WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.339 You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama. 00:00:06.839 --> 00:00:09.359 Our passion is to experience and express grace. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:10.500 Join us. 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:12.580 Amen. 00:00:13.140 --> 00:00:13.960 Thank you, Chad. 00:00:14.780 --> 00:00:17.359 Let's continue that prayer together. 00:00:17.559 --> 00:00:18.240 Will you pray with me? 00:00:21.059 --> 00:00:29.339 Father, we may not sing exactly like that, but would you make our hearts echo with that 00:00:29.339 --> 00:00:30.079 desire? 00:00:30.460 --> 00:00:31.640 Would you take our lives? 00:00:33.159 --> 00:00:34.399 Would they be yours? 00:00:34.780 --> 00:00:37.719 Would they be consecrated to you? 00:00:38.659 --> 00:00:46.239 We surrender control, that illusion of control that we have, and we ask that you would shape 00:00:46.239 --> 00:00:54.980 us, Father, even now by your word and by your spirit, that we might be yours, that we might 00:00:54.980 --> 00:00:56.740 love as you love. 00:00:56.740 --> 00:00:59.800 We ask it in Jesus' name. 00:01:00.760 --> 00:01:01.060 Amen. 00:01:04.760 --> 00:01:07.620 Turn with me to John chapter 13. 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:18.359 John 13, where we just last week saw Jesus washing his disciples' feet, lowering himself 00:01:18.359 --> 00:01:21.240 to love them, to lead them. 00:01:21.239 --> 00:01:29.679 Quite a few of you have remarked to me since last week how beautiful his humble service is, 00:01:29.919 --> 00:01:34.839 and yet at the same time how hard such humble service is. 00:01:35.119 --> 00:01:37.340 I agree with both of those. 00:01:37.340 --> 00:01:46.659 How thankful I am that we have both the example of Jesus and the spirit of Jesus with us. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:51.600 We so need that as we live with him and for him. 00:01:52.620 --> 00:01:55.159 We're going to need both of those again this morning. 00:01:55.159 --> 00:02:05.039 Remember Jesus here in his last night before the cross is commissioning, is charging his followers with vital marching orders. 00:02:05.859 --> 00:02:08.219 What are they going to do when he's gone? 00:02:08.219 --> 00:02:17.659 And now Judas slips out the door to betray Jesus and Jesus ramps up the intensity even a little further at verse 31. 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:22.699 When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, 00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:27.060 Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. 00:02:27.419 --> 00:02:33.900 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him at once. 00:02:33.900 --> 00:02:37.460 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:45.000 You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, where I am going you cannot come. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:49.740 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. 00:02:50.040 --> 00:02:55.060 Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 00:02:55.980 --> 00:03:01.759 By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:05.899 Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going? 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:11.539 And Jesus answered him, where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward. 00:03:12.379 --> 00:03:15.479 And Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now? 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:17.620 I will lay down my life for you. 00:03:18.759 --> 00:03:21.780 Jesus answered, will you lay down your life for me? 00:03:22.519 --> 00:03:27.979 Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times. 00:03:27.979 --> 00:03:36.039 Thus far God's holy word that endures forever, for which we give him great thanks. 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:42.759 Whose disciple are you? 00:03:44.439 --> 00:03:49.359 Who do you spend the most time with or listening to? 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:57.340 Who most shapes the way you spend the rest of your time each day and each week? 00:03:58.260 --> 00:04:05.640 Maybe it's the business guru whose books you've read over and over so you learn habits of efficiency 00:04:05.640 --> 00:04:08.120 and productivity and success. 00:04:08.480 --> 00:04:14.560 Organizing your business, investing your money, structuring your day exactly the way he does. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:20.639 And other people who follow him recognize that you're living more and more like him. 00:04:22.439 --> 00:04:27.240 Maybe it's the influencer with your favorite life hacks and advice. 00:04:27.720 --> 00:04:30.660 You watch and listen multiple times a day. 00:04:30.759 --> 00:04:32.540 You eat when she tells you to. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:34.980 You sleep and wake when you're told. 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:37.980 You share her advice with others all the time. 00:04:38.439 --> 00:04:43.579 Friends who follow her have heard you talking and they've started to recognize you're living more and more like her. 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:49.620 Maybe you're a disciple of Jesus. 00:04:51.780 --> 00:04:52.800 How would you know? 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:57.120 That's an important question to answer, isn't it? 00:04:57.300 --> 00:05:02.660 It's something we're going to be talking about with our grace group leaders today and more and more. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:06.259 That we're going to be processing together with one another. 00:05:06.439 --> 00:05:09.259 What would it mean if I was a disciple of Jesus? 00:05:09.399 --> 00:05:12.540 Does it make me a disciple to go to church some Sundays? 00:05:12.540 --> 00:05:17.920 What about if I tell people I'm a Christian? 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:18.879 Is that it? 00:05:21.200 --> 00:05:25.260 Well, do you spend much time with Jesus? 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:30.939 Does he shape the way that you live every day? 00:05:31.259 --> 00:05:34.060 What you do and how you do it? 00:05:34.060 --> 00:05:40.939 Do people who know you recognize you living more and more like him? 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:47.759 These are the kinds of questions Jesus' first disciples are facing, aren't they? 00:05:48.840 --> 00:05:55.639 Jesus says that he's about to be gone from them and they all along have been identified very easily as his disciples 00:05:55.639 --> 00:05:59.040 because they're the band of people walking around with that rabbi. 00:05:59.579 --> 00:06:00.920 Those are Jesus' disciples. 00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:09.660 But when he leaves, how will their lives reflect that they're his disciples? 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:16.819 Unfortunately for them, they did not have cars that you could put a fish on the back of or a bumper sticker. 00:06:17.520 --> 00:06:18.879 And it would be so easy. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:22.420 Then everybody would know you're a disciple of Jesus. 00:06:23.139 --> 00:06:25.759 But Jesus has a better idea than that, actually. 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:26.199 Love. 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:33.199 I know you didn't see that one coming, right? 00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:34.079 This is shocking. 00:06:34.539 --> 00:06:43.560 I came to church this morning and the message is that Jesus calls those of us who want to follow him to live a life of love that's new and unexpected. 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:50.480 No, it's not complicated or confusing, the message Jesus gives here. 00:06:50.539 --> 00:06:52.439 It's too late for anything like that, right? 00:06:53.139 --> 00:06:54.399 It's his last night with him. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:59.060 Love one another. 00:07:00.679 --> 00:07:05.539 Just as I have loved you, love one another. 00:07:06.819 --> 00:07:14.199 By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. 00:07:14.199 --> 00:07:22.159 As Jesus sends his followers out here, you're going to notice him using this word love a lot. 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:24.639 Agape love. 00:07:24.759 --> 00:07:30.259 It's quite frequent here in these next five chapters we're going to work through this fall. 00:07:31.459 --> 00:07:34.879 It sounds familiar, perhaps, that we're to love. 00:07:35.099 --> 00:07:38.879 Whether you've been in church before or not, you've probably heard it. 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:43.420 But Jesus actually says here it's a new commandment. 00:07:44.100 --> 00:07:45.100 Why would he say that? 00:07:45.639 --> 00:07:49.560 I mean, the command to love one another is in the Old Testament multiple times. 00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:59.939 As Jesus here this Thursday night institutes the new covenant in his blood, what is new about this new commandment? 00:08:01.079 --> 00:08:04.360 We'll see a couple aspects of this newness. 00:08:04.899 --> 00:08:10.019 But one to start with is the root of the life of love. 00:08:10.019 --> 00:08:11.599 It's source. 00:08:11.819 --> 00:08:12.899 It's power. 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:20.079 Love, Jesus says, as I have loved you. 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:31.899 This life of love Jesus is calling us to grows from sinking your roots deep into the soil of his love. 00:08:31.899 --> 00:08:36.959 And I mean deep because as we saw last week, he is going low, right? 00:08:37.100 --> 00:08:40.899 He is stooping to wash their dirty feet. 00:08:41.819 --> 00:08:44.480 He's getting ready to die for them. 00:08:45.439 --> 00:08:54.659 In fact, notice as soon as Judas goes to betray him to his death, Jesus announces, now is my glory coming. 00:08:54.659 --> 00:08:58.899 Not just his glory, but God's glory. 00:08:59.159 --> 00:09:07.319 God the Father and God the Son glorified together, given appropriate weight, lifted up high. 00:09:07.579 --> 00:09:07.899 Where? 00:09:10.179 --> 00:09:11.579 On the cross. 00:09:12.939 --> 00:09:18.120 By a sacrificial death will he be glorified. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:19.559 Amazing love. 00:09:19.559 --> 00:09:26.079 How can it be that thou, my God, should die for me? 00:09:27.359 --> 00:09:34.259 The love of Jesus is now the new source of power for our love. 00:09:34.339 --> 00:09:37.659 And that's great because we're walking with him now, right, Southwood? 