What We Must Do Love!

 

In Matthew 22:34-40 Jesus says that we are love God with all that we are & we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. In Matthew 5:43-44 Jesus clarifies that if our neighbor is our enemy or someone who tries to persecute us, we are still to love them & pray for them. In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus says that we are to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome strangers, clothe the naked, & visit the sick & imprisoned. The two things that characterized the early church & need to characterize the church today are an overwhelming love for & devotion to Jesus & love for others.

 

When Christianity first arose, it was not considered a religion but was seen as a nonreligion. The early disciples of Jesus were considered atheists because when they were asked, “Where is your temple?”, the disciples would answer, “We don’t have a temple”. When they were asked where their priest served, they would say they had no priests. When they were asked where they made their sacrifices, they said they did not offer sacrifices.

 

Jesus Himself is the temple to end all temples & Jesus Himself is our high priest that was superior to any other priests & Jesus Himself is the perfect sacrifice that supersedes any other sacrifice.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about loving Jesus above anything or anyone else & being fully devoted to Jesus as our Savior & Lord.

 

Jesus loved people.

He loved lepers who were social outcasts.

He loved the lame & the blind who were burdens to society.

He loved women who were marginalized.

He loved slaves who were disenfranchised.

He loved children who were vulnerable & overlooked.

He loved immoral people who were religious outcasts.

He loved Samarians & Gentiles who were racial & ethnic outcasts.

 

Jesus loved people who were wealthy & well to do & people who were poor & broken. Jesus loved them because they were all His creation & all shared the same need to be delivered from sin & they could not do it themselves. The early disciples loved people as Jesus loved people & God used that love to change the world. If we now as disciples are going to be used by God to change the world, we will love people like Jesus loves people.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about loving people as Jesus loves people.

 

The mission of the church in the first century was to take the gospel of the grace of Jesus to the world. They did it through loving Jesus & being devoted to Him completely as Savior & Lord & loving others as Jesus loved them. We have the same mission of take the gospel of the grace of Jesus to the world & we must do it with the same priorities of loving Jesus & loving others. We must be different than those who are living based on worldly values or people committed to religious rituals & traditions. We must live out the reality of Jesus living in us.

 

Raising the Roof & Removing the Walls,

Joe