The Non-Negotiable Command: Loving Beyond Feelings

• Liturgy and Worship 00:00:58 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor addresses the congregation, noting they are 'light' on attendance and asks them to sing louder.
• Prayer for Mothers and Healing 00:22:35 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor leads a prayer thanking God for mothers, remembering those grieving broken relationships or loss, and praying for healing for the ill.
• Scripture Reading 00:32:25 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor introduces and reads from John chapter 14, focusing on Jesus' last words to his disciples about love and the Holy Spirit.
• Theological Debate on Liking vs. Loving 00:34:10 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts a story from his ordination board where he was asked if he likes the people he visits, leading to a debate on whether liking is a requirement for loving.
• The Command to Love 00:38:37 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor cites Jesus' commandments to love one another and argues that love is an unavoidable obligation for disciples, not optional.
• Love as the Fulfillment of the Law 00:41:52 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the greatest commandments to love God and neighbor, stating that all 613 laws hang on these two.
• The Commandment of Love 00:41:52 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor identifies love as the central commandment of Jesus, linking it to the greatest commandments and the 613 laws of the Old Testament.
• The Definition and Difficulty of Love 00:44:17 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that love is not merely a feeling or politeness but a difficult command to love enemies and the marginalized, citing the Good Samaritan and Martin Luther King Jr.
• Love for the Immigrant and Stranger 00:46:50 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor connects the biblical command to love the stranger to modern immigration issues, asserting that dehumanizing immigrants contradicts Christian faith.
• Faith as Transformation, Not Selection 00:50:25 ▶️ 📄
  > Using Nadia Bulls-Weber's analogy, the pastor explains that Christian faith is not a 'smorgasbord' of convenient choices but a path of transformation through difficult commands like forgiving enemies.
• Personal Illustration of Enduring Love 00:51:35 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a story about his friend Lynn Woods and her brother with schizophrenia to illustrate how love persists even when it is difficult and the other person is unresponsive.
• Love and Obedience 00:56:14 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts the world's misuse of Jesus's name with the call to follow in the way of love, urging the congregation to embody that love for all people.
• Prayer and Commissioning 00:57:00 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor leads a prayer asking God to transform the congregation with His love and send them out to embody that love for those in need.
• Congregational Participation 00:57:26 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor invites the congregation to stand and sing, encouraging them to sing louder to reach those who are missing.
• Evangelism and Mission 01:01:47 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor instructs the congregation to take someone with them and give it to someone else who needs to share love, framing this as obedience to the King.

• Sermon Illustration 00:34:10 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his ordination board interview where a pastor asked if he liked the woman in the hospital bed he was visiting. The pastor replied that liking her wasn't a requirement for loving her, which sparked a heated theological debate among the board members about the nature of loving versus liking.
• Sermon Illustration 00:43:07 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses an analogy comparing the many words for snow in Eskimo culture to the single word for love in Sanskrit, suggesting that while we have one word for love, it encompasses many varieties and complexities.
• Sermon Illustration 00:43:07 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of Eskimos having 130 words for snow to explain that while English has only one word for 'love,' Greek has three (agape, philos, eros), highlighting the complexity and confusion around the concept.
• Sermon Illustration 00:44:36 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the Parable of the Good Samaritan, noting that the original audience viewed Samaritans as dead enemies, making the Samaritan's actions a radical example of loving an enemy.
• Sermon Illustration 00:48:29 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor quotes Martin Luther King Jr. on the relationship between power and love, stating that power without love is reckless and abusive, while love without power is sentimental and anemic.
• Sermon Illustration 00:51:35 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts a story about his friend Lynn Woods and her brother, who had schizophrenia and isolated himself to avoid hurting others. Despite his isolation and lack of reciprocation, she continued to visit him, buy him suits, and express love, demonstrating enduring love for the difficult.