00:09:38.119 --> 00:09:39.119 We've talked all summer. 00:09:39.479 --> 00:09:40.779 How are we walking with Jesus? 00:09:41.079 --> 00:09:43.899 Spending time with him as his disciples. 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:49.399 We're wanting to be marked by his cross-shaped love. 00:09:49.399 --> 00:09:51.079 That's our heart's desire. 00:09:52.059 --> 00:09:57.399 And in a way never before seen or experienced by anyone ever loved, by anyone else in all of history, 00:09:57.879 --> 00:10:00.600 this love is going to have to involve what? 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:02.919 Sacrifice. 00:10:04.579 --> 00:10:11.159 As we saw last week, you have to lower yourself to love someone else. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:12.860 It's costly. 00:10:13.899 --> 00:10:16.059 Agape love stoops. 00:10:16.059 --> 00:10:23.219 See, when Jesus tells us to love one another, he's not just telling us to be generally nice people. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:27.819 Certainly not to be doormats without passions or convictions. 00:10:27.819 --> 00:10:28.579 That's not it. 00:10:28.819 --> 00:10:32.659 Rather, it's to live sacrificially, passionately. 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:37.299 And some of us object to this call right here, if we're honest. 00:10:38.019 --> 00:10:39.519 I mean, ask yourself in your heart. 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:44.559 Do you feel something like, love doesn't pay the bills? 00:10:46.659 --> 00:10:50.939 I mean, maybe you've thought, I'm just trying to provide for my family. 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:54.399 I don't have time for sacrificial love. 00:10:54.539 --> 00:11:02.019 Or, come on, Will, all day long, all I'm doing is taking care of these kids and trying to get them where they're supposed to go. 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:06.419 A life of love sounds like a great thing in some other life. 00:11:06.419 --> 00:11:13.339 When you give me a second set of days to work with, I hear you. 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.919 And we all need to hear Jesus saying, here's life. 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:22.079 Here's what you need to do. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:25.539 Love one another. 00:11:26.059 --> 00:11:31.719 I'm going to work this kind of love in you, but I'm calling you to wash one another's feet. 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:35.940 I'm calling you to sacrifice for your brother or sister. 00:11:36.259 --> 00:11:41.420 I'm sending you to live for me by loving my people. 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:44.360 Oh yes, love God. 00:11:44.420 --> 00:11:46.420 Of course, the first and greatest. 00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:50.200 Of course, love your neighbor, the second that's like it. 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:52.139 In fact, love your enemy. 00:11:52.820 --> 00:11:58.480 But especially here, disciples of Jesus, love one another. 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:08.360 Third century church father, Cyprian of Carthage said, no one can love the head and hate the body. 00:12:09.580 --> 00:12:11.000 That's the focus here. 00:12:11.300 --> 00:12:12.879 It's a beautiful thing. 00:12:13.180 --> 00:12:15.159 A life of love. 00:12:16.519 --> 00:12:18.080 But I don't want to lie to you. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:25.500 It's not comfortable or clean or easy, this kind of love. 00:12:25.500 --> 00:12:35.679 Some months ago, I shared with many of you how a leak under our house had caused some serious problems. 00:12:35.940 --> 00:12:39.100 And we discovered it under my house in my crawl space. 00:12:39.379 --> 00:12:42.799 And I told you how utterly uncertain I was how to handle any of it. 00:12:43.259 --> 00:12:44.820 I don't really know how to change a light bulb. 00:12:44.820 --> 00:12:53.060 Now, if you've never been in a crawl space, I need you to get a little bit of a picture of what a crawl space is. 00:12:53.100 --> 00:13:01.340 Most of them, especially if they've had a long-term leak in them like ours, they are characterized by darkness. 00:13:03.520 --> 00:13:04.000 Mud. 00:13:05.940 --> 00:13:06.420 Spiders. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:08.480 Mold. 00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:11.040 Rotten subfloor. 00:13:11.520 --> 00:13:13.200 And rancid water. 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:15.540 Yes, gross. 00:13:15.900 --> 00:13:16.680 That's what they are. 00:13:17.420 --> 00:13:19.460 They're disgusting places to be. 00:13:20.920 --> 00:13:28.160 And yet, I came home that day to a guy from my grace group crawling around in my crawl space. 00:13:29.160 --> 00:13:36.480 With industrial fans, water pumps, flashlights, everything you need under there. 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:42.480 He was crawling around in filth to love me and my family. 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:49.600 Southwood, so many of you have loved us in so many ways over the years. 00:13:49.980 --> 00:13:58.540 But that moment pictured that lowering, stooping, sacrificial love really, really well. 00:13:59.379 --> 00:14:01.840 Novelist Walker Percy said this so beautifully. 