Love That Looks Like Jesus Series

### **Introduction**

Video Ill.: Sermon Bumper - Shortened Music Lyric Video - Less Like Me by Zach Williams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hawc0emHq8c

The last two weeks, we have been walking through a short series called Less Like Me: More Like Jesus, inspired by Zach Williams’ powerful song.

In week one, we talked about humility — learning to say with John the Baptist, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” We saw that the problem of “self” is one of the biggest obstacles in our walk with God — pride, control, and the desire for recognition — and the solution is surrender. When we let Jesus fill us, we begin to reflect Him more clearly to the world.

Last week, we turned to mercy — mercy that sees people the way Jesus sees them, mercy that moves us to act, and mercy that reflects the very heart of God. We were challenged not to be like the priest and Levite who passed by the man on the road to Jericho, but to be like the Good Samaritan — to stop, to see, to help, to show mercy.

And today, we turn to love — the culmination of both humility and mercy. Love is what drives both humility and mercy.

But love like Jesus is not what comes naturally to the world around us.

'One Another's' You Can't Find in the New Testament

Source: Ray Ortlund, "'One Another's' I Can't Find in the New Testament," The Gospel Coalition blog (5-24-14)

https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2014/october/5102714.html

Copied from Preaching Today

Pastor Ray Ortlund puts it this way:

“The kind of God we really believe in is revealed in how we treat one another. The lovely gospel of Jesus positions us to treat one another like royalty, and every non-gospel positions us to treat one another like dirt. But we will follow through horizontally on whatever we believe vertically.”

And then he gives a list of “one-anothers” you will never find in the New Testament:

Sanctify one another, humble one another, scrutinize one another, pressure one another, embarrass one another, corner one another, interrupt one another, defeat one another, sacrifice one another, shame one another, judge one another, run one another's lives, confess one another's sins, intensify one another's sufferings, point out one another's failings …

Sadly, that is how the world too often operates — criticizing, shaming, judging, running each other down.

But Jesus calls us to something radically different.

In John 13, Jesus says to His disciples:

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13, NIV1984)

Did you catch that? Notice what Jesus said about how the world will know we are His disciples. The one thing that would prove to the world that we belong to Him is not our church attendance, not our theology, not our programs, not our social media posts — it is our love for one another.

If we are going to live “less like me and more like Jesus,” we must love the way Jesus loved.

This morning, let’s explore three ways our love should look like Jesus’ love.

### **I: Love Acts First**

Jesus does not call us to love in theory, but to love in action — and to take the first step.

Romans 5:8 reminds us:

8 … God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5, NIV1984)

God did not wait for us to clean up our act, or to get it all together, or to somehow earn His affection. He loved us first — and that love moved Him to send His Son.

Too often we wait for others to earn our love — to apologize first, to make the first move, to take the first step toward reconciliation. But love that looks like Jesus goes first.

Think about Jesus in John 13. Before He gave this command to love one another, He got down on His knees and washed His disciples’ feet. This was the job of a servant, yet Jesus did it voluntarily. He did not wait for someone to volunteer. He saw the need, He acted first, and He showed them what love looks like before He told them to do it.

**Love Takes the First Step**

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2019/06/17/emanuel-explores-power-forgiveness-after-charleston-church-massacre/1478473001/

On June 17, 2015, the nation was shaken by a horrific tragedy when Dylann Roof walked into Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and opened fire during a Bible study, killing nine people.

What happened next stunned the watching world. Just 48 hours later, the victims’ families were invited to speak at Roof’s bond hearing — their very first time coming face to face with the man who had murdered their loved ones.