Growing in Love for Jesus

Well, this morning, I want to focus on the topic of love. And specifically, I want to talk about growing in love for Jesus Christ. We all experience love. We all love something.

This is Pikachu. By the way, he Pokemon. Sorry for any of Pokemon lovers. This is perhaps the best known character of, from the Pokemon franchise of games and animation.

And this is Pika Beichu. I don't know her real name. she loves Pokemon. Especially Pikachu, as you can see in the picture.

And she's most well known in the anime world for her continuing passion for Pokemon. She's a Pokemon conference regular, and regarded by many as a Pokemon expert. She has appeared in many magazines and newspapers and holds the Guinness Book of World Records for having the largest Pokemon collection in the world, with over 8000 items from American to Japanese collectibles, including the official Pikachu Volkswagen. She does numerous Pokemon events, children's events, car shows, parades, and appears at conferences and conventions worldwide promoting her dedication to Pokemon.

Speaking of her world record, she says, it's not just my collection that makes it well-known, but my love and dedication to Pokemon. And by all the costumes I have made and events worldwide I have done in Pokemon's name. I just don't collect Pokemon, she says. I pretty much live it as well.

Now before you throw up, Let me remind you, let me remind you that all of us, like this woman, have objects of devotion. All of us have things that we love. For some of us, it's our spouse, our career. Our looks fashion, family, sports, hobbies, technology.

And ultimately ourselves. We all love things. But this morning, the question that I want you to ask yourself is, how much do I love Jesus? How does my love for these other things compare to my love for him?

Am I consumed with him? Do I wake up in the morning longing to be with him? Do I spend time in his presence? When I've, when I've had a hard day, when I'm tired, when I'm scared, is he the one that I run to for help and comfort?

When I'm in public, is he all that I can talk about and all that comes out of my mouth? Is my love for Jesus so overwhelming that daily, he is what I find myself living for. This morning, I want us to consider our relationship with Jesus. it's easy to look at other people.

It's easy to look at other people, but this morning, I really want each of us to look at our own heart. And ask, are we passionately? Am I passionately in love with Jesus, with my Savior? I think if we were completely honest, we would, we would really conclude that so often, our love for Jesus is weak, and it's distracted.

And it's not what it ought to be. So the question is, how do we grow in our love for Jesus and what does that love look like? And I want you to turn to Luke chapter 7 this morning. It's going to be our text.

Luke chapter 7, verses 36. To 50 And I believe this passage shows us two things this morning. Number 1, How to grow in our love for Jesus. And then it gives us a picture of what that love looks like.

And my desire is that we would be changed. We're here to be changed this morning. And I want us, after hearing And just studying this passage to just grow and just be determined to be more passionate in our love for Jesus. When we enter Luke chapter 7, Jesus has just finished preaching the Sermon on the Mount.

And he comes back to Capernaum, his adopted hometown. This is the center of his ministry, his ministry headquarters. And in verse 11 of chapter 7, it says that soon after coming back, he went to a town called Nain. And This is a horrible map, but I want to just point out a couple of things about Nain.

now Nain is on the north side of this hill, the hill of Moray. You can see there. I got to see this place in Israel this summer. It was pretty, pretty cool.

I was looking out for Nain cause I, I just love this passage so much. and what's so interesting is I just find it fascinating that Jesus came to this town. He traveled 25 miles south from Capernaum to come to Nain. And it's interesting that 850 years before Jesus came to this town, Elisha, Elisha, the prophet of God, the man of God, had come to a town on the south side of the hill of Mori by the name of Shunamm, and it was there that Elisha raised a woman's son from the dead.

Now, now check this out. Jesus enters name. And in verse 12 of chapter 7, he says, and he drew near to the gate of the town, and look what the first thing that Jesus does. Behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.

And a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her. And he said to her, do not weep. And then he came up and he touched the coffin and the bear stood still.

And he said, Young man, I say to you, arise. And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him back to his mother, and fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, a great prophet has risen among us, like Shuna. And God has visited his people. See, imagine for that year, for years, Shuna had, had snubbed their nose at Nain and said, ha, we had a prophet come to our town.

But now more than a prophet, Jesus had come to name, and he came preaching a message. He came preaching salvation, the forgiveness of sins. He came preaching the gospel. And not only did he come preaching a message, but he was that message.

