We are not to love the world, but we are to love the people. Last week, we shared this passage from 1 John 2:15 (CEB),
Don’t love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them.
Jesus does tell us to love as He loves.
34 “I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. 35 This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.” (John 13, CEB)
I don’t think it is a stretch to say we get this wrong at times. Another well known passage in John,
16 God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. 17 God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. (John 3, CEB)
We’re often told Jesus didn’t come here to judge or condemn the world. Rather, He came to love the world and the people in it. Be careful. We’ve already pointed out we are not to love the world. The world is trying to pull us away from God. We need to keep on reading.
18 Whoever believes in him isn’t judged; whoever doesn’t believe in him is already judged, because they don’t believe in the name of God’s only Son. (John 3, CEB)
Jesus didn’t have to come to judge the world because it was already condemned. Paul reminds us we are enemies before God, separated from Him.
We need Jesus.
6 While we were still weak, at the right moment, Christ died for ungodly people. 7 It isn’t often that someone will die for a righteous person, though maybe someone might dare to die for a good person. 8 But God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us. 9 So, now that we have been made righteous by his blood, we can be even more certain that we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. 10 If we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son while we were still enemies, now that we have been reconciled, how much more certain is it that we will be saved by his life? (Romans 5, CEB)
Loving people in this world, means sharing the truth of the Gospel. The truth is we need the work of Jesus to change us, making us new, so we can be reconciled with our Father.
Blessings,
Pastor Matt
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