P.O. Box 53055    
Los Angeles, CA 90053   

I’m Suppose to Love Who?

According to the dictionary, there’s fruit and there’s fruit. There’s fruit, as in apples, bananas, and grapes. And then there’s fruit, as in the product or result of some effort or condition. You might say that your new car is the fruit of your labors, meaning it’s the result of your hard work and saving. Or you might say you gave up a plan that wasn’t very fruitful, meaning it didn’t produce helpful results.

The Bible teaches that, when we give our heart to Jesus, something happens inside us. Our lives begin to produce what the Scripture refers to as the Fruit (or the result) of the Spirit.

There are nine character traits mentioned in Galatians 5:22 and 23. They are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Remember the words to the popular old song, “Love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage”? Well, the various qualities that make up the Fruit of the Spirit also go together like a horse and carriage. That’s right, God wants you to have all of these qualities, not just one without the other. This is particularly good news if up until now you had thought that some of these good qualities were outside your reach. No, no, this is a package deal. They all come together.

The Fruit of the Spirit is the various aspects of the Christian character. Not only is each aspect necessary, but you can’t have one without the others, because each is connected to the other. In our program today we’ll consider the wonderful character trait of love.

Everybody has his own idea of love. Hollywood acts out its definition of what love is. Writers of pulp fiction illustrate their definition of love. Modern society demonstrates its definition. But the Bible is the only source we can trust to give us the truth about what love really is. If you have a Bible handy, you may want to turn to 1 Corinthians 13. This is often called the love chapter, and in a moment you’re going to see why.

In verses 1-3 the apostle Paul points out that a person may be able to speak in foreign languages; he may have the gift of prophecy, and even understand hidden truth. But if he doesn’t have love, he’s just so much wind and noise. A person could even become a martyr, but if he isn’t motivated by love it won’t do him or his cause any good.

In the verses that follow, Paul teaches us how love behaves. If you think you love someone, this is a good test to see if it’s really love or not. Love is patient, he says; love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude; True love is never selfish, it’s not quick to take offence. Love keeps no score of wrongs; it doesn’t gloat over other men’s sins, but it delights in truth. Furthermore, Paul says that love is the strongest force of all, because there’s nothing that it can’t face; there’s no limit to its faith, its hope, or its endurance.

Reading this description of how true love behaves makes us realize that, when we whisper the words, “I love you” to someone, those words represent much more than a nice warm feeling, they represent a commitment.

Once, when He was speaking to a large crowd of people, a lawyer spoke up and asked Jesus what a person had to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27,28, NEB). Then the lawyer asked the big question, “And who is my neighbor” (Luke 10:29 NEB)?

To answer the question, Jesus told a story about a Jewish man who was traveling by foot from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way, the poor fellow was mugged by thieves, who stripped him, beat him, and left him lying half dead by the side of the road. As sometimes happens even today, other travelers saw him lying there but keep on going because they didn’t want to get involved. And so there he lay until a man from Samaria came along.

You have to know that Jews and Samaritans didn’t get along at all. In fact, Jews considered Samaritans to be greatly inferior. They would have nothing to do with them, so naturally the Samaritans steered clear of any Jew. But this particular Samaritan didn’t let those old feelings keep him from recognizing a need when he saw one. He stopped and gave the poor fellow some first aid. Then, loading him on his donkey, he took him to an inn where the injured man could rest and get well.

After taking the man to a room, the Good Samaritan paid the bill and assured the inn keeper that, if there were expenses above and beyond what he had already taken care of, he would pay them when he came by that way again.

In this powerful story, Jesus was emphasizing a point. He told the people, “Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you: pray for those who treat you spitefully. If you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. Again, if you do good only to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do as much. But you must love your enemies and do good, and lend without expecting any return; and you will have a rich reward: you will be sons of the Most High, because he himself is kind to the ungrateful and wicked” (Luke 6:28, 32, 33, 35 NEB).

These verses tell us that it’s not only how we love but who we love that shows we’re Christians. We’re to love everyone, even those who we might consider to be our enemies. And here’s what may be a new thought to you. Not all our enemies are in some far off country. They might even be someone who lives under our same roof.

Supposing I were to come to your church to preach and I were to announce that, after the worship service, we’re planning to take just a few minutes to pray for the Taliban in Afghanistan and for Sadaam Hussain. I’m reasonably sure many would think, “Isn’t this wonderful. Pastor Melashenko is inviting us to pray for our enemies.” But then what would you think if I said, “In addition to praying for these individuals, why don’t we also pray for your husband or your wife?”

At that point, I’m afraid some of those smiles would fade. Someone might even say, “Pastor Lonnie, I think it’s a great idea to pray for Sadaam Hussain, but I’d rather we didn’t pray for my husband. I don’t really want him to be blessed. You see, last week I notified my lawyer that I want a divorce.”

Have you ever thought that, when Jesus says to love our enemies, this might include members of our own family--a husband, a wife, a father or a mother, a sister or a brother? The command to love our neighbor as ourselves is not limited just to someone down the street or in a foreign land. Oh yes, it’s noble to say we love some public enemy, but
it’s difficult to understand why we should love a family member who has done something against us.

It’s strange but true that the most difficult place to be a Christian is at home. But friends, if we’re not Christians at home, then are we really Christians anywhere? I wonder what our homes would be like if we were to pray that God would bring true love into the heart of each member of our family? And if not to the other members of the family, at least to our own heart?
True love, the love that’s the Fruit of the Spirit, the love described in 1 Corinthians 13, is not the kind of love that says, I’ll be good to you, if you’ll be good to me. Or, If you treat me nice, I’ll treat you nice. True love is loving everybody anyway.

How can I show true love? Love is touching the contagious, love is feeding the homeless, love is caring for the orphan, love is returning good for evil, love is going the extra mile, love is forgiving the offender, love is praying for an unfaithful spouse.

What better place to begin growing the fruit of love than at home. Here we meet the greatest challenges and experience the sweetest rewards. With the fruit of love, our homes can become little heavens on earth. As the poet John McNaughton put it:

There is beauty all around, when there’s love at home;
There is joy in every sound, when there’s love at home.
Peace and plenty here abide, smiling fair on every side;
Time doth softly, sweetly glide, when there’s love at home.

Kindly heaven smiles above, when there’s love at home;
All the earth is fill’d with love, when there’s love at home.
Sweeter sings the brooklet by, brighter beams the azure sky;
Oh, there’s One who smiles on high when there’s love at home.

Jesus, make me wholly Thine, where there’s love at home;
May Thy sacrifice be mine, then there’s love at home.
Safely from all harm I’ll rest, with no sinful care distress’d,
Thro’ Thy tender mercy blessed, when there’s love at home.