Sermon: Show Love and Respect to Others

Rick Ezell

Scriptures: John 13:35

Introduction

The Bible says we are to love one another. Sounds good, but can we do it? Whoever said, "I love
mankind; it's people I can't stand," was about right.

People are just irritating. I agree with the guy who said, "To live above with those we love, oh,
how that will be glory. To live below with those we know, now that's another story.

Even people at church can be difficult to love. Sometimes we sing a chorus in church: "I'm so
glad you're a part of the family of God," and then we look at the person beside us and sing, "I'm
surprised you're part of the family of God."

Sometimes it's hard enough to love our own family. One guy told his wife that if she had really
loved him she would have married someone else.

How do we make love a dominating characteristic of our lives?

I. Make love a priority

Indeed loving people is difficult. Yet this is what the Bible commands. "For this is the message
you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another" (1 John 3:11). We spend time
on what we deem important. For many of us these choices are valid: time with family and
friends, work, prayer, serving the poor, fighting for rights, protesting wrongs. But as the
Scripture reminds us, "And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body
in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing" (1 Cor. 13:3).

Even though we have the freedom to set our own priorities, Jesus made a point of defining
certain ones of them for us: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and
with all your mind.' This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it:
'Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Matt. 22:37-39). Love, then, is not a gray area the Scriptures.
Jesus gave love priority over all other Christian virtues. Every thought, response, and act of
goodwill must first pass through the fine filter of love, or it means nothing at all.

In "Strength to Love", Martin Luther King, Jr., encouraged us to realize that "our responsibility
as Christians is to discover the meaning of this command and seek passionately to live it out in
our daily lives." But why love? What makes it so important?

© 2007 LifeWay Christian Resources – www.lifeway.com/pastors

II. Understand the importance of love

When Jesus spoke to the disciples regarding the first and second greatest commands, he
explained, "All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands" (Matt. 22:40).

To the people of Israel, as well as for many believers today, it would seem more logical for
obedience to be the peg from which the Law hangs, since the point of writing a law is adherence
to it. And it is written, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (John 14:15). Yet
Jesus also said, "I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you
must also love one another" (John 13:34). The apostle Paul goes on to tell us "Love does no
wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law" (Rom. 13:10).

This may sound irrelevant to our generation that depends on police departments, guns, and force
to uphold and fulfill the law. Yet Jesus' simple command requires greater strength than any of us
naturally possess - more power than any man-made weapon.

The logic of Paul's interpretation of Jesus' command that love fulfills the Law seems equally
simple. For if one loves his neighbor, he will not commit adultery with his neighbor's spouse. If
he loves his coworker, he will not lie to him. And if loves his enemy, he will not slander him.
Love fulfills the law, because if we truly love every person because he is a person, we will not
desire to hurt or violate him or her, thus never break the law. God established love as the impetus
for obedience.

III. Embody the distinguishing nature of love

When we demonstrate Christian love, it distinguishes believers from the rest of the world. Jesus
goes on to say, "By this [love] all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love
for one another" (John 13:35). Notice Jesus did not say that people will know that you are my
disciples if you promote my agenda, or wear Christian T-shirts or a WWJD bracelet, or have a
fish decal on your car, but rather if you love one another. A watching world will be persuaded
not when our values are promoted but when they are incarnated, when we become purveyors of
love. It is as though Jesus has given the entire world the right to judge whether or not one is His
follower simply on the basis of their love for fellow human beings. The vivacious virtue of love
distinguishes the Christian.

From the very beginning, God's plan was to develop a people that reflected his character. And
what is his character? Love. "God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and
God remains in him. In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day
of judgment; for we are as He is in this world" (1 John 4:16-17). Believers are God's
advertisement to a watching society as to how individuals could best live in that society. In fact,
Christian love will always be the best apologetic that the church has.

© 2007 LifeWay Christian Resources – www.lifeway.com/pastors

When Ira Gillett, missionary to East Africa, returned home to report on his activities overseas, he
related an interesting phenomenon. Repeatedly, Gillett had noticed how groups of Africans
would walk past government hospitals and travel many extra miles to receive medical treatment
at the missionary compound. He finally asked a particular group why they walked the extra
distance when the same treatments were available at the government clinics. The reply: "The
medicines may be the same but the hands are different.

That's the virtue of love incarnated. That kind of love makes a difference. Christ has no hands,
but our hands; no feet, but our feet. We are his ambassadors, representing him to the world. And
when we love as he as loved us, it will make the difference. People will notice. Christian love is
indispensable.

IV. Demonstrate the virtue of love

How do we demonstrate the distinctiveness of Christian love? Because virtue is moral action we
practice, how can we practice the glorious virtue of love?

