Love Conquers All.....Right?

So I was given the opportunity to speak at our Chapel hour here at Wittenberg University a week or so ago. I was at first super nervous about having the opportunity to share God's impact in my life, but I realized that it was actually quite the honor. Lent had just ended, and the topic that immediately jumped out in my mind was the word love. Now, when we think of that word, what is the first thing that immediately jumps out into our heads? It's the great love stories; The Notebook (I cried, I'll admit it,) Casablanca, Romeo & Juliet! The great lines;

You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love. -- Henry Drummond

These are the sentiments shared by many when the symptoms of love are conjured up. Is this wrong to feel that way? Absolutely not, we are born as humans to love one another. However, it is important that we do not stray from the foundations of what it truly means to love, and more importantly, to be loved.

I am a man who has frankly only thought of love in the same way for many years of my own life. Nevertheless, I praise a God who has a sense of humor that I will never understand, and works in a way that is impossible to comprehend. It was on a street corner church on Skid Row in Los Angeles that my life was forever changed. For those of you who don’t know, Skid Row is home to the largest established population of homeless persons in the United States. According to some population estimates, this number can range between 7,000 to 8,000 people. 7,000 TO 8,000 homeless men and women within a 5 block radius. Are you kidding me? The people who live in this area for the most part live in a culture where poverty, violence, drugs and alcohol are prevalent on a day to day basis. For any one of us who visited the area, it is nothing short of devastating. However, in a little corner church, with a congregation filled with the misfits considered to be of the lowliest tier on the rung of society, I saw what love really meant. To see men and women who by earthly standards had little to nothing, stand and praise and worship and cry about a man named Jesus really touched me. It made me realize that this Jesus was real, and I needed to know more about him ASAP.

Well, who is Jesus? Who is God? To be honest, I still don’t know! But in the Lenten season, I was given a quick, yet weighty glimpse into the life and ministry of the man. Before Los Angeles, the concept of Jesus to me was sort of synonymous to the myth of Sasquatch. I’d heard of them since I was a child, and I had always been intrigued by their stories. As a history buff, I was very well aware of various examples in which the bible, and the words of Jesus had been used at the expense of others. Examples like:

• the Catholic church, and the Crusades, the Inquisition, Witch Hunts, etc.,
• Slavery and the story of Ham being used as an excuse to enslave and dehumanize Black men and women around the world
• those using the bible to disenfranchise homosexuals (this is a topic for another day!)

all is all, these stories all culminated into a relationship that I was very skeptical about. But, as I decided that I would read into the Word, I quickly began to realize the Gospels of Jesus is not the same as those who chose to picket with “God Hates Fags,” signs, but with something way more powerful than hate and condemnation, love. When looking at scripture, it is clear as day the men that Jesus chose to surround himself with, and those he chose to minister to. Saul, one of the great persecutors of Christians, was chosen to be one of Jesus’ disciples. Who did Jesus condemn? Help? Heal? Love? Jesus went out and he healed the loners of society, the lepers, Roman soldiers, paralytics, the sickly, the blind, the mute, prostitutes, the poor, the list goes on and on and on. Jesus ministered to the underbelly of society. If we really try to conceive this notion, it can potentially leave us quite bewildered! Think of it, Jesus, the son of the maker of heaven and the earth, of time, of life and death, everything, chose to risk, and eventually give his life, for the dirty, the scorned, the ugly, for you and myself.

In performing these actions, Jesus has laid the foundations on how we should live out our own lives. While we are by all means meant to love our significant others, the true definition of love goes much deeper than this. I believe that our love is to extend to every single person that we are to come into contact with. This is reiterated in scripture, as Jesus tells us;

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.- John 15:12 (New International Version)

"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.- Luke 6:27-31

Do we love in the same way? Is that our own common perceptions about what it truly means and feels to love? In many cases, are we ready to love even when we will receive absolutely nothing in return?

Better yet, are we willing to give our LIVES for those same people? Would any of us be willing to give our lives for a convicted murderer? Would we be willing to be victimized, tortured or dehumanized for a convicted felon? A liar, a cheater, a misfit?! A man who disciples me named Colby has a son, and he says that he could possible fathom a situation in which he would give his own life, but he could not come to grips with giving the life of his only son to those who will forget, disrespect and not honor that sacrifice. Through the Easter season, we are shown that the final act of love by God through his only son Jesus is portrayed not only through his life, but also through his sacrifice upon the cross.

⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.-Romans 5:6-8

¹⁶"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.-John 3:16-17

It is clear that Jesus was not sent to condemn us, but to save us. That sacrifice, through the blood of Jesus is meant to be transferred from the cross to the Earth that it was spilled upon. We are called to love others, even if that potentially means within the sacrifice of our own lives, or own valuables or pride, for the expense of others, even if completely undeserved. We are called to love, just as our father loves us.

“⁷Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” - 1 John 7:18

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” - 1 John 7:11

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. ¹⁷In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. ¹⁸There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” - 1 John 7:16-18

To me, these verses clearly state our main tools when it comes to furthering the kingdom of God. To the world, those men and women who suffer on Skid Row and considered to be the forgotten part of America, but their hearts are no different from yours and mine, and we should treat them no differently. Is it difficult to live this way? You betcha, through history, those who have loved have given their lives for that cause.

In the same way, we must Love, we mustn’t judge, condemn or hate, because that is not what we’re here to do. Love is something special, it;

^”It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” -1 Cor. 13:7

As Christians and followers of a man who lived selflessly to save us, we must live selflessly to love and appreciate others at all costs. We MUST be on guard, stand firm in our faith, be of courage, be strong, and most importantly, do EVERYTHING IN LOVE! Now who will you chose to love? What are you willing to sacrifice?