Love

I really enjoyed Church today. The kids actually went to Sunday School willingly, and I didn’t have to use too many brain cells, because the sermon was in English, thanks to a visiting team from Singapore.

The sermon was based on Matthew 5:13-16, The Salt and The Light:

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven. (Amplified Bible)

The salt is not for our own consumption. It’s not for us. We are the salt that enhances the flavour of life for others. And you can’t be salt and light if you don’t love.

As I listened, I realized that often times when we think of Christ’s command to love, we think of “Love your neighbour as yourself.” (Matt 22:37-40). I think this might be where we get the saying, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Basically, be nice to people, so they’ll be nice back.

But Jesus gives us a NEW Commandment in John 13:34:  

I give you a new commandment: that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too should love one another. 35  By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another [if you keep on showing love among yourselves].

A key phrase here is ‘As I have loved you‘.  Unconditional. Sacrificial. Holy. Servant Hearted. Agape.

The Love of Christ gives to the ungrateful. Serves the undeserving. Embraces the outcast. Forgives the sinner. Endures through suffering. Lays down it’s life for a friend… and an enemy.

Christians are responsible to SHINE and ADD FLAVOUR to the lives of their friends and neighbours. How? By Loving with Christ’s love. And by GOing into all the world with the Gospel of Christ. (Mark 16:15-18). We cannot be ‘Secret Agents for Jesus’. We must Shine for Him. And when we do our part, He will do what He has promised to do.

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.  John 14:12-14 (NIV)

And what is the purpose of being Salt and Light in the world? It’s not to win arguments, to try to convince ‘sinners’ of their need for Christ, or to prove that I’m holy or worthy in some way. The purpose of Shining our light and adding flavour to a bland, tasteless world is this: