, do, like live this out. That's where this whole message kind of comes back around, right? Like if you've experienced life with Jesus, then his love isn't supposed to stop with you. It's actually supposed to move through you. So maybe the question today isn't, "Do I know that Jesus loves me?"
22:21 Maybe the question is, "What does the love I've received from Jesus look like when it moves through my life?" Who needs you to stop? Who needs encouragement today? Who needs forgiveness? Who needs somebody to just see them? Who have you been walking past? Maybe today God is asking you to take a step toward someone. Maybe it's somebody who is different than you are. Maybe it's somebody that you've been trying to avoid. Maybe it's somebody who you've written off in the past. Maybe it's somebody who's been, you know, you've been waiting for somebody else to help. And maybe today you need to remember that the reason we can love others is because Jesus first loved us. That's the heart of experiencing life with Jesus. We don't love people, so Jesus will love us. No, we love people because Jesus has already loved us. And I pray that Highlands Fellowship would be a church known for that. That when people encounter us, they would actually encounter the love of Jesus Christ. That we wouldn't just talk about love, but that we would live it. That we wouldn't just see needs in our communities, but we respond to them. That we wouldn't allow differences and schedules and assumptions or our excuses to keep us from loving other people. But that we would actually become the kind of church that sees people the way that Jesus sees them. Because love is something we do. And I think one of the most beautiful things about the church is that we get to be part of what God is doing in people's lives. Sometimes love looks like, you know, stopping on the side of the road for somebody who's hurting.
24:27 Sometimes it looks like giving somebody encouragement when they really, really need it and they're ready to give up. Sometimes it looks like, you know, meeting a very practical need. Sometimes it looks like just opening a door or providing a meal or giving somebody hope or simply that they're seen and that they matter. You know, each year we have what we call our Difference Maker offering. And this is going to take place on November the 8th where we ask you to give above and beyond your normal tithe to make a difference in the next generation, in our communities, and all around the world. And so what we want to do is we want to show you the impact this is having through testimonies of people who have witnessed firsthand how God is using your generosity. It's an opportunity for us to take the love that we've received from Jesus and actually put that into action. Not because we have to, not because we're trying to earn God's favor, but because we've already experienced His love. And His love actually compels us to then love on other people. And in just a moment we're going to show you a story that I think captures what this looks like. This is what happens when God's people see a need and decide not to just walk past it, right? This is what happens when love moves from somebody something that we talk about to actually something that we do. So it's really this idea of experiencing life with Jesus being played out in real life. It's pure love being displayed. So we're gonna watch a video and as we watch this video I want you to think about the message that we've talked about today. Who is God putting in front of you? And what would it look like for you to stop, to see, and to respond? So let's watch this video together and then your campus pastor will come out and close the service.