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:07.920 We love those who know the worst of us and don't turn their faces away. 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:11.040 That's agape love. 00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:16.460 Moving toward the mess, not turning away from it. 00:14:16.460 --> 00:14:21.960 Even laying down our lives for our brothers, Jesus says elsewhere. 00:14:22.019 --> 00:14:25.740 It cost my friend money to rent equipment. 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:30.040 Other money he could have made if he were at his job time with his family. 00:14:30.160 --> 00:14:36.840 The discomfort of being covered in all that stuff and probably not smelling real great over many days ahead. 00:14:36.840 --> 00:14:40.639 Sacrificial love. 00:14:42.420 --> 00:14:45.399 It's actually not to be unusual among us. 00:14:45.560 --> 00:14:48.100 It's to be a lifestyle, right? 00:14:49.240 --> 00:14:52.759 What does sacrificial love look like for you? 00:14:53.379 --> 00:14:54.360 What does it cost you? 00:14:57.620 --> 00:15:00.720 You do what in your retirement? 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:03.320 That doesn't sound relaxing. 00:15:03.320 --> 00:15:07.840 You do that for other people's kids and grandkids? 00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:10.360 Every week you do that? 00:15:11.820 --> 00:15:20.940 Yes, many of you do serve and teach and pray for the youngest in this family. 00:15:21.260 --> 00:15:23.879 Some of our oldest do this most often. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:29.440 Yes, because you promised once upon a time on a day like today that you would do that. 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:40.200 But I've heard you and I know that the biggest reason you do it is because you long for the next generation to know the sacrificial love of Jesus. 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:45.840 And even before they know to recognize it in you, you're pouring it back into them. 00:15:46.980 --> 00:15:51.420 Many of you sacrifice your time caring for your own kids. 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:55.820 You sacrifice your health, your plans, your dreams, caring for your kids. 00:15:55.820 --> 00:15:58.200 Some of you for others' kids as well. 00:15:58.200 --> 00:16:02.660 Kids, I know you sacrifice too, by the way. 00:16:04.660 --> 00:16:11.920 You may be asking this morning, how do I love my parents when they are so ridiculous? 00:16:12.920 --> 00:16:14.580 Don't raise your hand, okay? 00:16:14.980 --> 00:16:16.460 You just tell me, okay? 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:17.440 It's between me and you. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:21.640 You may have to sacrifice. 00:16:21.639 --> 00:16:30.279 It may involve sacrifice, kids, of what you think is best in order to love the parents God has given you. 00:16:31.860 --> 00:16:37.559 You may be asking, how do I love my spouse who is so selfish? 00:16:37.559 --> 00:16:48.379 You'll have to sacrifice some of your comfort, die to some of your own desires if you're going to love like Jesus. 00:16:49.019 --> 00:17:00.500 How do I love my friend whose needs are so extensive, whose mental illness is so persistent, whose requests are so inconvenient? 00:17:00.500 --> 00:17:07.640 And y'all, in these and many other situations, a life of love requires sacrifice, doesn't it? 00:17:08.519 --> 00:17:11.079 And yet it is the repeated call of our king. 00:17:11.180 --> 00:17:14.500 It's not unclear to love one another. 00:17:16.180 --> 00:17:17.680 Can I push in just one more way? 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:22.900 Love one another even across our differences. 00:17:24.759 --> 00:17:27.539 Did you know Jesus' 12 disciples voted differently? 00:17:29.460 --> 00:17:32.680 Significant political diversity among the disciples. 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:38.560 No room for hatred along party lines in Jesus' church. 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:47.779 No room at all for classism, racism, sexism, any kind of exclusive superiority. 00:17:48.159 --> 00:17:49.220 I'm better than you. 00:17:49.319 --> 00:17:50.399 You're lower than me. 00:17:50.519 --> 00:17:50.839 No. 00:17:52.460 --> 00:17:54.139 No disclaimers, y'all. 00:17:54.500 --> 00:17:57.419 Love one another. 00:17:58.099 --> 00:18:03.500 Even, perhaps, especially the others who are hard for you to love. 00:18:03.500 --> 00:18:11.339 What if each of us this morning thought of one person who was by nature different from us or hard for us to love? 00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:13.980 And we committed to loving that one person. 00:18:14.140 --> 00:18:14.299 Why? 00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:16.039 Because Jesus loves him. 00:18:17.500 --> 00:18:18.819 It would be costly. 00:18:19.559 --> 00:18:20.720 That would be hard. 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:23.400 And it would be beautiful. 00:18:23.700 --> 00:18:25.660 Perhaps life-changing. 00:18:26.940 --> 00:18:28.099 Pastor Andrew Murray, 00:18:28.099 --> 00:18:34.359 Amid all diversity of character or of creed, of language or of station, 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:40.699 they are to prove that love has made them members of one body and of each other 00:18:40.699 --> 00:18:46.839 and has taught them each to forget and sacrifice self for the sake of the other. 