The Word of Love, Part 2

SPEAKER 02 : 0:02

Thanks for joining us here today on Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in a series called The Seven Greatest Words of Love. There are seven words in particular that Jesus spoke during his final hours on the cross that hold the keys for finding fulfillment in your life, relationships, and even your career. Right now, here’s Pastor Rick with the final part of a message called The Word of Love.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:34

Now here’s the second thing. If we are to practice loving like Jesus, I must treat other believers as my family. I must treat other believers as my family. Now we’re going even deeper. There are a lot of people who love their family. But that can be total self-centeredness. I’m just gonna protect what’s mine. I couldn’t care about the rest of the world and go to hell for all I care. But the Bible says that real love is learning to treat other believers in your church family as actual family. You treat them as good as you treat your family. You must care about your family, but you must care for more than your family. If all you do is care about your family, that’s not enough. I mean, an unbeliever can do that. If you are going to be Christ-like loving, then you must not only care about your family, you must care about more than your family, you must care about God’s family, your brothers and sisters in the family of God. You know, you’ve heard the old phrase, blood is thicker than water. Yeah, well, that’s true. but grace is thicker than genetics. And you’re supposed to care about, you know, physical families don’t last, but the spiritual family does last. Your physical family isn’t gonna last. People grow up, people die, people move away, people get divorced. There’s all kinds of reasons why physical families don’t last. They don’t. But your spiritual family is gonna last forever. And if you follow Jesus, we’re family. And the Bible is clear that we’re to treat each other as family. Look at these verses. Matthew 12, verse 50. It’s up here on the screen. Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother. So that makes us related. You’re to treat me as well as as you treat your family. I’m to treat you as well as I treat my family. We’re to treat each other as relatives in the family of God. Look at the next verse, 1 Timothy 5, one and two. Don’t rebuke, do not rebuke an older man in the church. but appeal to him as your father. Treat the younger men in the church as your brothers, treat the older women in the church as your mothers, and treat the younger women in the church as your sisters with all purity. So I’ve got a lot of brothers in this family. I got a lot of spiritual sisters in this family. I got a lot of spiritual, I got some spiritual fathers. in this family who’ve been Christians longer. The only thing I don’t have is spiritual mothers because I haven’t found a woman to admit to being a quote, older woman. So I have some 95 year old spiritual sisters in this church. But you have a responsibility to serve. Listen, if you are a genuine follower of Christ, it is your responsibility to serve the older believers in the church and to mentor the younger believers in the church. I didn’t make that up. That’s what God says. It is your responsibility, if you call yourself a Christian, to serve the older people in the church and to mentor the younger people in the church. There’s a real symmetry about this third word. You see, Jesus leaned on Mary as a child. And the Bible tells us that John, the beloved disciple, leaned on Jesus as a disciple. And now Jesus tells them to lean on each other to lean on each other. We’re to be devoted to each other. Romans 12, 10. Be devoted to each other like a loving family. Excel in showing respect for each other. I think that includes stick up for each other. Let me just point out something here. It’s quite interesting. The Bible tells us, maybe you don’t realize this, but the Bible tells us that Jesus had four half-brothers and two half-sisters. You know, they, because Joseph and Mary were the parents of all the others. Mary was just the parent of Jesus. Joseph was not the father of Jesus. He was the stepfather of Jesus. She was a virgin when he was born. But the Bible tells us, in fact, it even tells us the names of Jesus’ four half-brothers. One of them was a guy named James who actually wrote the book of James in the Bible. And so Jesus had four half-brothers and he had two, we know at least, two half-sisters and they show up many times in scripture where they are watching him do miracles and a couple times they try to talk him out of some stuff and things like that. It’s interesting that as Jesus is dying, he does not entrust the care of his mother to his half-brothers or his half-sister. Why in the world did he do that? Why didn’t he just say to his half-brothers and sisters, take care of mom? Because John 7, verse 5, said none of them had become believers yet. It wasn’t until after the resurrection, people go, he really is the son of God. And then his brothers, half-brothers, sisters, all became believers. In fact, James became one of the leaders of the church of Jerusalem. He goes, I’m in. I’m in. I saw my half-brother walking around and rise again and talking, I’m in. Can you imagine being Jesus’ brother or sister growing up? He’s always right. He never cheats on the game. When you say, but mom, Jesus did it, Mary goes, James, you know he didn’t do it. That would have been very, very rough growing up with a perfect brother who literally was perfect. I don’t think I would believe in him either. but the resurrection would make a believer out of me. But he entrusts his mom to the care of John because John is a mature believer. Now we’re to give special attention to other people in our church families. Look at the Bible, Galatians 6.10. Whenever we have the opportunity to help anyone, we should do it. But we should give special attention to those who belong to the family of God. of believers. And one of the things we’re to do is give emotional support. Galatians 6.2, share each other’s troubles and problems and in this way obey the law of Christ. We are to carry each other’s burdens in the church. Now there’s only one way you can do that. Here comes the small group sermon. You need to be in a small group. How many times am I going to say this? You don’t really feel like you’re part of this family. until you’re in a small group. You got needs right now, you got problems going on, how in the world is everybody supposed to know about that? It’s impossible. But you get in a small group, somebody knows when you’re sick, somebody knows when you’re in the hospital, somebody knows when you just got laid off, somebody knows when you’re going through a tough time in a court case or a tax case or whatever, and you can be there for them and they can be there for you. You need to be in a small group. Okay, number three. If I’m gonna learn to love like Jesus, remember this is the most important lesson in life, learning to love God with all my heart, learning to love others the way God loves. I have to care for my own family, and I gave you three ways for doing that, and then I must treat other believers just like they are family. Number three, now this one even gets harder. We’re going up in intensity. To learn to love like Jesus, I must learn to see others pain. even when I’m in pain. Whoa, that’s a hard one. I must learn to see others’ pain even when I’m in pain. Now, remember I told you at the start, you can’t do this on human power. You can only do it with God’s power in you. Friend, when I’m in pain, I’m not thinking about you. And if I’ve just had surgery and I’m in deep, deep pain, I’m not thinking, it’s not my nature. When I’m in pain, I’m totally self-centered. I don’t know about you. I want to be babied. I want to be pampered. I want Kay to come in and fan me with a feather duster or whatever. Duster feather, one of those things, you know. Peel the grapes for me. Oh, and you don’t. Right. You don’t. When you’re in pain, you’re so unselfish. No, you are very self-centered. Pain makes us self-centered. But God says, if you’re going to have to learn real love, love like God does, love like Jesus does, you’ve got to learn to see others’ pain even when you’re in pain. Now think about this. Jesus is hanging on the cross. He’s in enormous physical, emotional, and spiritual pain, carrying all the sin of the world, and the fact is he’s in his dying moments. And what does Jesus do? He notices the pain of other people. Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing. He says to the guy next to him, today you’ll be with me in paradise. He notices that guy, and then he notices his mom. He’s not thinking about himself, even in agony. You know, we typically pull into a shell and we become very self-centered. But the Bible says in Philippians 2, 5, your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. What does that mean? What does it mean for me to have the attitude of Christ Jesus? It means that when I’m in pain, I still look around and see who’s in worse pain than I’m in. That’s a hard one. How do you look at the pain of others when you’re in pain? 1 Peter 4, 1 says this. Since Jesus suffered and he underwent pain, you must have the same attitude he did. You must be ready to suffer too. For remember, when your body suffers, sin loses its power. It loses its power God says, I want you to take whatever pain you’re in and I want you to use it to help other people. I couldn’t tell you the number of people Kay and I have been able to help since Matthew died. People who lost a child or a loved one to suicide or struggle with mental illness have come out of the woodwork. And I will tell you this, the way you get healed is by helping others. is by helping others. Don’t wallow in your pain, but use your pain to help other people. Learn, I must learn to see others’ pain when I’m in pain. And finally, number four, write this one down. I must, to love like Jesus, I must meet others’ needs even if mine aren’t met. And that’s the most difficult lesson of all. I must meet other people’s needs even though my personal needs are not met at work, at home, at church, in society. If I’m gonna love like Jesus, I must learn to meet others’ needs even if my own personal needs are not being met. It is interesting to me, Jesus is hanging on the cross, and to the very end, he’s thinking about other people. And he doesn’t say, my pain is too great. I can’t help you with yours right now. Excuse me, I’m being crucified. He didn’t say that. Jesus, follow me on this, Jesus is doing the most important work ever done. The salvation of the entire human race. Nobody will ever do anything more important than Jesus is doing at this moment. Nobody. Not you, not me, not anybody else. Nobody will ever do anything that’s more important than what Jesus is doing in this moment. He’s dying for the sins of all mankind. And yet even in the middle of this, he stops, cares for a criminal next to him, cares for his mother, and cares for his best friend. He didn’t say, my purpose is too important. I don’t have time to think about you. I can’t tell you how many church leaders I’ve counseled who watched their family fall apart because they said, I’m busy saving the world. Pastors and church leaders that I’ve dealt with now over 35, maybe 40 years, who said, I’m too busy saving the world. I don’t have time for my family. No. What you’re doing is not as important as what Jesus did, and he had time. There is no excuse for you to say, I don’t have time. You say, you know, I know my family’s important, but right now I gotta close this deal. Then that deal is too important to you. Nothing you will ever do is as important as what Jesus did and yet even in that, during the salvation of the world, he makes time for the people around him. He literally was busy saving the world and we weren’t. You see, what I’m teaching you this weekend is the exact opposite of what our culture says. Kingdom values are the opposite of American values. American values says the more important you are, the less you are expected to care for individuals. If I’m driving down the freeway and I get a flat tire and the President of the United States drives by, nobody on this planet expects the President to stop and help me move a tire. He’s too important. But that’s not kingdom values, that’s American values. Jesus said, if you wanna be great, be the servant of all. And the greater you are in God’s kingdom, the more serving you are. You take time. I don’t wanna brag on my wife, but I do all the time. She has had an international ministry, not just a national ministry. She’s spoken all over the world. I remember one month, a few years back, she was like in four universities speaking in one month. She got home from one trip and she was wasted and wiped out. She immediately went to the kitchen and started cooking a meal for a family in our neighborhood who had a major problem going on and she was