Title: Love Each Other
Contents
♡♥♡ Love each other. / John 13:34-35
*** Introduction
The church motto for 2003 was ‘a church full of love and happiness’, and the Bible verse related to that is today’s text, John 13:34-35. To summarize the words of the text, it is “Love one another.” There are simply two reasons why the church should be full of love and happiness.
First, he said, ‘The world will know that the church is Jesus’ disciples only when it is filled with love.’ Another thing, he said, ‘Because Jesus loved us first, we must love one another.’
'love!'
As the world expresses the Christian spirit, it is called 'philanthropy', that is, love. This love is the most contagious and energizing in the world. Emperor Napoleon, who was said to have conquered 1/3 of the world, confessed this when he was exiled to the island of St. Herena due to the defeat of the war. “He tried to conquer the world by force and failed, but Jesus conquered the world with love.”
It's already been quite some time. Remember when the song ‘We are the World’ was popular? This is the story that inspired the creation of this song.
“How can you do this by yourself, no matter how much you care for it?”
Then the doctor
“It’s just taking care of each person, one person at a time.”
Said. This very interview scene was aired on TV, and the famous singer at the time, 'Harry Belafonte', was moved by the scene. The movement that started as a motive was a relief movement launched by world superstars to help Africa, and their song was ‘We are the World’. It was the harmony of love that the world shared.
This is the power of love. The more you do it, the deeper and stronger it becomes. Love is love. The reason is that God is love. God's power is at work in love. This is why we should be full of love.
1. Love! This is an expression of being a disciple of Jesus.
As in verse 35, the standard by which the world distinguishes Christians is ‘love’. If the church dries up love and the Christian community runs out of love, it cannot impress the people of the world. Because God, who is the owner of the church, is love. When the church is full of love, it indicates that it is full of God, whereas when it is depleted of love, it means that there is no work of God. 1 John 4:7,8.
“Beloved, let us love one another. Love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, and whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
Are you familiar with a disease called autism? This disease refers to ‘a child’s emotional development disorder who cannot tolerate small changes, suffers, and tends to become obsessed with certain objects’. In other words, it is a symptom of ‘closed mind living in oneself’. In other words, it is a state in which the door of the heart is closed tightly.
In some ways, the present age may seem glamorous, but in reality, it is not an age in which people are closing their hearts. If you're not close enough, you won't show yourself easily even if you talk to them. A deep valley of 'indifference' arises among the closed-minded people. Indifference is a deep valley in which nothing is swallowed up without a trace. The only thing that can wake up this age is ‘love’. Love is concern for others and opens the door to the heart.
God first reached out and opened his heart to those who became enemies because of sin. Romans 5:8. “God demonstrates his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Also, because God is light, he cannot be fundamentally close to sin, which is darkness. Nevertheless, God sent light into the darkness. In John 1:9, it says, “There was the true light, that is, that came into the world and gave light to every man.” Jesus Christ is the light of life who came to give life to the world.
Therefore, ‘love’ belongs to God, and is the surest instrument to reveal God to the world. People of the world come to know that they are the people of Jesus by seeing the open hearts of love in a closed world.
2. Love! This is the greatest power of a Christian.
There is a true story during the war that was published in the American magazine 'Look' and became a hot topic.
It was at the height of the Vietnam War. Four American soldiers drove through the jungle in a jeep. The road was too narrow, so I struggled to advance, but I was suddenly attacked by the Vietcong. The soldiers rushed into the jungle to engage. Then, after a brief pause in the shooting, it came out and I was amazed. If you move forward, your life is in danger, and if you turn the car, the road is narrow and you cannot turn.
At this time, the four soldiers each grabbed one of the wheels of the car and lifted it up. Then he turned the car in the opposite direction, got into the car, and ran away. After returning to the unit, they breathed a sigh of relief and tried to pick up the car again, but they did not move.
How could they lift a car that was stuck in the battalion in the jungle? It is because of the potential a person has.
Christians do not have potential, but power through faith. Faith in God's power is what makes all things possible. This is Philippians 4:13 we know and love. “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” In God who is the source of power, we are people of power who can do all things.
However, at the center of all the powers that Christians practice, there is love. No matter how much power, dedication, sacrifice, and service you put into it, if you fall in love, it is nothing. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.
“If I speak in human tongues and angels, but do not have love, I become copper and chirping chimes; I have the power to prophesy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith to move mountains, but do not have love, I It is nothing; if I give all that I have, and if I give my body to be burned, but without love, it is of no use to me.”
The reason that nothing without love is of no good is because God is love, as I said before. So, what can I do to make me full of love?
There was a beggar bachelor who had been begging on the street for over 30 years. This young beggar was a congenital cerebral palsy patient who was expelled from his home as a child. He was a normal person to hear and think, but it was almost impossible to convey it to others. So I couldn't do anything other than beg.
Sitting on the street in downtown Seoul and getting a penny for a day was almost 40-50 thousand won. But the problem was that there was no way to fill the hungry stomach. Because they are kicked out before they even enter the restaurant door. All restaurants are closed to him, even if he is a paying customer rather than begging. It is also true that even if you eat with your whole body trembling and twisted, more rice is spilled than goes into your mouth, which hinders your business.
He was so sad and hungry that he had been bullied so much that he even memorized the entire Bible while wishing for the miracle of Jesus. He hadn't left the cathedral in 30 years. But even that strong faith did not satisfy the hunger of the body. Not only that, it was unimaginable to be married.
His last choice was a prostitute village. I thought, ‘If you give me money, they won’t treat me as badly as they do.’ In a prostitute village, he met a prostitute who wouldn't mind poison for money. The young beggar ordered food from a prostitute. And I ordered one more. ‘Feed me.’ The whore has prepared the table and started to feed her.
The beggar shed tears while receiving the meal. The world looked so beautiful. Isn't that the woman who receives and feeds her without throwing her out, the angel? I thought. The young man vaguely said, “All… At that time… sign… this bar... Right away… wife… Unsa... !”
Whore is startled. ‘I am an angel who was disrespected by all men and disrespected by society!’ The beggar kept insisting that ‘you are an angel’. The prostitute was moved by these noble words, the first she had ever heard in her life. The emotion turned to tears. ‘You who say prostitutes are angels are the angels!’ the prostitute confessed.
The two had a wedding ceremony in the cathedral. In the tears and blessings of over 400 congratulatory guests. They are doing seasonal business now. The beggar praises this world as the Garden of Eden because he has a wife who feeds him every day without being beaten. This woman, who can live while doing household chores without being subjected to all kinds of humiliation, is now able to truly love men without cursing men, and lives every day as a festival.
Love is not something you can create on your own, and it is not something you can fill. Love is God's, and it is filled with others through those who have been loved by God. In other words, love is filled by sharing.
That's right.
Love and happiness are not alone. It is also something that cannot be created or enjoyed alone. Interest and consideration for each other is the beginning of love and the beginning of happiness. Now let's think about the love God has for us. It's not "I was loved because I deserved it." It is unconditional love through Jesus Christ. We too must learn and share this love.
This year,
Let me reach out my hand first.
Let me open my heart first.
If I take care first and show warm consideration and love, I will be able to share love and happiness with all of us and then with many people around us. In 2003, I pray that this beautiful and warm love and happiness from God will fill all of us.