He was salvation. Simon in the temple holding baby Jesus says, my eyes have seen your salvation, oh Lord, that you have prepared in the presence of all the peoples. And we don't know how long Jesus was in the town, but many people flocked to see him, including the Pharisees, and that's where our story begins in verse 36. It says, now one of the Pharisees asked him.

to eat with him. The text makes it clear, Luke makes it clear from the grammar that he was repeatedly asking him to come. And be his guest at a special meal in his home. Now this is odd.

Jesus and the Pharisees weren't exactly bosom buddies. So what's going on here? You see, the, the, the Pharisees had been following Jesus, they've been observing him, trying to, trying to snag him up, trip him up in his teachings. And, and as he was proclaiming the forgiveness of sins and claiming to be the Messiah, that was just too much for them and they wanted to put him to death.

So why would this certain Pharisee be inviting him to his home? The text doesn't really tell us, but we can imagine that perhaps Simon the Pharisee wanted to display his self righteousness as he, as he entertained the traveling rabbi and served as his host. Or perhaps He wanted another opportunity to study Jesus. To find a way to disprove his claims.

Or trap him in his teaching. But the amazing thing is, the amazing thing is that Jesus, he agrees to come, he comes to the house. Because Jesus loves sinners, even Pharisees, and Jesus went there intent on showing love and proclaiming truth to this blind, self-righteous man. It says in the text, and he went into the Pharisee's house and he took his place at the table.

He reclined at the table. Already we can see an absence of any hospitality. Jesus isn't greeted, he's, he's not, he's not welcome. He's just showing his place at the table.

In, in the, in the Pharisee's home, there would have been a, a large room and in that large room there would have been a table, a low table and all the guests, the, the special guests at least would have reclined to the table. Jesus would have been at the table, the Pharisee would have been The table. Other Pharisees may have been there with them around surrounding the table at the meal, reclining on their side with their head towards the table, their feet out, and along the wall of the room others would have been invited to gather around to crowd in to watch what would have transpired that evening, the conversation that would have taken place, that would have taken place, and we know that it was an open door invitation because others We were able to come in and peek and see what was going on that night.

And, and, and I'll get this verse 37.

And behold, Luke is saying, behold, check this out. Get a load of this. Get a load of this. And behold a certain woman.

was in the city, a sinner. This was no ordinary woman. a female described in the Bible as a sinner was most likely a prostitute, or at least a practicing adulteress. This woman had a reputation.

The whole town knew about this, this girl, including those who were at the Pharisee's house. But what they didn't know, what they didn't know is that she had been converted. She had been saved. She had been transformed.

Luke doesn't give us this story, but you've got to read between the lines and our text makes this very clear, as we'll see. You see, when Jesus came into Nain. Even the outcasts. And, and the despised came to see who he was.

And this woman had an encounter with Jesus, perhaps not a face to face encounter, but maybe she came to the back of the crowd and, and, and was watching and listening to Jesus, and it might have been there that she for the first time saw him and beheld him. What's clear though is that she heard his message. She heard the message of forgiveness that he was preaching the gospel. And what's very clear is that she grabbed, she reached out and grabbed a hold of that message, of that gospel message, and she received it by faith and took it for her own.

And so when we see her here in verse 37, she is a changed woman. She's transformed. And it says, and after learning, after she learned that he was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume. You see, she was on a mission.

She was forgiven, and so she's, she's coming to the Pharisee's house because she wants to see Jesus. She wants to pour out her thankfulness on Him, her love for him. She wants to worship Him and adore Him for what he's done for her. She's realized that he's the one that provided the salvation for her.

He's the one that forgave her sins, and so she comes. And as she enters the house, you can hear a pin drop. All the conversation stops. Everyone's eyes, everyone's eyes are focused on her.

And she stands behind Jesus at his feet, and says, and standing behind him at his feet. Weeping She begins to weep. These could be tears of, of, of joy, or of sorrow. I think they're both.

I think as she sees Jesus again, after that encounter, she sees him again, she's overcome with her sin. Oh, how I've sinned against my Lord. Oh, what I've done to my savior. But there's also tears of thankfulness as she's remembering her forgiveness as she's, as she's still soaking it in.

It's so fresh. And she's saying, amazing love. How can it be that, that thou my savior would, would forgive a sinner like me. And tears are falling.

It says she's, she was weeping, weeping, crying. She began to wet his feet with her tears. You see, she, she came to anoint Jesus to worship him, but when she came to his feet, they were still dirty. You see, the Pharisee hadn't even extended common courtesy to have Jesus' feet washed.

That would have been a common practice in the day. And so the woman, she wants to anoint his feet, she came for that purpose, she brought that alabaster vial of perfume, this costly, costly perfume. But first she's got to wipe his feet and she's got to clean his feet. So she uses the tears that are falling down her face to wet his feet.