• Pastoral Charge 00:39:30 ▶️ 📄
  > Thank mothers and celebrate their work of love through gestures like calls, cards, or dinners.
• Pastoral Charge 01:02:10 ▶️ 📄
  > The congregation is called to actively love all people, including enemies and those they wish to avoid, and to embody Jesus' mission.
• Pastoral Charge 01:01:47 ▶️ 📄
  > Take a person with you and give it to someone else who needs to share love.
• Pastoral Charge 01:02:10 ▶️ 📄
  > Leave the current location and obey the King.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:00:00] You'll have to keep filming this one, okay?
[00:00:03] Of course. I won't be doing it.
[00:00:05] You're a good people.
[00:00:07] It's a plus major summer.
[00:00:10] Yeah.
[00:00:12] I think that's good news.
[00:00:15] Do you have time to pick up?
[00:00:17] I want to pick up.
[00:00:19] Oh!
[00:00:21] Well, I'm going to read some of it.
[00:00:25] Yeah.
[00:00:26] Well, this one, I don't know if you've ever read it.
[00:00:28] Well, I mean, you can't wind down.
[00:00:35] I mean, you've got to...
[00:00:36] Oh, I can bring it up.
[00:00:38] Yes.
[00:00:38] Thank you very much.
[00:00:40] I think this is their second one.
[00:00:57] I think they're both going to go.

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:00:58] Good morning, everybody.
[00:01:21] We're a little light this morning.
[00:01:23] I think people are still finishing up their muffins, and I don't blame them.
[00:01:27] but um and we're light up here this morning too as you notice so we need all of you to sing a little bit louder so if you'll stand and sing with us please

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:01:36] with you all please exchange the sign of peace with your neighbors morning friends happy mother's

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:12:02] day uh welcome to the service today uh if you're visiting we have visitor cards in the pews and There's also a QR code that you can fill out if you'd prefer to do that.
[00:12:14] If you've been visiting with us and you want to learn about the next steps in connecting with the church, we have a next steps meeting this coming Wednesday with Pastor Kelly.
[00:12:23] You can talk to him about that.
[00:12:25] And if you are joining our service via live stream, thank you for joining us.
[00:12:30] We hope that you have a wonderful Mother's Day.
[00:12:33] And thanks to the United Methodist Men for honoring our mothers with flowers today.
[00:12:38] and Pastor Kelly will now come and lead us in a time

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:12:43] of prayer. Which one?

[00:12:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:12:55] I don't think it is.
[00:12:58] Okay, well we're going to be outside next week.

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:13:15] Next week.
[00:13:18] For all of you folks that are at home on live stream today, I just want you all to know we will not do a live stream next week.
[00:13:24] Okay? You can't get the cameras out on the park. We are going to worship outdoors.
[00:13:29] And for those of you who come to this service, You've got to come a little bit early, or you'll probably miss the whole worship service, okay?
[00:13:37] So it starts at 11, at 11 o'clock.
[00:13:40] We have one service.
[00:13:41] Both services are combined.
[00:13:43] We're going to meet outside.
[00:13:44] The United Methodist men are going to provide us a little grilling, and everybody can have a hamburger or a vegetarian alternative and some chips and something to drink.
[00:13:55] So, okay?
[00:13:56] That's next week, 11 a.m.
[00:13:59] What time is it going to be?

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:14:00] 11 a.m.
[00:14:01] That's right.
[00:14:02] All right.

