Basic Practicalities (Loving Others)

RE-CAP – Why are we here?

This is my third blog in this opening series of three. The first blog concluded that the primary purpose of mankind is to love God and to love the rest of mankind. This is based on the words of Jesus’ in Matthew 22:36-39: –

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself”.

So, the new Kingdom of Heaven brought in by Jesus has love as its core value – love for God and love for all mankind.

As mentioned previously, some commentators see this as a cross-shaped mission –

  • Firstly, the love for God can be seen as a Priestly function, representing how the Christian should interact with God, and can be thought of as the vertical spar of a cross.
  • Secondly, the love for our neighbour can be seen as a Royal function, representing how the Christian should live with other people, and can be thought of as the horizontal spar of a cross.

Royal Duty

My previous blog examined some of the priestly practicalities of loving God. This final blog in the series considers the Royal duties, i.e., what it means in practice to love the rest of mankind (our “neighbours”).

Royal Command to Love Others

After repenting and believing in Jesus for our salvation, the life of a Christian should be typified by love, as commanded by Jesus. Firstly, with our fellow Christian brothers and sisters – Jesus said: –

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” Jn 15:12. “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” Jn 13:34-35

Secondly, Jesus also said, “He who is not with me is against me” (Matt 12:30). So how should we treat non-Christians – again Jesus said: –

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” Matt 5:44. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who ill-treat you.” Luke 6:27

The love of a Christian for his fellow man should be extended to all people (Christian and non-Christians alike). As the last quotation shows, this love should result in activity – doing good, blessing others, and praying for them.

Royal Example

Jesus is the ultimate example of how to live life as a Christian in this new age of the Kingdom of Heaven. The gospels are full of examples of the love that he has for all of mankind – not just dying for our sins, and defeating evil, but getting alongside those in need to provide healing, nourishment, encouragement, and guidance – love for others in action.

We can do all this by trying to be more like Jesus. He taught the values and attitudes that we must take on to become more like him. He also gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit within us to help us achieve those standards. The Holy Spirit’s primary role in the life of a believer is to transform the believer to be more like Jesus (see 2 Cor 3:18)– exactly what we need to help us show love to others.

Characteristics of Kingdom Love

When Luke tells this story of the greatest commandment (Luke 10:27) referred to above, he also records that Jesus immediately told the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37). This parable shows us that “neighbourly” love involves action. Unlike the priest and the Levite, the Samaritan took pity on the man who had been beaten and robbed, which in turn led to tending his wounds, bringing him to a place of safety and arranging for his continued care. For the Samaritan, this would have been both risky (the robbers could have been lying in wait for him) and costly (paying for the victims’ care). All this action was summed up as “showing mercy” (v 37) to the injured man.

Mercy is also referred to in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7). Jesus taught that “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy”. John Stott (The message of the Sermon on the Mount) defines mercy as “compassion for people in need”. Stott also said that “the beatitudes are Christ’s own specification of what every Christian ought to be”. With the help of Stott’s analysis, I’ve tried to summarise what is meant by some of the beatitudes specifically relating to how Christians behave toward other people. (Matt 5 3-12) based on Stott’s analysis: –

Jesus said, blessed are….Characterised by
The meek (v5)Humble and gentle attitude to others
Those who hunger & thirst for righteousness (v6)Inner righteousness of heart, mind, and motive. Also includes social justice – do what you can for others who are struggling
The merciful (v7)Compassion [loving action] for people in need
The peacemakers (v9)Reconciling others. Promoting unity in the church
Those who are persecuted because of righteousness (v10)Suffering for being a Christian – being “different” compared to non-Christians and the low standards set by society

Becoming a Christian doesn’t give us these characteristics overnight. They must be worked at with the help of the Holy Spirit, just like the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5.22 – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). In different circumstances, different attributes should come to the fore.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, we should seek opportunities and situations to exercise and develop these characteristics. As we grow to be more like Jesus, then we will be more prepared to take risks and incur costs (money, time, reputation) to love our neighbour as ourself.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

1. PRAYER

Jesus commanded that we pray for others. Prayer is a marvellous act of love. In particular, praying for the spiritual health of friends, family and the wider world is a privilege, and we have the promise of Jesus that such prayers will not go unheard (Matt 7:8).

In my previous blog, I mentioned that I found difficulty in praying regularly. I also outlined how I have used smartphone reminders and other prompts to help me pray more consistently.

2. EVANGELISM

Spreading the Gospel near and far is another act of love for other people. If you don’t feel called to be actively involved in this ministry, then you should at least support evangelism activities with prayer and financial support.

3. SOCIAL ACTION

Just like the Good Samaritan, Christians should get involved in trying to rectify injustices in the world. Some examples might include: –

  • Eradicating poverty – this might involve being active in a global effort or helping at a local food bank, or just helping a neighbour/friend that has fallen on hard times. Christian Aid have a nice scheme whereby you can ask friends/family to donate on your behalf instead of buying you an unneeded birthday or Christmas gift. The donations are used for specific purposes in countries suffering from poverty and include purchasing chickens, or goats, or clean water supply, or medical supplies, or even contributing towards a child’s education. As well as helping to fight poverty, this also serves as a good witness to friends and family giving the gift.
  • Tackling modern day slavery – again this might be on a global level – helping to tackle people trafficking – or on a local level – ensuring that minority groups are treated as equals. Fair wages for a fair day’s work.
  • Opposing bullying, domestic violence, racism, persecution of christians – standing up for victims and offering practical support. Demonstrating to change unfair laws or deeply held prejudices.
  • Global Warming, pollution, animal rights – Man was made in the image of God and we are to rule over the earth and everything in it (Gen 1v26). This involves stewardship but instead, mankind has abused the planet. Christians should support activities which try to rectify the situation. Personal action could be to encourage your local church to work towards zero carbon emissions, e.g., solar panels on roof; electric vehicle charging points in car park; walk/cycle to church days; etc. Perhaps reduce your own carbon footprint or join/form a litter picking group – every little helps.

The above list is not exhaustive – there are many other good causes that need support. However, I believe that it is important to listen for the prompting of the Holy Spirit in deciding what to support and how to support it. Personally, I am not keen on street protests that can be hi-jacked by violent groups or anything that breaks the law of the land. If the Holy Spirit is really guiding our action, then I believe that the action should be motivated by love for God and/or our fellow man.

4. TITHING

The biblical principle of setting aside 10% of your income for God’s work is fairly well established. In the parable, the Good Samaritan used his resources (time and money) to help the victim of the robbery. Our funds are also needed to engage in some of the activities listed above. However, it should be remembered that all our resources come from God, and on Judgement Day we will have to account for how we have used our 10% tithe and the 90% remainder that we retained for ourselves.

No matter how much you give, it is important to give with the right attitude. Jesus issued a warning – “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practised the latter without leaving the former undone.” (Luke 11v42)

Summary

In summary, to “love your neighbour as ourself” we need to become more like Jesus. We can only do that with the help of the Holy Spirit. As we allow and encourage Him to work in our lives, we will start to show the characteristics Jesus referred to in the beatitudes and show the fruit of the Spirit as outlined by Paul. This in turn should lead to a strong desire to love our fellow man as Jesus would i.e., with compassionate action.

Remember that all these blogs are from the position that we have already secured our salvation – it was a free gift from God – by faith alone, through Christ alone and by grace alone. There is nothing that we can do, or need to do, to earn salvation. However, as saved Christians, we should be keen to take up our cross and follow Christ. As Paul said: –

“For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:8-10)

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