And then not having a towel around, she undoes her hair, and she begins to wipe his feet. And that day to drop your hair like that in public was, was a sign of impropriety. But here, I had a totally different expression as she's pouring out her love in service to Jesus. And then she begins to kiss his feet, demonstrating her humble affection for him.

And then finally she anoints his feet, which he came to do with the perfume, communicating her gratefulness, saying, Lord, you are worthy. You're worthy to receive this worship from me. And this took time The sick time, the wetting, the drying, the kissing. The anointing, but at some point, it came to an end in verse 38, and verse 39 says, now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would know who and what woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.

You see, just notice the Pharisee's response. He's implying, he's saying if this man were a prophet, he implying that he already came to the conclusion that Jesus wasn't a prophet, for if he would have been, he would have known that this woman was a prostitute, an adulteress. And as a man of God, a prophet of God, he would have never allowed someone like that to touch him. See, to the Pharisee, this woman was disgusting.

And Jesus was a fake, and he was the only one in his own eyes that was righteous in that room. But I love this. Jesus, the omniscient one, the, the one who knows all things, he was aware of all of this. And the text makes that clear when he says, and answering him, see, Jesus knew the thought and he answered it.

Jesus answering said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. I have something to say to you. When the Pharisee said, Say it, teacher. You see, that's all he thought he was a teacher.

You see, Simon was blind to what was going on here. He didn't see who Jesus was, and he didn't see who this woman was. And who she had become. And so Jesus tells him a parable to begin to instruct him graciously.

Two debtors belong to a certain moneylender. The one owed 500 denari, and the other 50. And when they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. Therefore, Simon, which of them will love him more?

You see, Jesus is taking Simon's thinking, OK, Simon, you think you're, you're really righteous. OK, so, and, and, and, and, and you think this woman is a real big sinner. But when, when you're forgiven, Who's going to love me more? Although Simon doesn't entirely understand what's going on, he starts to, to realize that he's getting trapped, he's getting put in a corner.

See, instead of Simon instructing Jesus that night, Jesus begins to teach Simon. And so he proceeds cautiously look at his answer, he says, I suppose, I suppose the one for whom the, the larger debt was canceled. And then Jesus, turning to the woman, he said, Do you see this woman? You see this woman, Simon?

I know you've been looking at her. I know you've been judging her. But do you see her? Do you see what's going on here?

You see, Simon had not really understood the parable, so Jesus is now going to make the application, and oh, what a contrast we see. Jesus says, I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet. But she, she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them. With her hair You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet, and you did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

With the perfume I was the honored guest in your home, Simon. You showed me no hospitality. See, Simon didn't have to wash his feet again, but Simon wasn't even thinking about Jesus's dirty feet. Simon didn't even greet Jesus with a kiss as a friend.

But the woman kept kissing Jesus, showing her deep love for him. And Simon didn't anoint his head with oil, but the woman anointed his feet with perfume. Here's where the story peaks. Here's where the climax is.

Jesus says in verse 3747, Therefore I tell you, I say to you, I say to you, Her sins, which were many, have been forgiven. For this reason, she is loving much, she is loved much. You see, her forgiveness didn't come because She had loved. No, she had already been forgiven.

And so she's coming to the house. And this love is a response to that forgiveness. But Jesus says to the Pharisee, but he for whom little is being forgiven. Love's little.

Simon, why you don't love me? Because you haven't experienced forgiveness. And then He turns to the woman. And for the first time that night, he addresses her and he says, He would have been looking up, I guess, your sins have been forgiven.

Your sins have been forgiven. I want you to realize what Jesus is, is saying here. He's not saying, by the way, I'm, I'm, I'm just a prophet, but I'm here to tell you that your sins have been forgiven by God. No, you got to remember the parable.

Jesus is the money lender. Jesus is the one who graciously forgave, and Jesus is the one that's saying, your sins have been forgiven by me, your God, and your savior. And then verse 49, then those who were reclining at the table with him. began to say among themselves, Who is this man who even forgives sins?

You see, they understood what he had implied, but they just couldn't believe it. And then Jesus says to the woman, your faith has saved you. Jesus makes it clear that, that it was the act of the woman receiving this forgiveness and taking hold of it by faith and humility. that has saved her.

And then he says, he concludes and the story ends with, go in peace. He's not just saying, go in a feeling of peace. No, he's saying, go in peace with God, go in Shalom with God, no longer under his wrath. Go in peace.

