Title Let's Diagnose Love (Luke 6:32-36)
Contents
Let's Diagnose Love (Luke 6:32-36)
The thing that seems to be the most in the church is love. But unexpectedly, compared to other groups, the church lacks love. Of course, there is a lot of love in the church as well. The love of words alone, the love of a child, and the fleshly love are performed well, but the love that Jesus wants is not being performed properly.
Jesus wants believers to live differently from people in the world. He came to this world to change our lives differently from them, and he himself exemplified that life. The key is love. There is a French proverb that says, “No money, no music, no art can inspire others without love.” Everyone wants to be loved. Still, he is not interested in giving love to others. This is probably because love in words is difficult to put into practice even if it is resting.
Is it true love that we usually act as if we thought it was love? As we face a time of year when we need love the most, we need to examine our love in light of the words of Jesus in the text today.
love between saints
The basic love of believers is first of all, the love between close people, the saints. Jesus also said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). Disciple here refers to a believer. In other words, what must be done to receive recognition as a believer? If you worship well, serve hard, or evangelize, you may appear to be a believer. However, the standard of qualifications for believers suggested by Jesus is none other than love. Since it was said, “If you love one another,” only when you love one another can you be recognized as a believer in Jesus, that is, a believer.
It was this kind of love that the early church members gave the greatest impression to the world at that time. They loved each other as if they were themselves, to the extent that they used goods and sold their property and possessions to give to those in need. As such, the early church members practiced a high level of love that far exceeded the level of love that the Gentiles thought. Seeing and praising their love created the urge to join the same community and receive the same love. In this way, the early church grew naturally.
How are we? It means that the world loves each other enough to envy us when they see us. Or I don't know if I'm talking about love to the people of the world while having a love that is less than the social gatherings of the world. Just like a vital check, which measures a patient's blood pressure, body temperature, and pulse in a hospital, I would like you to start with a diagnosis of your basic love. Please keep in mind that Jesus pointed out, "If you love only those who love you, what is commendable? Even sinners love those who love them" (verse 32).
poomsae love
Some books (Out of Night) show that Communist Party members passionately love each other for their colleagues within the organization. But for those outside their organization, they had a hatred that was just as intense as the love they shared. Even the gangsters with dragon tattoos all over their bodies have the idea that if they give for each other and betray each other, they will die soon.
However, since we are not able to share true love even within the church, it seems that it is not easy to love even those outside the church. It means that within the church, members of the same church or even those close to me, such as family members or neighbors, are not able to love properly. However, I give love to people who are good to me and have a chance of getting something back, but there are surprisingly many people who are cold-hearted to those who are not. It remains to guess how such a person will live outside the church.
In particular, since our church has lived apart from each other for a long time, there may be people who have not been able to exchange congratulations and events. No matter what the past was, we are now a member of the family, so even if we have a family, we ask that you take a good look at each other with the mind of starting from now on.
If we look at today's verse, it is clearly pointed out that we should not do Pumat love as a believer. He said, "If you do good to those who do good, what is praiseworthy? Sinners do this too" (verse 33). ' lends' (v. 34), and he said, 'Lend without expecting anything' (v. 35).
It is a big mistake that believers who should share universal love are rather narrow-minded and share relative love. Sometimes, I think that the church is not as good as the social circle of the world. Now in our church, please put an end to the love of pom-at.
Then what about enemy love?
In the book 'Quo Vadis', a man (Petronius) wrote this letter to his nephew who had converted to Christianity. ‘You said you should love even your enemies, so does that mean you should love even Nero? I can never love him.” At that time, Nero was like an enemy who persecuted Christians and killed them so mercilessly. This means that loving your enemies is so difficult.
The early church members tried to do this because they believed that faithful Christians should love their enemies as well. To love your enemies means to do good to them with an active and sacrificial attitude. Jesus taught, 'Bless those who curse you and pray for those who insult you', and he put it into practice on the cross. Stephen, one of the early church members, practiced the teachings of Jesus by praying, “Father, forgive us” to those who threw stones at him.
What we must bear in mind here is that human emotions and wills are absolutely impossible to love an enemy. Even so, while praying, “Give me the strength to love my enemies,” he pretends to do so. It seems obvious, but it is very dangerous. Rather, be honest, ‘I cannot love my enemies at all. Have mercy on me and forgive me for not obeying the command to love my enemies.” For those of us who have not yet reached the level of poom-at love, we must say that love for enemies is too luxurious to even speak of.
Established in 1995, South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has become a model case for countries seeking reconciliation with the dark past of modern history. Efforts were made to uncover the truth through a seven-year hearing on human rights violations committed in the era of black and white segregation policy. Let me tell you an anecdote about him. A white man committed all sorts of atrocities, including putting the head of a family on a pyre in front of his wife and burning them to death. Eventually, that person was caught by the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, confessing his past atrocities and begging for forgiveness. The victim, who had already become an old woman, heard the confession of a person who was like an enemy and asked, “Please let that person stay with me for just one day.” When asked why, he said, 'To work together so that we can forgive that person,' and replied, 'I wish I could be that person's mother for just one day.' This is love for the enemy. We can't do it, but as black people, there are people like this, and we don't know how pathetic it is because we don't love the people we live in faith with.
Jesus asks us today, “What are you doing more than unbelievers?” Do you really love them more? Are you not speaking of empty love only with your mouth? Rather than thinking about whether I am obeying Jesus' command, it should be a time to ask and answer to myself whether I am practicing love better than non-believers under the same circumstances and conditions. In this winter that is said to be really difficult, if it is really difficult to love as people who continue to serve God in the future, I earnestly ask that you and I at least strive for better love than unbelievers.