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:53.219 Their life of love is the chief evidence of Christianity. 00:18:53.719 --> 00:18:56.259 The proof to the world that God sent Christ 00:18:56.259 --> 00:19:00.119 and that he has shed abroad in them the same love with which he loved him. 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:02.339 Of all the evidences of Christianity, 00:19:02.619 --> 00:19:05.200 this is the mightiest and most convincing. 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:08.960 Interesting that he says that, isn't it? 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:11.539 The chief evidence of Christianity. 00:19:11.539 --> 00:19:13.539 It seems Jesus agrees. 00:19:14.279 --> 00:19:15.259 Verse 35. 00:19:15.879 --> 00:19:21.019 By this, all people will know that you are my disciples 00:19:21.019 --> 00:19:25.259 if you have love for one another. 00:19:26.259 --> 00:19:29.700 See, it is not merely a mark of discipleship, is it? 00:19:30.359 --> 00:19:35.119 It is to be a billboard for the love of King Jesus. 00:19:35.420 --> 00:19:37.920 If you get injured in a wreck, Alabama, 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:43.359 you will know that you can call Alexander Shannara. 00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:50.399 If you need someone to sacrifice himself to love you, 00:19:50.939 --> 00:19:52.959 to lift you out of the depths, 00:19:53.319 --> 00:19:56.579 perhaps because there are a lot of days where you feel unlovable, 00:19:57.179 --> 00:20:01.259 you need to know that you can call on Jesus. 00:20:01.259 --> 00:20:09.440 Jesus is sending us into this world with words and deeds of love 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:12.559 so that people, all sorts of people around you, 00:20:12.700 --> 00:20:15.640 will taste and see not how great you are, 00:20:15.980 --> 00:20:18.500 but that Jesus is good. 00:20:18.980 --> 00:20:22.500 Jesus' love is the root of the life of love, 00:20:22.500 --> 00:20:30.400 and the fruit of a life of love is people seeing the reality of Jesus' love in you. 00:20:31.460 --> 00:20:37.799 Theologian Francis Schaeffer called our love for one another the final apologetic. 00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:42.720 Church Father Tertullian, all the way back in the second century, 00:20:44.259 --> 00:20:47.539 he reports non-Christians saying with astonishment, 00:20:48.259 --> 00:20:51.480 behold how these Christians love each other, 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:55.419 how ready they are to die for each other. 00:20:55.420 --> 00:21:03.740 After my friend left the crawlspace that first day and drove back to his house, 00:21:04.220 --> 00:21:08.140 my next-door neighbor, who had been watching apparently, 00:21:08.840 --> 00:21:12.920 walked out and at a great distance from the crawlspace said, 00:21:13.539 --> 00:21:16.140 what's he charging you for all this? 00:21:18.440 --> 00:21:23.440 I said, well, he just showed up because he's a friend from church. 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:26.279 He found out I was in a mess, 00:21:26.380 --> 00:21:30.340 and he knows me well enough to know that I have no idea how to handle this. 00:21:32.080 --> 00:21:33.660 His eyes got real big, 00:21:34.279 --> 00:21:37.460 like he'd never heard of something like that before. 00:21:38.120 --> 00:21:39.640 He said, are you serious? 00:21:42.259 --> 00:21:44.799 All I could think to say was, it's great, isn't it? 00:21:44.820 --> 00:21:47.820 What a blessing to receive love like this. 00:21:49.960 --> 00:21:52.000 Think of all the opportunities there are here 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:56.619 to be a billboard for Jesus' sacrificial love. 00:21:58.380 --> 00:22:01.660 How many people in this entitled world 00:22:01.660 --> 00:22:05.059 have people in their lives sacrificing their money, 00:22:05.420 --> 00:22:09.240 their position, their comfort to help them succeed and flourish? 00:22:11.319 --> 00:22:14.140 How many people in this divided world 00:22:14.140 --> 00:22:16.779 have people who are in their lives, 00:22:16.839 --> 00:22:18.420 who vote differently from them, 00:22:18.420 --> 00:22:21.360 and yet sacrifice their opinions to eat together, 00:22:21.800 --> 00:22:23.360 to raise their kids together, 00:22:23.580 --> 00:22:25.340 to pray together every week? 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:28.900 Maybe invite someone to visit your grace group with you. 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:32.759 How many people in this busy world 00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:34.120 have people in their lives 00:22:34.120 --> 00:22:37.400 sacrificing their time to seek them out 00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:39.360 and listen to them when they're hurting? 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:43.019 How many people in this distracted world 00:22:43.019 --> 00:22:46.359 have people in their lives sacrificing their self-interest 00:22:46.359 --> 00:22:47.979 to notice when they're missing, 00:22:48.279 --> 00:22:49.699 to care when they're struggling, 00:22:49.879 --> 00:22:52.019 to celebrate when they're rejoicing? 