Love God and Love People

Well. Good morning. Morning. My name is Lee Ann Tolliver, and I’m honored to be your speaker this morning. I’m a lay pastor at some of the little churches at Trinity has adopted. And I’m also on staff. Here as your membership coordinator and Christian counselor.

I was asked recently to stand before you and speak today, but I said, no way, no how would I ever do that? Then God spoke. Well, Claire woke up one morning and she told her husband, I dreamed that you gave me the most beautiful diamond necklace. Because you love me so much. What do you think the meaning of the dream is? Well, John said, you’ll know tonight. That evening, John came home with a small package and gave it to his wife. Delighted. Lace up Claire, open it up. And she found a book entitled The Meaning of Dreams. So let’s talk about love.

Our Bible passage for this morning comes from John 13, verses 34 and 35.

Hear these words I give you a new commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples. If you have love for one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

Six words. I’m going to quiz you on that later. In our scripture, Jesus provides profound commandment to his disciples, demonstrating the core of Christian love and its significance in our relationship with one another. Also, as a testimony to the world. For Jesus love did not mean a sweet, sentimental feeling. No, it meant action. It meant actively loving. Putting one’s love into real world activities. One of the novelties introduced by this commandment, maybe justifying the term new, is that Jesus introduced himself as the standard for love. The usual criteria had been as you love yourself, as you love yourself. The new commandment is a term used in Christianity to describe Jesus’ commandment to love one another. This was given as part of the final instructions to his disciples after the Last Supper had ended, and after Judas had departed. This commandment appears 13 times and 12 verses. In the New Testament, John tells us that God had put all things into Jesus, and it was going to God, and that God had put all things in Jesus hands. Yet he who had all things in his hands now used his hands to wash feet. What a powerful physical expression of love. Jesus was using foot washing to emphasize a larger point. It was a symbol for all his followers to see how they should treat one another. It was an act of servanthood and humility. When Jesus rose from the Last Supper and began to wash the feet of his disciples, he was doing the work of the lowliest of servants. The disciples must have been stunned to see this act of humility that Jesus, their Lord and master, would wash their feet. Foot washing was more properly their work, but no one had volunteered for the job. Jesus came to this earth not as a king or military hero, but as a servant. He came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for you and for me.

Washing feet foreshadowed his ultimate act of humility and love for us on the cross. Beautiful comes with a price. And Jesus paid it all. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. Have you heard the expression you can’t throw stones while washing feet? When we are busy serving others, loving others just as Christ did, there is no room for discontentment, anger, jealousy or judgment. Jesus greatest commandment was not just to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, but you also love your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus showed that there is no greater love than this. When he laid down his life for you and for me. I’m borrowing something that I read recently. It said, don’t cross oceans for people who wouldn’t cross a puddle for you. Don’t cross oceans for people who wouldn’t cross a puddle for you. Wow. I thought about that advice and decided it’s terrible advice. Do it anyway. Do cross oceans for other people. Love all people. No conditions attached. No wondering whether or not they’re worthy. Cross oceans. Climb mountains. Life and love aren’t about what we gain. It’s about what we give. And maybe, just maybe, God didn’t add another day to your life because he thought you needed it. Maybe he added it because someone else needs you.

Jesus Christ is God, and God is love. So, we can say that the foundation of our church is love. The world knows those who are disciples of Christ by the way they love one another and others. And after all this is over, all that really mattered was how we treated each other, how we loved one another. And God made us capable of loving him and loving one another. And the greatest evidence of this is sacrifice. And that’s what Jesus did when he died on the cross for you and for me. For the forgiveness of every single one of our sins. All of them. God’s love has given us meaning, redemption and purpose. Through God loving us we are shown how to love others. And how much does God love us and want the best for us? Let’s take a look at a specific example from the Bible. During the lifetime of Jesus, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was a center of Jewish religious life. The temple was the place where animal sacrifices were carried out, and worship according to the law of Moses was followed faithfully. Hebrews tells us that in the temple a veil, a curtain separated the Holy of Holies place, which was where the earthly dwelling place was. This early, sorry, earthly dwelling place of God’s presence from the rest of the temple where the people dwelt. The Curtain Temple was about the thickness of a man’s hand, and embroidered with figures of cherubim, like those Ezekiel saw guarding God’s throne. The veil signified that man was separated from God by sin. Only the high priest was permitted to pass beyond this point. Matthew 27 tells us that when Jesus was on the cross and cried out in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. It was in that moment that there was a tremendous earthquake, and the curtain of a temple was torn from top to bottom. It was symbolic of the end of the old Covenant of Atonement through animal sacrifice and the beginning of a new covenant. The meaning of the veil tearing is wrapped up in its old covenant function. To separate the Israelites from the direct presence of God. The tearing of the veil at that moment of Jesus death dramatically symbolized that his sacrifice in the shedding of his own blood was a sufficient atonement for our sins. It signifies that now the way into the Holy of Holies was opened for all people of all time. Jew and Gentile. You and me.

When Jesus died and the veil was torn, God moved out of that place never again to dwell in a temple made with human hands. In essence, the veil was symbolic of Christ himself as the only way to our father. The veil being torn meant we no longer have a go between a mediator between us and God. We can go directly to God through the blood of Jesus Christ. The cross became a bridge that we walk across to be close to our Savior because of his ultimate sacrificial love. The cross of Jesus became a bridge, allowing us a direct line to God.