[00:14:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:14:02] Not at 1115.
[00:14:03] Okay.
[00:14:04] All right.
[00:14:06] So it's really good to see everybody today.
[00:14:11] And I do pass on, you know, Happy Mother's Day to all of our mothers.
[00:14:17] It's good to see you here.
[00:14:18] I was especially happy to see Vivian.
[00:14:21] I'm glad you came.
[00:14:23] And we were missing her last week.
[00:14:25] I know she wasn't feeling well, and she's feeling better today.
[00:14:28] So all right.
[00:14:30] any other announcements? Seems like I have more than that. If you need a geranium you might be able to score one from the United Methodist Women. Talk to Carolyn Corum. She could probably lift one for you
[00:14:42] so I have a few prayer concerns that I would like to share with you but before I get my say I wanted to see if you all had some that you would like to share
[00:14:55] for all the moms I might give my little speech I do this sometimes on Mother's Day for a lot of people I know Mother's Day is kind of painful it's painful if we have strained relationships
[00:15:17] with either our mothers or our children it's painful for those of us whose mothers have died and it can be a difficult time in thinking about that I just want us to be sensitive to that
[00:15:29] and at the same time honor the work of motherhood believe me it's work right? So, and we need to honor that, and I just wanted to say all that. I do want to share a few
[00:15:41] concerns with you. One is Dave Hicks. Dave and Amy emailed me this week, and they have decided that, you know, they live in High Point, and it's hard for them to be here sometimes, and Dave
[00:15:56] struggles with narcolepsy, and so he has to get as many hours of sleep as to make the journey by car. And so they've made the decision to attend another church in High Point. And they're going
[00:16:09] with our blessings. They will come back and visit. I promise they will. They're good at doing that.
[00:16:13] They do that at Green Street where they also had attended. But I want to let you know, in case you're looking for David and Amy. But the other reason why is David got a diagnosis in the past
[00:16:24] week of prostate cancer. And it sounds like he's headed for some pretty difficult treatments. So I just wanted you all to be aware and hold Dave in your prayers. I have a couple people I want to
[00:16:38] lift up for you. One is my friend Lynn Woods. Yesterday we had a funeral service. It was here in our fellowship hall and it was for her brother Tyrone who died kind of tragically by himself and
[00:16:54] she didn't find out until late and you know it was a big the circumstances were really difficult but also he was somebody who had lived by himself for a long time with mental health issues and it was it was a really a lovely service because people showed up to surround
[00:17:14] Lynn this is her only brother and to speak the words that they knew about him and it was it was very powerful. So anyway, so Lynn Woods is her name. Lynn leads a book study group here with
[00:17:29] the Narcotics Anonymous community. She leads it here at the church on Mondays. And she is really just a tremendous person. So one of these days, I'll have her come and preach a sermon at you. She won't prepare anything, but you will get a lot of wisdom from her. So she's really great.
[00:17:50] Also, this past Monday, we had a service for Tom White, who was a longtime member here at the church.
[00:17:56] And we want to remember his family, his son, Tommy, and Lisa, and all of their families.
[00:18:03] And it was a really great celebration of his life.
[00:18:07] A couple of people we want to keep in prayer.
[00:18:09] One is Harry Steele.
[00:18:11] I know that he has had some health issues.
[00:18:14] I think he's back home now, and I haven't heard much of an update.
[00:18:18] And who else, Mary Jo?
[00:18:21] Who are you carrying around in your head, Mary Jo?

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:18:24] I know that you...

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:18:27] Yeah, the usuals.

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:18:28] Shelby and Jane.

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:18:48] Noella Henry.
[00:18:49] And her father died.
[00:18:52] Okay.
[00:18:55] Yeah, Shelby Citizen, you know, is recovering from a procedure that she had and is finally at home.
[00:19:02] Jane Click is back at her home.
[00:19:04] She was in the hospital a couple weeks ago, and she's back to her ornery self from what I understand.
[00:19:12] So, okay.
[00:19:15] Any others?
[00:19:17] What?
[00:19:19] Oh, you mean Molly Stewart?
[00:19:21] The fact that Molly Stewart is here?
[00:19:23] She didn't want to stick around for this second service last week, you know, because she was too busy because she had tests.
[00:19:29] Molly Stewart is going to graduate from Wake Forest University.
[00:19:33] Stand up, honey.
[00:19:34] Y'all need to know, I haven't met anybody that doesn't think the world of Molly.
[00:19:45] She has a band of very strong, powerful women at Wake Forest and has been part of a community there.
[00:19:54] I'm real proud of you, Molly. I'm just thrilled.
[00:19:57] She's actually moving into a new place in Raleigh where she has a job, so she's headed out to.
[00:20:01] Last week, we talked a little bit about Kate and congratulated her. We pass it on to you.
[00:20:06] She says she's graduating.
[00:20:08] We're not exactly sure if she's made it or not, but, you know, confident.

[00:20:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:20:13] This is the only one very good.
[00:20:14] Okay.
[00:20:15] All right.

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:20:17] Yes?

[00:20:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:20:18] My friend Sam's grandmother passed away a few days ago, kind of unexpectedly.

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:20:28] Sam's grandmother, Peggy, died unexpectedly recently.
[00:20:33] A friend of Molly's.
[00:20:37] Any others?
[00:20:44] Yeah.
[00:20:45] We should introduce your family member to Lynn.
[00:20:49] Yeah.
[00:20:50] Yeah, David.

[00:20:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:20:55] My mom's sister, Doris, is having health issues.

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:21:04] Vivian, where is your sister, Doris?

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:21:09] From New York.

[00:21:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:21:11] Ah, New York, okay.
[00:21:14] I remember hearing about her.
[00:21:15] So she's having some health issues.

[00:21:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:21:18] I'm taking her to the hospital.

