Aren't We Supposed to Love EVERYONE?

During the daily readings, it has been brought to my attention that some are confused with why it is that Rick Warren constantly focuses on loving the believer. I mean, after all – aren’t we supposed to love everyone?

Great question! What Rick Warren is talking about comes straight from the New Testament. The New Testament church was focused on loving other believers with such passion, sincerity, and consistency that the unbeliever was drawn in. Those on the outside of the church (the unbeliever) were so overwhelmed with the love being displayed within the church that they wanted to be a part of it. They were drawn in by the sweet “fragrance of Christ” being emitted from the acts of the believers. The church was like a pleasant smell that the unbeliever simple had to sniff. Have you ever been around something that smelled so good that you just had to breathe it in? The church should be like that. The “fragrance of Christ” should be so strong that unbelievers can’t help but breathe Him in.

What would it look like – if we were so caring and sincere with our love towards one another that the words ‘hypocrite’ or ‘judgmental’ would be the farthest thing from the unbeliever’s mind? What it would look like is an environment that is so much about community and togetherness that the unbeliever would be in a state of longing—a longing to belong to something so beautiful, so real, and so true. They would long to be invited to be a part of it. They would long to feel the love and sense of belonging that we feel.

However, we can’t stop with loving the believer. The next step is inviting the unbeliever to be a part of that family. The only way this works is to build relationships with them while they are still unbelievers. Jesus was really good at this. He was not afraid to hang out with the unbeliever. In fact, that is where he spent a lot of his time. Loving them where they are, the way they are and for who they are – all the while modeling the life they could have as a believer.

What often happens with us, as Christians, is that we aren’t afraid to get to know the unbeliever and we may even work to build a relationship with them. Yet, during that relationship building – they are drinking in and learning about how we treat our family of believers…and often times what they learn is that is not a family they want to be a part of. And in the words of James, ‘this should not be.”

Basically, what Rick Warren is telling us is – learn to love other believers first and do it well – then…we can love the unbeliever the way Christ did which will ultimately lead to “our numbers being added to daily.” What a great challenge for all of us!

Daniel Taylor
Assistant Pastor

The Foundation of this Campaign - Ron Watts

We are on Day Four in our 40 Days of Community campaign and I hope your readings in the book, Better Together are going well. On p. 178, in the study guide section, you'll find this week's memory verse: John 13:35.

"Your love for one another
will prove to the world that you are my disciples."

Those words of Jesus set the tone for this week's readings. As we love God's family, we are living proof that we are disciples of Jesus. Love is not a mark but the mark of the Christian life.

How many times have you heard a skeptic ask, “How can you expect me to accept the message of Christianity when the church is full of hypocrites?” Oftentimes, “hypocrite” is used as a catchall phrase encompassing anything that the skeptic finds objectionable (or thinks Christians find objectionable and don’t live up to). While this argument is very unconvincing to me (it’s like saying, “I’m not going to a hospital – it’s full of sick people!”) it’s painfully accurate when we Christians fail to love one another.

Take Jesus’ statement and put it in the negative, “Your lack of love for one another will prove to the world that you are not my disciples.” What kind of witness are we being to the watching eyes around us?

This is often called “the great commandment.” It is Jesus’ highest – and most difficult – command. How do we live up to it? It begins on the receiving end.

Brennan Manning, who spoke at La Croix during my sabbatical, said “To me, it's more important to be loved than to love. When I have not had the experience of being loved by God, just as I am and not as I should be, then loving others becomes a duty, a responsibility, a chore. But if I let myself be loved as I am, with the love of God poured into my heart by the Holy Spirit, then I can reach out to others in a more effortless way.”

In other words, you can’t give away what you don’t have. We can’t possibly live up to this command unless we have first received God’s love. How about you? Are you convinced that God loves you unconditionally? Have you received that love?

Knowing Jesus Christ and receiving God’s love is the basis for our 40 Days of Community campaign. That hasn’t been said up to now, but it’s the foundation we build on.