00:22:52.779 --> 00:22:55.359 How many people in this high-achieving world 00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:58.199 have people in their lives sacrificing their own advancement 00:22:58.199 --> 00:23:00.240 to use their strengths and their talents 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:02.139 to help them in areas of weakness? 00:23:02.140 --> 00:23:06.820 How many people in this isolated world 00:23:06.820 --> 00:23:10.360 have people in their lives sacrificing their own alone time, 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:11.960 their own free time, 00:23:12.220 --> 00:23:13.600 their own family time 00:23:13.600 --> 00:23:17.220 to draw them out of their loneliness and isolation, 00:23:17.620 --> 00:23:19.080 to welcome them in, 00:23:19.280 --> 00:23:21.200 to share community with them? 00:23:23.120 --> 00:23:26.020 See, loving one another is beautiful. 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:28.300 It's attractive. 00:23:28.299 --> 00:23:31.680 We all long for community like that, 00:23:31.740 --> 00:23:33.440 for love like that. 00:23:33.700 --> 00:23:35.759 And Jesus designed his love 00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:38.379 to be put on display in community. 00:23:38.879 --> 00:23:41.019 You want to go on a great mission trip this year? 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:43.940 Take them a meal. 00:23:45.639 --> 00:23:46.519 Rake her leaves. 00:23:48.599 --> 00:23:49.899 Listen to his story. 00:23:51.059 --> 00:23:53.700 Cry with them when they're hurting. 00:23:54.980 --> 00:23:56.639 Celebrate their kids' success. 00:23:56.640 --> 00:24:00.100 Take that college student to lunch 00:24:00.100 --> 00:24:02.360 and hear how the transition's going. 00:24:04.020 --> 00:24:06.080 Grab a parent who's sending their kids to college 00:24:06.080 --> 00:24:08.880 and cry and rejoice with them at the same time. 00:24:09.240 --> 00:24:11.520 Love one another. 00:24:12.440 --> 00:24:14.320 It may be awkward, right? 00:24:14.460 --> 00:24:16.759 But when you show up that you can blame it on me. 00:24:17.020 --> 00:24:19.000 Pastors said I had to come do this for you. 00:24:19.320 --> 00:24:20.940 Better yet, blame it on Jesus. 00:24:22.100 --> 00:24:23.600 Jesus told me to love you. 00:24:24.300 --> 00:24:25.740 That's why I'm being awkward right now. 00:24:25.740 --> 00:24:28.599 That's why I'm inviting you to lunch. 00:24:28.779 --> 00:24:30.019 Because Jesus said. 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:33.019 That should get over the awkwardness. 00:24:33.099 --> 00:24:34.079 That'll take care of it. 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:39.200 The fruit will be people experiencing 00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:45.859 the sacrificial, costly, life-changing love of Jesus. 00:24:45.859 --> 00:24:50.199 If you're here at Southwood but don't feel you're experiencing 00:24:50.199 --> 00:24:52.059 that kind of community and love, 00:24:52.259 --> 00:24:54.719 I would urge you to jump into a grace group. 00:24:55.479 --> 00:24:57.759 I'll tell you up front, it will cost you something. 00:24:59.339 --> 00:25:00.559 But it will be worth it. 00:25:02.359 --> 00:25:03.959 And if you say, as you might, 00:25:04.439 --> 00:25:07.279 Pastor, I'm in a grace group, but we don't love like that. 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:12.539 Maybe you could initiate that sacrifice. 00:25:13.639 --> 00:25:16.980 Inconvenience yourself to show up in someone else's life 00:25:16.980 --> 00:25:18.559 outside of a group meeting. 00:25:19.579 --> 00:25:22.460 Pray daily for your group members by name. 00:25:22.660 --> 00:25:25.799 Ask someone else in the group to help you where you're struggling. 00:25:25.960 --> 00:25:27.899 Invite them into your life so you can share it there. 00:25:27.900 --> 00:25:32.340 You may also be here this morning 00:25:32.340 --> 00:25:36.019 and longing for that kind of community and love in your life, 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:40.700 but honestly pretty skeptical that church is where you'd find it. 00:25:42.680 --> 00:25:45.400 You've heard Christians talk about love a lot, 00:25:45.540 --> 00:25:48.940 but you've seen us live self-focused lives. 00:25:49.340 --> 00:25:53.740 You've heard us run one another down with gossip and unforgiveness. 00:25:53.740 --> 00:25:58.759 You've watched us live in cliques where we leave one another out. 00:26:00.460 --> 00:26:05.500 Maybe you've even experienced some or all of those things yourself 00:26:05.500 --> 00:26:07.279 from church people. 00:26:09.720 --> 00:26:10.680 I'm sorry. 00:26:13.579 --> 00:26:18.059 Sometimes we, like Peter at the end of this passage, 00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:22.000 think that we are better than we are. 00:26:23.740 --> 00:26:26.079 We think we love better than we do. 00:26:27.660 --> 00:26:31.039 Sometimes we talk about following Jesus 00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:34.259 better than we follow Jesus. 00:26:36.339 --> 00:26:37.920 If that's where you are this morning, 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:40.799 I can't argue with your experience of that. 00:26:41.339 --> 00:26:42.819 My appeal to you this morning 00:26:42.819 --> 00:26:46.700 would be to come to Jesus himself. 