[00:21:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:21:20] Oh, my, okay.
[00:21:23] All right, so this is Vivian Berclio's sister, Doris, has having some health issues, so we'll keep her in the prayers as well.
[00:21:33] Any others?
[00:21:37] All right, friends.
[00:21:39] Let us take some time.
[00:21:42] Hey, Matt, could you, like, get up there and strum some music and, you know, just make something up?
[00:21:47] Some blues would be great.
[00:21:48] No, I'm kidding.
[00:21:49] But, yeah, something that we can center ourselves to, that would be awesome.
[00:21:56] By the way, this is Matt, y'all.
[00:22:00] Matt is at Maple Springs, plays with Jerry there, and he's filling in for Jerry this morning.
[00:22:35] Gracious God, we often call Father, but is also the mother of us all.
[00:22:44] We give thanks for our mothers this day, oh God.
[00:22:49] And we reflect on the way in which they have loved us to bring us where we are.
[00:22:56] And often have cared for us and provided us the boundaries and the ways in which we have known how to move forward in life.
[00:23:08] God, we also remember mothers who may be grieving broken relationships or the loss of children, or children who are grieving broken relationships with their mothers.
[00:23:25] Help us be sensitive to all those who are in need of mothers, and for all those people who have done the difficult work of mothering children that are not their own.
[00:23:39] And God, we gather and pray to you and ask that you be with in a special way, knowing that your healing work is always at work with others.
[00:23:56] For those who have lost loved ones close to them, for Noelle Henry and her family, for Tom White's family, for Lynn Woods and the entire Woods clan.
[00:24:10] And God, we pray for those whose bodies have entered into a time of illness.
[00:24:25] We pray for your healing touch to be in their lives.
[00:24:30] Give them restoration and strength.
[00:24:32] Give them rest so they may move back into life in all of its fullness.
[00:24:39] We pray for Dave and Amy Hicks, for Dave and this new diagnosis and the challenges that he will face.
[00:24:47] we pray for Harry Steele for Shelby Citizen for Jane Click God we pray for Sam and the loss of his grandmother and for Doris facing some health issues in the hospital surround them with your love and with your light
[00:25:12] and help them know that you are present with them in their pain and doing what can be done to give them a sense of a healing touch God we give thanks for the good news of graduations that are happening all around our state and
[00:25:33] around us families so many people may be gone today because of that we give thanks for Molly with us today and for her impending graduation and her moving into the workforce to do the work of for you in this world give her a sense of
[00:25:56] your strength and love that she always carries with her, but now with a mission to do some work with others. God, teach us once again. Teach us once again how amazing your love is and how
[00:26:17] overwhelming and how much wider it is than we can ever imagine. And give us that command that you have given to your disciples, the demand and command for us to love one another. It is difficult
[00:26:36] work, and whenever we seem to have mastered it, give us a new challenge. Touch us deeply today as we hear your word read and as we hear word preached, and may that word be love. Let us take
[00:26:57] it with us as we go into the world to bear it for others. We pray all of this in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord who taught disciples to pray together our Father who art
[00:27:10] in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those
[00:27:26] who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[00:27:33] For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:27:39] Amen.

[00:27:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:27:40] Jesus, he was giving a very long sermon.

