Love is an Action
July 14, 2019*
By Pastor John Partridge
Luke 10:25-37 Colossians 1:1-14
How many of you can say that there is, or that has been, at least one person in your life that has loved you?
I’m hoping that everyone here can say yes. Almost all of us have at least a close circle of family and friends whom we could say, with some certainty, probably love us.
But… how do you know?
When we think about the people who have loved us, and when we think about the people that we love in return, how do we really know that they love us, and how do they really know that we love them?
It certainly isn’t the words that come out of our mouths. Almost all of us can give examples of people in our lives who told us that they loved us, or that they were our friends, and who later demonstrated that their words were less than truthful. But rewind just a few words and I think we have our first clue. Those people “demonstrated” their love, or their lack of love, for us. Their love for us wasn’t revealed in what they said about us, or to us, but it was demonstrated in the things that they did.
One of the books that I use in premarital counseling and often recommend to others, is Gary Chapman’s “The Five Love Languages.” In it, Chapman describes the five ways that human beings express and feel love. Most people, Chapman says, only “hear” or feel one or two of these love languages, so it’s important to know which love language your significant other, or your children, can hear, feel, and experience so that they can receive the love that you want to show them. In any case, the five love languages that appear in that book are Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch. But let me read that list again and see if you notice something, Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch.
Of the five, only one, Words of Affirmation, are spoken words at all, and even then, Words of Affirmation are not careless words that someone would throw about easily. Words of Affirmation are thoughtful, well-chosen words that require some understanding and knowledge of the person to whom they are offered. “You did a great job on that project.” “I have been consistently impressed with your enthusiasm.” “I appreciate how you go out of your way to make new people feel welcome.” “We are all so very proud of the work that you do and the difference that you make in our community.” And those are just a few examples of just one of the five Love Languages.
When we think about love in that way, it becomes increasingly obvious that love isn’t something that we say at all. Instead, love is something that we… do.
One of the best biblical examples of this is found in Luke 10:25-37, and Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan.
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii [two days wages[1]] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
The entire Law can be boiled down into two simple statements, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” But while the legal expert that came to Jesus was fine with the first one, he was having trouble understanding the second. Just who is my neighbor, and how do I love them? And, although the legal expert might not have liked the answer that he got, Jesus’ parable answers both questions.
Even better, Jesus’ parable leads the legal expert to answer his own question. After hearing the story, Jesus asks him to choose, from all of the characters in the story, between the two men who were traditionally supposed to be the good guys, the priest and the Levite, and the one man who represented the enemy of the Jews, which one was a neighbor to the man who was beaten, robbed, and left for dead? Obviously, the hero of the story is the man that the entire audience really wanted to hate but the legal expert is left with no other choice. Who was the man’s neighbor? The one who had mercy.
And Jesus leaves the man, and us, with a singular instruction: “Go and do likewise.”
Jesus’ instruction on how to love our neighbor isn’t an instruction of something to say, preach, write, film, or to advertise, but simply one that we are to… do.
We can’t just say that we love our neighbors, or the poor, or the outcasts, or the hungry, or addicts, or anyone else, we must show them that we love them. We are commanded to love our neighbors, but in order to truly love them, we must “Go and do likewise.”
As the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Colossae, he compliments them because of the things that he has heard about them. From the news that travelers have shared with him, Paul knows that the gospel of Jesus Christ isn’t just something that the Colossians are talking about, it’s something that they are doing. (Colossians 1:1-14)
1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Paul says “…we have heard of your faith in Jesus Christ and the love that you have for all God’s people…” And then goes on to say that “the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world – just as it has been doing among you…” The Colossian church is bearing fruit and growing because they are showing the love of Jesus Christ to the people around them and the love that they have is so obvious to the people around them that when Epaphras travels from Colossae to see Paul, he shares news of the things that the church has been doing. If the gospel was only something that the church talked about, Epaphras wouldn’t have taken the time to walk hundreds of miles and share that news with Paul. And because the church is bearing fruit and growing, we know that the neighbors and the community that surround the church must also see the work that the church is doing. Epaphras told Paul that the people in the church at Colossae are a people who have demonstrated, through their actions, the love of God to the world.
Love is all about actions.
Words and talk are invisible, but actions can be seen by the world.
The Priest was supposed to be a man of God, but he crossed over to the other side.
The Levite was supposed to be an expert with great knowledge of the scriptures, but he didn’t help either.
The Samaritan was supposed to be a hated enemy of the Jews, but he stopped, bandaged the wounds of a beaten, broken and bloody stranger, took him to a place of rest, and paid for his care.
It was obvious to everyone which of these three men loved his neighbor because after all the talking and preaching was over, only one showed up and acted like it.
Paul was proud of the people of the Colossian church because they were living out the gospel of Jesus Christ by acting in love toward the people around them and the people could see it. And because the people in the community of Colossae saw, and felt, the love of the church, the church began to bear fruit and grow.
We don’t feel loved until the people who love us show us how much they love us.
We can’t just say that we love our neighbors, or the poor, or the outcasts, or the hungry, or addicts, or the homeless, or migrants, or anyone else, we must show them that we love them.
The people who live in Alliance, Ohio and in the other communities around our church, in our workplaces, our schools, in our neighborhoods, in mission stations all over the country, around the world, and wherever we are, won’t feel loved until we show them how much we love them.
Jesus demonstrated his love for us. Over and over again, he showed us how much he loved us.
And Jesus’ words to that legal expert still resonate with us today:
“Go and do likewise.”
Footnotes:
[1] The median income in the United States in 2018 was $61,891. That’s $29.76 per hour, so two days wage for the average American would be about $476.
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