Title: Love Costs
Contents
Love has a cost (Luke 10:25-37)
1. What is eternal life? (John 17:3).
(1) Eternal life is to know the true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. The Christian concept of eternal life should not be understood only as the meaning of eternal life. Eternal life can only be obtained through faith in the atoning grace of Jesus Christ.
(2) Salvation asks what kind of person he is before asking what he can do. The issue of existence must be prioritized over action. After that, the life of loving your neighbor as yourself is the life of eternal life.
2. Who is my neighbor?
(1) The teacher of the law was well aware of Jesus' commandment to love his neighbor (Leviticus 19:13-18). To the lawyer who asked, “Who is my neighbor?”, the Jews did not regard the Gentiles as neighbors, so he boldly asked Jesus to show himself as righteous.
(2) Why did the Lord tell this parable? Don't ask who my neighbor is, but be the neighbor to the robber. What practices should be prioritized? We must strive for “that I want to abide in the Lord” (John 15:7).
3. Then, what must we do to abide in the Lord?
(1) We must live with an afterlife that one day we will stand before God. In order to have a right relationship with our neighbors, we must become Christians with an afterlife (Hebrews 9:27, Gal 6:9, Matthew 10:28).
(2) Don't think from your own point of view, but think from the other person's point of view.
If we want to think about our neighbors first, we need to meet them during intercession. If you have faith that God has given you as a neighbor, you can sacrifice your position.
⑶ Show mercy. Mercy goes into material things.
When it comes to material burdens, it is easy to think, “Should I help while taking part in my household?” But looking at what the Samaritans did, it was not an expense that could help with their living. After all, compassion is the spirit of sharing. It's not about sharing what's mine, it's about sharing with God's.
Love has a cost.
Now, let's practice love from the smallest things. Love is to express. Love is a responsibility. Love without responsibility is not love. Love inspires zeal to save souls with the gospel (Romans 3:20-22). Now, instead of looking for a neighbor to help us, we are becoming a man of love so that we can be others' neighbors (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).