[00:32:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:32:25] Yeah.
[00:32:27] And it just keeps going.
[00:32:29] In John chapter 14, we hear Jesus' last words to his disciples.
[00:32:35] And it's a long chapter, and it goes on into the 15th chapter, and then it goes on into the 16th chapter.
[00:32:41] So, he had a whole lot to say.
[00:32:45] There were words spoken to them, and the way in which Jesus says these words, sometimes they're confusing, sometimes they're helpful, but they're tender because of his impending exit and leaving them.
[00:33:02] So, I invite you to listen to the words of our gospel lesson in John chapter 14, beginning at verse 15.
[00:33:10] If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
[00:33:14] And I will ask the Father, and the Father will give you another advocate, a comforter, to be with you forever.
[00:33:22] This is the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.
[00:33:30] You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
[00:33:35] I will not leave you orphaned.
[00:33:39] I am coming to you.
[00:33:41] In a little while, the world will no longer see me, but you will see me.
[00:33:46] Because I live, you also will live.
[00:33:50] And on that day, you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you.
[00:33:55] And they who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me.
[00:34:01] And those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.
[00:34:08] The word of God for the people of God.
[00:34:10] would you pray with me god may the words of my mouth and the meditation of the hearts of all of us be acceptable in thy sight oh lord our rock and our redeemer amen the first time i went to
[00:34:31] before the board of uh the united methodist board of ordained ministry a fight broke out Well, not really a fight.
[00:34:41] It was more of a heated discussion.
[00:34:43] Well, it was a theological debate.
[00:34:47] Let me explain.
[00:34:49] I was asked a question.
[00:34:51] I was asked a question when I appeared before the conference board.
[00:34:57] And ten pastors were all sitting in metal chairs in some church Sunday school classroom.
[00:35:05] And they asked me a question, and I think about it almost all the time.
[00:35:10] The process of the board of ministry is meant to root out problematic preachers, to identify when they hear some suspicious theology, to expose the deep needs of a candidate for ministry who might need therapy.
[00:35:35] Kid you not.
[00:35:38] And believe it or not, we have to take a psychological exam.
[00:35:40] So they knew a lot about me before I entered the room.
[00:35:46] I had given them essays ahead of time, and they read them, and they turned pages and were looking for things.
[00:35:53] They were looking for red flags, and evidently I did pretty well because they didn't ask me any of that.
[00:35:59] But in that basement, in that moment, the oral questions began, and they could ask anything they wanted.
[00:36:07] Some of these questions are designed to get to know you because they're strangers.
[00:36:11] Others to test your mettle, right?
[00:36:15] Evaluate how you handle pressure, your resilience.
[00:36:18] I mean, some of them really like to test your mettle.
[00:36:22] So one pastor said to me this question.
[00:36:25] He said, Kelly, imagine that you go and visit somebody in the hospital and there is a woman there lying in the bed.
[00:36:32] How are you as the pastor going to care for her?
[00:36:38] And, you know, I responded in all the ways that I knew because I had studied this, right?
[00:36:42] I thought that all these things that he wanted to hear, that I would listen attentively, that I would understand that I represented the church when I, and so I'd watch my manners, that I would also maybe say a prayer for them, you know.
[00:36:57] Another pastor jumped in and said, okay, Kelly, but do you like the woman who's lying in the bed?
[00:37:05] I didn't say anything about that.
[00:37:07] I wasn't expecting that question, and it surprised me.
[00:37:10] And I tried to clarify the question.
[00:37:12] It was a hypothetical, right?
[00:37:14] So I said, well, I guess that depends.
[00:37:16] I mean, do I like her?
[00:37:20] She goes, well, do I even know her?
[00:37:23] And another pastor jumped in and says, well, come on.
[00:37:26] You're visiting a person, and you're saying that you're asking whether you like her or not.
[00:37:30] I said, well, I don't know her if I know if I like her.
[00:37:34] I'll tell you this.
[00:37:35] It's my job to love her.
[00:37:40] But liking her, I guess it depends.
[00:37:43] Well, at this point, the pastors in the room kind of smelled blood in the water.
[00:37:47] And they started pushing me a little bit.
[00:37:50] And I kind of listened.
[00:37:51] I was still kind of puzzled by the question.
[00:37:53] To be honest, I hadn't thought about it until that moment.
[00:37:57] So I said to him, I was honest.
[00:37:58] I said, you know, I don't think liking somebody is a requirement for loving them.
[00:38:05] And I think loving them is a whole lot more important.
[00:38:09] And that's when it happened.
[00:38:11] A fight broke out.
[00:38:12] Not with me.
[00:38:13] With each other.
[00:38:15] They were going, well, of course you have to like them.
[00:38:16] No, you don't have to like them.
[00:38:17] What do you mean you don't have to like them?
[00:38:20] This went on for a while.