just helping them and she did it week after week after week. It wasn’t like I’m too important to help other people. What does it mean to love like Jesus? Look at these verses. Romans 15, two and three. Each of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, how can I help? I want you to write this down on your outline, okay? Look for Jesus disguised as a hurting person. In your life, look for Jesus in your life disguised as a hurting person. as a hurting person. They may be at the water cooler on Monday morning. They may be at the soccer game. They may be the person behind you in the grocery store. If you want to find Jesus, they’re going to show up in the hurting people around you. Look for Jesus in the hurts of the people around you. The Bible says this in Romans 12, verse 13. When God’s children are in need, You, you be the one to help them out. Get in the habit of inviting guests home for dinner. Or if they need it, lodging for the night. I wanna challenge you to do something practical about this message. Go out and adopt a widow. Bring her into your small group. Go out and find, some of you are empty nesters. You don’t have kids at home anymore. Or you’re single and you don’t have kids at home. The heroes in this church are single moms trying to put food on the table, work and care for the kids at the same time too. How about if once a week you cooked a meal for a single mom and that one night she didn’t have to come home immediately from work and rush into caring for everybody else, get all the homework done with no other help. That would be called loving like Jesus. Now, let me close by speaking to some of you who are actually in pain. And I’m gonna take a minute on this. Because when you’re in pain, it’s hard to think about anybody else. You may be grieving the loss of someone you’ve loved, like Mary was grieving the loss of her son. And I want you to write down three things that you need to remember when you’re in pain. Write these down. We learn them from this passage. Number one, remember that Jesus cares about your pain. Jesus cares about your pain. Even on the cross, when he was in pain, he cared about the pain of others. He certainly cares about the pain you’re going through right now. So remember, Jesus cares about your pain. Number two, accept love from others. When you’re in pain, you need to accept love from others. Don’t shut yourself off. Don’t build a wall. Don’t suffer in silence. Let people know. And so if you don’t tell people about it, how can anybody pray about it? How can anybody encourage you or help you? You need to receive love and others need to give love. So don’t hold back your pain. Don’t say, well, I don’t want to bother anybody about it. It’s no bother. We’re family. We are family. Families show up. Families take care of each other. You can’t show up if nobody knows about it. So remember Jesus cares about your pain and be willing to accept help from others. Accept love from others. Number three, look for somebody else to help. Yes, you are in pain. But I guarantee you there’s probably somebody else in the world in greater pain than you are. And Jesus gives us the power to love like he does. Now let me just give you this last thought. Whatever pain you’re in, I don’t know what pain you’re in. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I really am sorry. Whatever pain you’re in, But you can’t receive the comfort of Jesus unless you get close to him. Both John and Mary, in this story, would have missed the blessing of Jesus if they hadn’t been close to him. If they had been far away from Jesus, they would have missed the blessing, they would have missed the comfort if they had just stayed away. God’s answer to your pain is always at the foot of the cross. Let’s bow our heads. Dear Jesus Christ, I know that there are a lot of people here in pain today. And we wanna care about them the way you do. Help us to remember that you care about our pain. Thank you for these lessons that you modeled even in your dying moments. Now you pray. You say this in your mind. Say, dear Jesus, thank you for caring about my pain. I don’t want to wallow in it, but I do want to use it to draw closer to you and to learn how to love and to help others. Jesus Christ, help me to receive love from others. Help me to offer it to others. I want to learn to really love, not fake love, not phony love, not plastic love, not shallow love. I want to learn to love like Jesus loves. But God, I cannot possibly do this without your power in me. Jesus Christ, this week, help me to pay attention, to pay attention to the people in pain and in grief around me. Remind me of practical ways to help other people. Help me to look for ways to offer emotional support. I know that if I care, I’ll be aware. So put somebody on my heart this week. Most of all, Jesus, help me to look to you. Thank you for dying on the cross for me to solve my greatest pain, eternal separation from you. Help me to see others’ pain even when I’m in pain and help me to learn to meet others’ needs even if my needs are not met. I want to learn the very purpose of life, to learn how to love. And I humbly ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen. I love to end our broadcast by reading letters from people like you. Here’s one from Melissa who lives in Columbia. Pastor Rick, I just want to say thanks to you and thanks to God for helping me understand the Bible and for helping bring so many souls to Jesus Christ. I’ve been blessed because you put your messages online for free. And because of that free ministry, I have access to the truth. I cannot thank you enough. She says, I want to help, and I want to give what God commands to give me to give so that his message can reach the entire world. Thank you, Melissa from Columbia. Well, Melissa, thank you. Thank you for your encouragement, and thank you for your financial gift, and thank you for caring about people who haven’t heard the good news. You see, when we work together, we’re able to do things we cannot do on our own. Together, we reach people that would never be reached any other way. And when you get to heaven, we’re going to celebrate all the souls that have come to know Jesus Christ. So thank you for listening. Thank you for supporting. And thank you for praying. And I want to say the same thing to all of the rest of you who are doing that too. God bless you, and join me next time as we continue to look into God’s Word for our daily hope.

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