00:26:47.500 --> 00:26:49.900 He loves unfailingly. 00:26:49.900 --> 00:26:53.180 He sacrifices consistently. 00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:55.640 He is with you always. 00:26:56.960 --> 00:26:58.380 And if you come to him, 00:26:58.440 --> 00:26:59.160 if you wouldn't mind, 00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:02.280 if you could extend the grace to us, 00:27:02.900 --> 00:27:05.280 tell church people how they've hurt you 00:27:05.280 --> 00:27:07.100 and give us another chance 00:27:07.100 --> 00:27:10.460 to love the way Jesus calls us to love. 00:27:10.540 --> 00:27:12.560 Because see, he's still working on us. 00:27:13.380 --> 00:27:16.980 His spirit is at work in us and among us. 00:27:16.980 --> 00:27:21.460 So he is remaking us into people of love like him. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:23.559 So lean in and help us. 00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:25.860 You can be a part of this with us. 00:27:25.940 --> 00:27:27.200 We would love that. 00:27:28.200 --> 00:27:30.339 See, this is the best part of the whole thing. 00:27:31.380 --> 00:27:34.819 A life of love will take you lower than you can imagine 00:27:34.819 --> 00:27:39.039 and higher than you ever dreamed. 00:27:39.039 --> 00:27:42.339 I think we got the lower part. 00:27:43.319 --> 00:27:44.139 Crawl spaces. 00:27:45.659 --> 00:27:46.659 Messy lives. 00:27:47.019 --> 00:27:47.980 Dark places. 00:27:48.819 --> 00:27:51.339 But friends, don't miss the higher part. 00:27:51.799 --> 00:27:54.759 Even in relationships with other men and women, 00:27:55.059 --> 00:27:58.079 deep friendship, real intimacy and marriage. 00:27:58.420 --> 00:28:00.059 Friends that last a lifetime 00:28:00.059 --> 00:28:02.379 are forged through sacrifice 00:28:02.379 --> 00:28:04.039 and suffering together 00:28:04.639 --> 00:28:06.940 and loving then. 00:28:06.940 --> 00:28:08.740 Not turning your face away. 00:28:09.480 --> 00:28:10.519 Loving right there. 00:28:11.019 --> 00:28:12.420 It really is, isn't it, 00:28:12.440 --> 00:28:15.660 the height of human joy to share such love. 00:28:17.080 --> 00:28:18.860 But I mean even higher than that. 00:28:20.180 --> 00:28:22.340 Even higher than anything you've experienced here. 00:28:22.620 --> 00:28:24.799 A life of love draws you up 00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:27.320 into the very life and love 00:28:27.320 --> 00:28:30.019 of Father, Son, and Spirit. 00:28:30.759 --> 00:28:33.580 Participation in the relationships of the Trinity. 00:28:33.580 --> 00:28:36.640 That is actually what you long for. 00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:38.920 That you're afraid you won't find in the church. 00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:40.140 I'm telling you this is what it is. 00:28:40.540 --> 00:28:41.880 Jesus designed his love 00:28:41.880 --> 00:28:43.800 to be put on display in community 00:28:43.800 --> 00:28:45.660 because that is its very nature. 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:48.880 It always has existed in community. 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:51.840 That's one more way his commandment is new. 00:28:52.800 --> 00:28:54.660 Notice 1 John chapter 2 00:28:54.660 --> 00:28:56.880 as John explains this to it. 00:28:56.940 --> 00:28:58.920 It is a new commandment I'm writing you 00:28:58.920 --> 00:29:01.800 which is true in him and in you 00:29:01.800 --> 00:29:04.300 because the darkness is passing away 00:29:04.299 --> 00:29:06.379 and the true light is already shining. 00:29:06.940 --> 00:29:08.299 Whoever says he's in the light 00:29:08.299 --> 00:29:10.819 and hates his brother is still in darkness. 00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:13.440 Whoever loves his brother 00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:16.819 abides in the light. 00:29:17.960 --> 00:29:21.039 See it's new in him, Jesus, 00:29:21.799 --> 00:29:25.680 and you so you're living in it together 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:27.220 because Jesus the light 00:29:27.220 --> 00:29:29.019 has shined into the world 00:29:29.019 --> 00:29:32.059 and you actually live in his light 00:29:32.059 --> 00:29:33.299 when you love your brother. 00:29:34.519 --> 00:29:36.379 When you sacrifice for your sister. 00:29:36.680 --> 00:29:38.859 When you serve those different from you 00:29:38.859 --> 00:29:41.579 and you so practice loving your neighbor 00:29:41.579 --> 00:29:43.160 and even your enemy. 00:29:43.579 --> 00:29:46.460 There is Jesus right there doing that with you. 00:29:46.779 --> 00:29:48.299 He's not merely instructing you 00:29:48.299 --> 00:29:49.700 to live a life of love 00:29:49.700 --> 00:29:52.000 but he's really inviting you into 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:54.359 a life of love with him and his father 00:29:54.359 --> 00:29:57.220 that overflows into all of your other relationships. 00:29:57.220 --> 00:29:59.460 Jesus is there with you 00:29:59.460 --> 00:30:02.500 washing feet, serving the poor, 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:04.839 laying down his life for his friends. 00:30:05.180 --> 00:30:07.600 Jesus didn't turn his face away from us. 00:30:07.880 --> 00:30:10.880 He set his face like a flint for Jerusalem 00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:13.100 and for the joy set before him 00:30:13.100 --> 00:30:15.380 endured the cross. 