[00:38:21] I just sat and watched it.
[00:38:23] Got myself off the hot seat and started a theological debate on the nature of loving and liking.
[00:38:29] How do we love someone we don't like?
[00:38:37] Jesus said, those who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me.
[00:38:45] And those who love me will be loved by my Father and I will love them.
[00:38:49] A little later, Jesus says these words, those who love me will keep my word.
[00:38:54] My Father will love them.
[00:38:55] Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.
[00:38:59] Sounds harsh, doesn't it?
[00:39:01] And still later, in the same sermon, Jesus says these words.
[00:39:05] This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
[00:39:15] You are my friends if you do what I command you.
[00:39:18] I do not call you servants any longer.
[00:39:20] I call you friends because I have made known to you everything.
[00:39:23] This is my commandment, that you love one another.
[00:39:30] Today is Mother's Day and we thank all of our mothers, maybe with a phone call or a card or a very, very expensive dinner.
[00:39:37] But hopefully, hopefully we will celebrate all the ways that we may have, they have worked so hard for the work of love.
[00:39:45] But we have to be honest, mothers, fathers too, we may love our children, but there are times that they may be hard to like.
[00:39:57] If we're parents, we can remember our children as the divine gifts that were given to us by God.
[00:40:03] Yes, if we answer the call of parenthood.
[00:40:06] I mean, you know, sometimes you're just a parent, but you haven't answered the call yet, right?
[00:40:10] Then we will respond in love.
[00:40:15] But we are going to have times when we may not like being around them at all.
[00:40:21] Let's be honest.
[00:40:24] Jesus commands us to love.
[00:40:28] Commands us to love.
[00:40:30] And that is a peculiar idea, isn't it?
[00:40:32] I mean, are we loving others just to stay on Jesus' good side?
[00:40:37] That's kind of what that passage feels like at some times.
[00:40:41] And can you really command somebody to love?
[00:40:47] The language of Jesus in his words to the disciples carries a kind of urgency.
[00:40:53] He's not going to be with them very long.
[00:40:55] And so Jesus uses imperative language.
[00:40:58] That's the language of command.
[00:41:01] The language is demanding and necessary and mandatory.
[00:41:06] Jesus commands us to love.
[00:41:11] Love, according to Jesus, is unavoidable.
[00:41:14] It's an obligation for all of those who would claim to be followers and disciples of Jesus.
[00:41:20] Be a believer in Christ?
[00:41:21] It's not a request.
[00:41:25] It means go and do it now.
[00:41:28] It's not optional.
[00:41:30] You don't treat it like it's voluntary.
[00:41:32] there's no negotiation it's not to be done when you have time when it's convenient to you imperative of jesus love love go and do it this is a command and this of course we've heard this
[00:41:52] before from jesus i mean the words about love you know when asked about the greatest commandment of more than important than all the others jesus says love the lord your god with all your heart
[00:42:02] your soul and your mind uh that's the greatest and first and the second one is like it jesus says love your neighbor as yourself it's all about love on these two commandments jesus says hang
[00:42:14] all of the law and the prophets that's 613 laws by the way that's a whole lot of prophets but this moment i hear concern in jesus's tone he wants and he he hopes and he needs the disciples to keep the
[00:42:33] main thing the main thing to remember that this whole thing is about love because if they forget and he's not around there to remind them in the world the mission of love that jesus came
[00:42:48] doesn't continue so jesus lays down this commandment love love jesus i think the part of the problem with love is you know the way we think about it you heard me talk about this i
[00:43:07] think that eskimos have something like um 130 different ways of uh words for snow snow is very important to eskimos you know uh and and there's all kinds of different kinds of snow it's not all
[00:43:20] the same kind of snow there's 130 different varieties evidently um you know but for us we have one you know it's in sanskrit the ancient language of sanskrit there were hundreds of words for the word love, right?
[00:43:34] In Greek, we have three.
[00:43:36] Agape, philos, eros.
[00:43:39] In English, we have one, right?
[00:43:44] Love.
[00:43:45] I love the Duke Blue Devils.
[00:43:49] I love tomato sandwiches.
[00:43:52] I love my wife.
[00:43:54] I love my daughter.
[00:43:56] I love my car.
[00:43:57] All in different ways.
[00:44:02] One word.
[00:44:03] So it gets confusing.
[00:44:04] And so when we hear Jesus' command of love, how serious is it?
[00:44:11] How hard is it?
[00:44:13] Do we take it even seriously at all?
[00:44:17] Jesus commands love not because it's easy, but because he even makes it more difficult.
[00:44:22] Remember when Jesus told us to love your neighbor, and the person said, oh, yeah, I understand that.
[00:44:29] But let me ask you a question, Jesus, who is my neighbor?
[00:44:32] And he tells the story of the good Samaritan, right?
[00:44:36] And do you know why Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan?
[00:44:40] Because according to all of the people that listened to his parable, there was no such thing as a Good Samaritan.
