John 15:17

"These things I command you, that you love one another." (Logos 21 translation)

In my previous post I discussed how God's Word tells us that, if we love Jesus we should--out of our love for Jesus--obey Jesus. What does it mean to obey Jesus? We have the answer in John 15:17 (shown above).

To understand John 15:17 we need to answer a couple of questions:

What does it mean to love on another?

Who is Jesus talking about when he says "one another"? Everybody in the world or just fellow Christians?

I'll answer the first question in this post.

When Jesus commands us to "love one another" He is not saying that we should get a good, warm, fuzzy feeling about other people. In this case the word "love" (agape in the original Greek) is not a feeling, it is an action. Jesus is commanding us to go out and DO love. He is telling us to do those things which are good for other people. Another way to say it would be that Jesus is commanding us to be a servant of others.

Let's talk a look at a hot issue, homosexuality. How does a Christian love, as Jesus commands, homosexuals?

Do we affirm their lifestyle, and support them in their homosexuality so that they feel good about themselves? Is that doing something good? No. It is leading them away from God and deeper into sin. Jesus was perfect and totally without sin. He perfectly obeyed His Father, yet Jesus never shied away from hurting people's feelings. He insulted His disciples, the Pharasees, the merchants in the temple, and many other people. When it came to sin vs. people's feelings, Jesus always condemned sin.

Should we confront homosexuals and yell in their face, "You are a sinner!! YOU ARE GOING TO HELL!!!"

No.

We are to follow Jesus's example. In love, kindness and gentleness work to make homosexuals aware of their sin, and show them how they can turn from their sin and toward God.