A. Love values the other person

Let's not confuse Christian love with its modern counterfeits - lust, sentimentality, and
gratification. While love is a wonderful, warm feeling, it is not only a feeling. In fact, according
to the Bible, love is primarily an active interest in the well-being of another person. Love acts for
the benefit of others. According to William Barclay love "is the spirit in the heart that will never
seek anything but the highest good of its fellow man."

God loved us not because we had something to offer him, but rather because He had something
to offer us. "For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that
everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). God loved us so
that He could demonstrate His mercy to us in the person of His Son.

Dr. W.A. Criswell, former pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas, officiated at a lot of
weddings. The nervous groom would always say, "Dr. Criswell, how much do I owe you for
this?" And he'd always smile and look at the groom and say, "Aw, just pay me what she's worth."
Dr. Criswell made a lot of money from weddings, because to each man his new bride was of
extravagant value.

In like manner, everyone around us is of incredible value to God as a potential object of His
mercy. His one and only Son died in their place. Because people matter so much to him, they
ought to matter to us. And, we, therefore, need to love them as he loves them.

B. Love is vulnerable to the other

In other words, love opens up its life to another person. It goes beyond sentimental feelings. It
breaks down barriers. It exposes the heart.

© 2007 LifeWay Christian Resources – www.lifeway.com/pastors

Think about Jesus. He left the glory of heaven to come to earth. He veiled His divinity and took
on humanity. And what did it get him? "He came to His own, and His own people did not receive
Him" (John 1:11). Can you imagine being away on a business trip for a week, coming home, and
your family not recognizing you? That's similar to what Jesus experienced when he came to
earth. Surely that must have hurt. Then, as Jesus hung on the cross, dying for these people that he
loved, they hurled abuses, scorn, and ridicule. His heart was broken. And yet, He forgave them.

Christian love is the most costly investment you will ever make. C. S. Lewis, in The Four Loves,
describes the vulnerable nature of love.

"To love is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly
broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not
even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries. Avoid all
entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket -
safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken. Instead, it will become
unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.

C. Love entails a cost

It gets its hands dirty. It takes a chance. It goes out on a limb. It takes a gamble. Love makes a
statement and leaves a legacy. It does the unexpected, surprising, and stirring. It performs acts
that steal the heart and leaves an impression on the soul. Often these acts are never forgotten.

I recently read a moving story about the founder of World Vision, the international Christian
relief agency. Bob Pierce had advanced leukemia, but he chose to visit a colleague in Indonesia
before he died. As he and others walked together through a small village, they came upon a
young girl lying on a bamboo mat next to a river. She was dying of cancer and had only a short
time to live.

Bob was indignant. He demanded to know why she wasn't in a clinic. But his friend explained
that she was from the jungle and wished to spend her last days next to the river, where it was
cool and familiar.

As Bob gazed at her, he felt such compassion that he got down on his knees in the mud, took her
hand, and began stroking it. Although she didn't understand him, he prayed for her. Afterwards
she looked up and said something, "What did she say? Bob asked his friend.

His friend replied, "She said, 'If I could only sleep again, if I could only sleep again.'" It seemed
that her pain was too great to allow her the relief of rest.

Bob began to weep. Then he reached into his pocket and took out his own sleeping pills, the ones
his doctor had given him because the pain from his leukemia was too great for him to sleep at
night.

© 2007 LifeWay Christian Resources – www.lifeway.com/pastors

He handed the bottle to his friend. "You make sure this young lady gets a good night's sleep," he
said, "as long as these pills last."

Bob was ten days away from where he could get his prescription refilled. That meant ten painful
and restless nights. That day his love cost him greatly. But even in the midst of his suffering,
God infused him with a supernatural sense of satisfaction that he had done the right thing.

I'm not saying that we should constantly abuse ourselves or become passive doormats. But
Christian love inevitably carries costs. Even when the cost is high, we can nevertheless count on
God to bring fulfillment to His followers. True love always costs. If there is no cost there is no
love.

Conclusion

In the end, the goal of the Christian life is love. The measure of our maturity is our love for God
and our love for others. If we fail in our love we have missed what it means to be a Christian.

But there is hope for the one who has failed in love. At the beginning I asked the question, "Can
we do it?" Can we love others in this way? The answer, I'm afraid, is "No." We cannot love
others like Christ - without Christ. The Lord, who forgave even those who crucified Him, stands
ready to forgive you of your lack of love. He wants to show His mercy toward you today, to
cleanse your loveless heart and fill it with His loving Holy Spirit. Receive His mercy. Place your
trust in Christ and let Him teach you how to love as He has loved you.

Rick Ezell is the pastor of First Baptist Greer, South Carolina. Rick has earned a Doctor of
Ministry in Preaching from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Master of Theology in
preaching from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Rick is a consultant, conference leader,
communicator, and coach.

© 2007 LifeWay Christian Resources – www.lifeway.com/pastors