Does Jesus Really Love You? (EP 85)

episode

The Bryce Crawford Podcast 18 min 1 speaker 3 chapters transcribed

▲ 0

Transcript

jump: chapters · speakers · find in transcript

Transcript

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What is the main topic of this episode?

Bryce Carver 0:00

What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Carver Podcast. I'm Bryce, and today we're gonna be talking about loving your neighbor. This is a topic that is so heavy on my heart because I feel like in today's society, I find myself constantly asking this question. Where's my neighbor? Where's our neighbor? What does the Bible say about loving your neighbor? How can we actively love our neighbor? We're going to jump right into it. The first scripture I want to talk about here is Matthew 22. And in Matthew 22, there's this thing that happens where the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they approach Jesus and they're about to pin him down. They ask Jesus this question that is going to trip him up and give them a reason to call him out for blasphemy.

Bryce Carver 0:36

And they're going to be able to arrest him and crucify him. They ask him, which of all the laws is the greatest? Jesus, which of the commandments is the best commandment? Because they knew if they could get him to say one commandment was better than the other, that they could mark him for blasphemy and crucify him and arrest him. And this is what Jesus says. He says, you shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And in this powerful interaction with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, Jesus does something very important here. Instead of saying one commandment is greater than the other, he sums up all 613 laws and 10 commandments under one truth by saying, love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Bryce Carver 1:15

Saying, if you love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, then all of the commandments and laws will be naturally obeyed because you love me. And then we're gonna be emphasizing the second half of this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. When Jesus says you shall love your neighbor as yourself, is he saying to put yourself before other people? Is he saying view yourself selfishly? Absolutely not. When Jesus says you shall love your neighbor as yourself, he's saying when you see yourself the way that I see you, then you'll realize I look at everyone else the same way I see you. So when you interact with other people, you should interact with them with the same love, graciousness, kindness, and joy the way that I interact with you, despite your junk, despite your flaws. Okay, because this is very important. Because in today's society, as we see in Matthew chapter six, he says, have you heard what the earth says? An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?

Bryce Carver 2:06

Anything society exalts, Jesus Christ is in total opposition to. And anything that Jesus Christ exalts, society is in total opposition to. So where society says, if someone hits you, you turn around and hit them harder than they hit you. Jesus says, if someone hits you on the cheek, give them the other one. He says, if someone takes your cloak, give them the other one. Because we don't return evil for evil. And so Jesus says, loving your neighbor as yourself doesn't look like returning evil for evil. Because that's what love does. Love doesn't return evil for evil. Love doesn't clear the record by getting back. Love isn't a get back. Love is grace talking. Love is sacrifice talking. Love is a choice.

Bryce Carver 2:53

That's why I can't get behind the fact that people say love is sex. Love is drugs. Love is the feeling I get when the booze hits my system. Love is this. Absolutely not. Love is a choice. And when people choose to retaliate against you, you have the choice whether to love them and forgive them. Forgiveness and love cancels the debt of what the person has done to you. So when someone has given you evil and you love them in that moment and forgive them despite retaliating against them, you actually cancel the debt of the very thing that they've done to you. And so when Jesus says, love your neighbor as yourself, he's saying, look, the same grace, the same love, the same joy that I have shown you, show to other people because they have the same value that I've put on your life. What is the value that Christ puts on every human being's life? His own. It's not that Christ died for Bryce and not Tom.