[00:44:47] The only Good Samaritan was a Dead Samaritan.
[00:44:50] Right.
[00:44:52] The prejudice was that deep.
[00:44:53] And guess what?
[00:44:54] He becomes the hero of the story.
[00:44:56] And Jesus says he was a neighbor to the other man.
[00:45:01] He is not talking about being nice, being polite.
[00:45:07] being conveniently, you know, nice to people.
[00:45:11] He's talking about going the extra mile, about giving until it hurts, and to not look at someone who we don't like according to him.
[00:45:24] So we get it confused.
[00:45:26] The other thing we get confused about is that we think that love is really about our feelings.
[00:45:30] And it is not.
[00:45:32] I'm not saying that we don't have loving feelings.
[00:45:34] I love you, Lynn.
[00:45:35] I'm saying that love, we interpret it as a feeling.
[00:45:41] Jesus, how do you command somebody to feel a certain way?
[00:45:46] Now, Jesus is talking about the way we treat one another.
[00:45:50] And the reason that it is a command is because if we think that someone is not worthy of that love, we will withhold it.
[00:46:01] Someone is not worthy of our love or food, we'll withhold it.
[00:46:05] care if they're injury well they brought it on themselves then we'll withhold it jesus knew that and he said no your way is different jesus is with a bunch of disciples that are going to deny him right betray him judas is at the table too here in this message right
[00:46:26] he's concerned because he knows that love is getting wishy-washy with them and so he commands them. It's nothing new. Jesus' words about the great commandment, those are all found in the 613 commandments, especially in Exodus. And there's other things in Exodus too that are very, very
[00:46:50] explicit, explicitly clear. We are to love the stranger, the foreigner, the immigrant. That's what that word means. And the reason why they say that in the book of Exodus is because once you were foreigners in
[00:47:07] Egypt. So therefore, if you have foreigners, immigrants living among you, you will treat them with love.
[00:47:16] It's a commandment. I didn't make that up. Jesus didn't even make it up.
[00:47:20] Jesus even says that to us, that we're not to, the way in which we treat our strangers, the immigrant, is, you know, the question is, do we love them? We absolutely do. I'm not sure that
[00:47:35] that's translating so well.
[00:47:37] from our country's perspective.
[00:47:41] But I'll tell you one thing.
[00:47:43] You're going to claim to be a disciple of Christ.
[00:47:45] You cannot dehumanize someone because of their immigration status.
[00:47:50] Can't do it.
[00:47:55] Jesus goes further than that.
[00:47:58] It's not just your neighbor.
[00:48:00] It's not just the people that you like.
[00:48:02] It's not just the people who you may not like, you know, who are annoying to you, right?
[00:48:08] And it's not just the immigrants.
[00:48:09] Jesus says, you have to love your enemies.
[00:48:15] You get what I'm trying to get at?
[00:48:16] I'm trying to just tell you that this is not easy.
[00:48:21] This is not easy.
[00:48:22] And it's not just a matter of feeling love towards someone.
[00:48:28] Martin Luther King said these words.
[00:48:29] I love them.
[00:48:30] I think they're very hard.
[00:48:33] Somebody came out of the earlier service and said, well, I felt convicted today.
[00:48:37] So I'll just pass this on to y'all too.
[00:48:40] Martin Luther King said these words, power without love is reckless and abusive.
[00:48:48] We've seen a little bit of that nowadays, have we not?
[00:48:52] Some power that's used without love is reckless and abusive.
[00:48:58] And here's the other flip side, he says, love without power is sentimental and anemic, weak.
[00:49:07] power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice and justice at its best is power that corrects everything that stands in the way of love pretty good i talk a lot about love
[00:49:30] i do it's my bias as a preacher i mean i could hit you over the head with about all your sins and all that kind of stuff i know that stuff but i i don't i just don't believe that you're gonna
[00:49:42] scare people into the arms of Jesus. I just feel like we always are needing reminders about how loved we are by God, that Jesus is the example of that. And then when Jesus lays out a commandment
[00:50:01] to us to love, this is not an easy thing. It's hard. I told you this once, but you all forgot and weren't paying attention, so I'll say it to you again.
[00:50:16] Nadia Bulls-Weber, she was in an interview once, and she said, you know, we often find things that might be different from the path of our faith tradition.
[00:50:25] And, you know, things that can be really helpful, like yoga or dream work or tai chi or energy work.
[00:50:31] And she says, you know, if it works for people, that's great.
[00:50:34] She goes, but, you know, when I think about faith, the Christian faith, it's not about getting to pick and choose.
[00:50:42] She goes, it's not like a smorgasbord.
[00:50:47] And then she says this, she goes, you know, if I get to choose, then I know exactly what I'm going to skip.
[00:50:53] I'll never choose anything that might de-center my ego.
[00:51:01] You know, forgiving people? No, no way.
[00:51:04] Loving enemies? Forget it.
[00:51:07] Giving away money to the poor? Not in this economy.
[00:51:14] And then she says this.