Well, I grew up in a tiny farming community across the river from Natchez, Mississippi. Anybody ever heard of waterproof, Louisiana? Oh, shocking. My mom’s side of the family lived across the bridge in Natchez. We crossed that Mississippi River bridge numerous times as children. But I remember one day going to visit our cousin Wilfred in Natchez. He disclosed to us that he would never come visit us. He would never cross the bridge into Louisiana to come see us, because he was terrified that that bridge would not sustain their vehicle. They would fall into the depths of the mighty, raging Mississippi River, never to be heard from again. Well, I was a little girl when I heard Wilfred share this dramatic story with us, and I realized I was going to have to cross that same bridge that he was so terrified of to get back home. One of my older brothers, who enjoyed playing into my naiveté, began whispering to me I sure hope that bridge holds up on our way home. I never stopped to think that if I was going down, he was going down with me. As we crossed that bridge on our way home, I started noticing the metal beams and the structure surrounding us of solid steel that seemed invincible to me. I also thought about how important that bridge was, because it allowed us to go from our house and into the city where there was fun, excitement, adventure, and the love and acceptance of family. Jesus is that bridge connecting us to life through the father’s love for us. Jesus is the bridge that allows us to cross one zip code of death into the zip code of life.

He is our solid structure, and his love endures, supports, and never fails. Throughout all eternity, the father, son, and Spirit live in a loving relationship. They communicate with one another. Care for one another and commune with one another. In some regards, the one God is kind of like a loving family. Which may explain why the language of father and son is used to describe their loving relationship. Not only is God loving, but God loves you right where you are. God loves you. Apart from your performance, God loves you and accepts you as you are where you are. Apart from your sins, God loves you and accepts you as you are and where you are. God loves us so much that through His Son, his child, Jesus Christ, he gladly forgives all of our past. In acts 13, verse 38, therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus Christ the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. It’s right here in the Bible, and we are forgiven people through the blood of Jesus Christ. Through them there is hope, restoration, and healing. And he will walk with you hand in hand, like a loving parent for the rest of your life and into eternity. God’s love is mind bending, its heart changing, destiny altering, and God will never love you less. His love is a gift for you to enjoy and a gift for you to share with others. His love was an activity that cost him his life.

First John four verse 11 says, beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. If we love one another. God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us. And God wants more than a spirit filled life. He wants actual love. We are living in a world that is fractured. Some may say broken, and it’s up to us individually to contribute to some form of change. It’s simple. Are you ready? Are you ready to love God and love people? That’s it. There is not one person Jesus did not, does not love and will not come back to save. This includes everyone you lock eyes with, everyone you walk past on the street, everyone you’re sitting near in church, everyone you hear about in the news, live next door to or stand behind in line. When we actively love those around us putting their needs before our own, we are taking the same amazing love that Jesus poured out for us and becoming a living, breathing, beautiful display for all of humanity.

While some may believe that love is just a nice, heartwarming feeling. As Christians, we’re called for it to be more than that. We’re called to take action and to be relational when we can share God’s love by noticing, the unnoticed, loving the unlovely, or even by extending grace to those who maybe are not quite so easy to be around. What if we actively walk across the street to help our neighbor or friend in need? Maybe we get involved in one of the numerous activities we have going on here in our church. We have services like wheelchair ramp ministry. Weekend of the cross, Ruston elementary adopt a school partner, our senior adult functions, children’s functions, youth functions, flower care team, communion delivery team, food truck ministry, Sunday opportunities for special needs children and the list goes on and on and on. Come see me if you have any questions. Be happy to plug in. Maybe when we do this, we will actively guide people to Jesus, and they too will begin to actively love others. And who knows how many lives will be impacted. Just as I have loved you. Say it with me, church. You also should love one another.

Have you ever wondered what was on Jesus’ mind when he died on the cross? What was on his mind when he was carrying the cross? When the cross went up? What was on his mind when he was suffering? It was you. It was me. We were on his mind when he made that decision. Can you fathom a love like that? Can you grasp the concept of someone wanting to be with you so much that they would put themselves through a brutal, torturous state? That’s a love that our minds were not made to be able to comprehend. He loves us. And he tells us, just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. And how wonderful is it that the same God who created the mountains, oceans and galaxies thought about you and thought the world needed one of you to? What if, when God decided to create you, he made a conscious decision to form you before the foundations of the earth were ever laid? What if he said there was a need on earth, and have a plan and purposes and gifts to give the specific person to live on earth? And then he said, I love that person so much. I don’t want to be separated forever. I want that person to return home to me because I love that person, and I want to live a joyful eternity with that person. That’s you and me. Maybe you’re in a rainy season right now, but just know, contrary to popular belief, nobody has it figured out all the time. And sometimes the doubt we feel is just redirection from God.

We have to take that first step. Maybe we need to be more aware of small beginnings God is doing in our lives, and we can rejoice over those small beginnings, knowing that all it takes is a mustard seed of faith If you have a special need today, focus your full attention on the goodness and greatness of God rather than on the size of your need. Our needs are so small compared to his ability to meet them. In Matthew four, verse 39, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, be still. And then the wind died down, and it was completely calm. If he could do something of such magnitude, what can he do in your life? What can’t he do in your life? And in case no one has told you lately, you are enough. You’re capable and you have the ability to thrive. Because when God breathes on it, it will live. God breathed life into you. Receive the power of God’s grace today because it is yours and it is mine. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. Earlier you received hope. You received a little heart that was passed around. If you didn’t get one, make sure you found me after the service, and I’ll get one for you. Sometimes in loving others, we have to take the first step. You can share your heart with somebody during the last song, or you can hold on to it until the time is right. Maybe pray for someone and tell them, hey, I prayed for you today. Or maybe you need a little love in your life and you need to hold on to it.

Let us pray. Lord, as we live, rescued, redeemed, forgiven and loved. Help us to share the same love and kindness with others so our lives will be a reflection of you. In the powerful name of Jesus Christ. Amen