00:30:17.579 --> 00:30:19.200 Have you been loved like that? 00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:26.519 Has someone seen the crawl space of your heart 00:30:26.519 --> 00:30:29.180 and entered in to help you 00:30:29.180 --> 00:30:30.200 instead of running away? 00:30:32.500 --> 00:30:34.240 Nothing drags you up out of darkness, 00:30:34.680 --> 00:30:37.059 out of just the chaos of a busy life, 00:30:37.140 --> 00:30:39.880 out of self-pity and self-focus like that. 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:41.440 It is powerful, isn't it? 00:30:41.500 --> 00:30:42.940 Many of you have experienced it. 00:30:43.980 --> 00:30:46.120 Listen, when someone loved me like that, 00:30:46.119 --> 00:30:47.739 not for how well I performed 00:30:47.739 --> 00:30:49.039 or how good I looked, 00:30:49.179 --> 00:30:50.779 but in spite of my failings 00:30:50.779 --> 00:30:52.699 and the struggles that she knew I had, 00:30:52.759 --> 00:30:53.599 I married her. 00:30:54.819 --> 00:30:56.719 I spent the last 20 years 00:30:56.719 --> 00:30:58.659 trying to learn to love her 00:30:58.659 --> 00:30:59.859 the way she has loved me, 00:31:00.039 --> 00:31:02.119 to live up to that glorious experience 00:31:02.919 --> 00:31:04.839 of love with her. 00:31:05.659 --> 00:31:06.539 Now listen, 00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:11.419 how much more has Jesus loved you like that? 00:31:11.420 --> 00:31:16.740 He has seen all your crawl spaces. 00:31:18.980 --> 00:31:21.259 He could have moved on from you 00:31:21.259 --> 00:31:23.300 to someone else a long time ago, 00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:25.620 but he didn't. 00:31:26.039 --> 00:31:26.600 Instead, 00:31:26.980 --> 00:31:30.279 he has laid down his life for you. 00:31:30.519 --> 00:31:31.759 He forgives our sins, 00:31:32.060 --> 00:31:33.100 cleans up our mess, 00:31:33.220 --> 00:31:34.980 and delivers us from darkness 00:31:34.980 --> 00:31:37.000 into his marvelous light. 00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:37.480 Love, 00:31:38.079 --> 00:31:38.980 so amazing, 00:31:39.319 --> 00:31:40.079 so divine, 00:31:40.420 --> 00:31:41.940 demands my soul, 00:31:42.240 --> 00:31:43.059 my life, 00:31:43.400 --> 00:31:44.599 my all. 00:31:44.980 --> 00:31:46.059 Won't you find 00:31:46.059 --> 00:31:47.380 your true life 00:31:47.380 --> 00:31:49.059 shaped by him 00:31:49.059 --> 00:31:50.900 living up there with him? 00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:51.660 He'll help you 00:31:51.660 --> 00:31:53.640 in that glorious experience 00:31:53.640 --> 00:31:54.940 of his love 00:31:54.940 --> 00:31:55.720 where you go, 00:31:55.819 --> 00:31:55.980 yes, 00:31:56.140 --> 00:31:58.140 lower than you've ever imagined 00:31:58.140 --> 00:32:00.259 to invade dark crawl spaces 00:32:00.259 --> 00:32:02.180 and listen to real pain 00:32:02.180 --> 00:32:03.960 and sacrifice your comfort 00:32:03.960 --> 00:32:06.079 and find at the very same time 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:07.240 a life higher 00:32:07.240 --> 00:32:08.799 than you ever dreamed, 00:32:09.360 --> 00:32:11.100 surrounded by his glory, 00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:14.240 delighting in his purpose for you, 00:32:14.700 --> 00:32:16.960 secure in his love 00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:18.480 that will never fail you. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:20.700 Pray with me. 00:32:21.860 --> 00:32:22.460 Oh, Jesus, 00:32:22.920 --> 00:32:23.700 help us 00:32:23.700 --> 00:32:25.519 to taste 00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:27.259 that life of love. 00:32:29.420 --> 00:32:30.259 Would you make us 00:32:30.259 --> 00:32:31.140 by your grace, 00:32:31.279 --> 00:32:33.019 by the power of your spirit, 00:32:33.019 --> 00:32:34.859 that kind of community, 00:32:35.059 --> 00:32:36.839 those kinds of brothers 00:32:36.839 --> 00:32:37.559 and sisters 00:32:37.559 --> 00:32:38.579 and friends, 00:32:38.940 --> 00:32:40.259 you have bid us 00:32:40.259 --> 00:32:41.099 come 00:32:41.099 --> 00:32:42.019 and die 00:32:42.759 --> 00:32:44.639 and just at that 00:32:44.639 --> 00:32:45.559 very moment 00:32:45.559 --> 00:32:46.279 find 00:32:46.279 --> 00:32:48.720 that we're truly living, 00:32:48.879 --> 00:32:49.339 that we are 00:32:49.339 --> 00:32:50.059 living 00:32:50.059 --> 00:32:51.599 with you. 00:32:52.339 --> 00:32:52.680 How 00:32:52.680 --> 00:32:53.019 wonderful 00:32:53.819 --> 00:32:54.339 might 00:32:54.339 --> 00:32:54.839 we, 00:32:55.200 --> 00:32:55.879 even this week, 00:32:56.000 --> 00:32:57.220 get that taste 00:32:57.220 --> 00:32:57.900 of eternity 00:32:57.900 --> 00:32:58.980 of life 00:32:58.980 --> 00:32:59.599 with you 00:32:59.599 --> 00:33:00.680 in love. 00:33:00.680 --> 00:33:03.560 help us 00:33:03.560 --> 00:33:06.440 as we give our lives 00:33:06.440 --> 00:33:06.920 to you. 00:33:07.880 --> 00:33:09.259 We ask it in your name. 00:33:09.940 --> 00:33:10.220 Amen. 00:33:11.539 --> 00:33:12.740 For more information, 00:33:13.140 --> 00:33:14.000 visit us online 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:14.299 at 00:33:14.299 --> 00:33:15.060 southwood.org. 00:33:15.059 --> 00:33:17.259 www.ind swarm Áastrovirин detention 00:33:17.259 --> 00:33:32.679 NEWS-G