[00:51:15] What I've learned is that the things I wouldn't choose are the same things that transform me.
[00:51:23] And that is why I am on the Christian path and not at a buffet.
[00:51:35] I want to tell you just a little bit because it's so much on my mind about my friend Lynn Woods.
[00:51:42] And her brother, he had schizophrenia.
[00:51:49] and I'm only telling you this because I know Lynn would tell you this if she were here and I'm not breaking any secrets.
[00:51:58] This is what we spoke out loud in a public service yesterday and she was amazing.
[00:52:04] You know, I asked her once, I said, so you have some mental illness running in your family?
[00:52:08] And she goes, yeah, a whole lot of us.
[00:52:13] Lynn Woods has helped more people in the throes of addiction than probably any person I know in Forsyth County. And I happen to know a lot of addicts. And she's done such amazing healing work
[00:52:29] on herself. So she's telling me about her brother who was violent with her and her mother, you know, when she was a teenager. And, you know, his schizophrenia came out when he was a young adult
[00:52:43] and just tormented, spent some years in prison, came out. And when he came out, he ended up living at crystal towers and uh uh he isolated himself he never spent time with other people and he didn't
[00:53:02] take medication but he isolated himself and she said you know what i have come to believe is that he did that so that he wouldn't hurt other people she goes he was sort of my hero because he did
[00:53:18] that and she would go and visit him a couple times a month and just check in on him and you know he didn't want to spend time he wasn't chit-chatting she tried to take him out on his
[00:53:28] 50th birthday uh you know had rented a got him a brand new suit which he looked great in and she goes pulls up in a limousine she had a limousine driver and some friends and she said we're going
[00:53:39] to this comedy show in raleigh come on and he he goes no that's not my kind of place i can't do So he didn't go, you know.
[00:53:49] So they had to go and celebrate his birthday for him, you know.
[00:53:54] Tormented on the inside, his own struggles internally.
[00:54:00] But on the outside, you know, he was managing his own illness.
[00:54:06] One of the ways he did is before COVID hit, he would walk three to five miles every day.
[00:54:13] He'd always get up late, so it was always in the middle of the afternoon, two o'clock in the afternoon all through the summer three to five miles just walk and that was his church his therapy was what he did to manage what was going on and what i love about my friend
[00:54:33] lynn was that she still stayed in relationship with him she would show up and tell him that she loved him it was difficult it was hard but she did that and i watched her do that with so many
[00:54:48] people in this community. Just reach out and love people that had a hard time being loved.
[00:54:54] Hardest thing we'll ever do.
[00:54:58] So that's a reason why I think Jesus is commanding the disciples because they're going to try to do what is easy instead of taking love in the same way that He brought love to the nth degree, to the difficult
[00:55:14] places, to the difficult people to let them know that they too are beloved children of God.
[00:55:23] I just want to thank you all for letting me share that a little bit with you just because the story is on my mind and I think about how wounding this has been for her, but really also how she has taken wounds like that and transformed
[00:55:37] them into love for others. It's made her be able to sit with other people who can be so incredibly difficult. Jesus calls us, doesn't call us, commands us to love. So today, friends, I hope you feel
[00:55:56] the the need to stretch and to grow and i hope you just understand that there is no way no way claim to be a believer in christ a follower of jesus if we are not stretching ourself in the
[00:56:14] way of love we all know the world is rampant right now putting jesus's name on all kinds of things that he wouldn't have anything associated but you can find people whether they're say it in
[00:56:28] the name of Jesus or not, that are doing amazing work of love. So let's follow suit. Would you pray with me? Gracious God, you entrust us with a call to follow in your way, and we carry your name.
[00:57:00] Remind us of how much you love us, transform us with that love, and help us rise to the challenge of your command to embody that same love that we receive from you for all of those who need it so
[00:57:17] desperately in the world. Send us out to be and do that love. Amen. If you would stand and sing

[00:57:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:57:26] with us. And remember, we need you to sing louder today for all the people we're missing.

[01:01:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:01:47] Everybody's job is to take one with you and to give it to somebody else that needs to share some love. So there you go. Let's go from this place and let's be obedient to the King. Let us love. Let us love those that we like
[01:02:10] and even those that we don't like and those that we may would like to keep ourselves distant from. But let's go and see if we can embody the love and the mission of Jesus today.
[01:02:23] So we go with God who goes with us in the name of our Creator, our Sustainer and our Redeemer. Amen.