And thus our story concludes. And what I want to do this morning is I want to just spend the rest of our time just fleshing this out. What does this mean for us? And back to our question, how do we grow in love for Jesus?

I think it's by focusing on the gospel, by focusing on the gospel. This, I know we hear that a lot here at Cornerstone, the gospel, the gospel, but I really believe we can't do that enough. We, we've got to be focused on the gospel, and this, this story is full of gospel truths. But for me to tell you that focus on the gospel, it can be, it can be too abstract.

So I want to break it down this morning. And I want us to focus on several things. If we want our love to grow for Christ, then I, we need to realize certain things. We need to realize certain things.

This is what I want us to realize, and I put it in a poetic format that hopefully is easy to remember. We need to remember, we need to realize who he is and what he's done, who we are, and what we've become. If we want to grow in love for Christ, we've got to realize who he is. who he is, if we never embrace who Jesus claimed to be, if we never receive him as God, and a savior, then we can never love Him.

And, and, and, and as believers, we already understand that we know that he's God and who he claimed to be. We believe that he's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That's obvious. But these truths should also cause us to see him as, as the greatest treasure.

As, as, as something so valuable and, and, and precious. You see, Jesus is the treasure. I love what John Piper asks. He says, if you could have heaven, With no sickness and with all the friends you ever had on earth and all the food you ever liked and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed and all the natural beauties you ever saw and all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, no human conflict or natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven if Christ was not there.

Our answer should be no. You see, Christ is the gospel. He is the prize. He is eternal life.

And the question for us is, do we live that way? Do we see him that way? Or are we, are we pursuing so many other treasures that Jesus is just another nice part of our life? Is Jesus the treasure that you're willing to go after to get?

If not, then we will never love Jesus very much. We got to see him as a treasure. We've also got to realize what he's done. What he's done First John 4:19, I love this verse, and this is key for what we're talking about this morning.

We love him because he first loved us. You see, we're going to love God when we, when we focus on his love. When we focus on His love, He has loved you. He's loved you.

And I know that sometimes we understand that we understand that Jesus died for sinners, and Jesus died for the church, and Jesus died for his sheep, but we don't internalize and and take this as an individual truth that Jesus died for you. He died for me. He became a man for you. He, he, he submitted himself to the will of the Father and lived a perfect life for you.

He suffered at the hands of sinful men for you, and he hung on a bloody cross and took on the full weight of God's wrath for you. Because he loves you. And because he wanted to spend eternity with you. And we cannot think of that love and meditate on that love enough.

Greater love has no one than this. Jesus says, that one lay down his life for his friends. And yet Jesus died when we were yet his enemies, still his enemies. When you're in the car, when you're busy at work, when you're swamped at home with kids in the house, when you're in the midst of suffering a difficult trial, you've got to remember that Jesus loves you.

Jesus loves you. Listen to what Jesus says, he says, as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. Focus on my love.

And so if we're going to grow in Jesus Christ and love for Jesus, we've got to realize who He is and what he's done. We've also got to realize who you are, you've got to realize who you are. You see, only people who are continually focused on the fact that they are wicked sinners will ever love Jesus passionately. And the question for this morning is, are you blind to your sin?

Do you constantly look around like Simon the Pharisee, judging other people's sin? Condemning other people in disgust. And when people mess up, do you, do you, you cry crucify, crucify when they sin against you? And when people who love you are so gracious and kind to come to you in humility and show you your sin.

Do you think that they're crazy and confused? Like Jesus, like, like, like Simon considered Jesus. We cannot forget the parable. You see, the parable.

The point of the parable wasn't who had more sin. That was important to Simon, but ultimately that's not the reality. The reality is that neither of them could pay, neither of them could pay back what was owed. And so Jesus, the money lender, had to step in and clean up the mess that they had made and the debt of sin that they had racked up.

See, we gotta realize who we are, who we are, we've got, we can't hide behind self righteousness. We gotta stop trying to justify ourselves and, and we've got to be like the woman just putting up our hands and saying, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner, and confess that. That's how we find her in that room that night just weeping over her sin, weeping.

Realizing who she was. We've also got to realize who we've become. Got to realize who we've become. You're free.

You're free. You see, forgiveness equals freedom. Forgiveness equals freedom. I want you to imagine for a moment that you're financially upside down in your house right now.

Now for some of us, that's, we don't have to imagine that we are. But I want, I want you to imagine that you bought a house, way above your means and say you paid $400,000 for it, and now it's worth $130,000. And your hours at work have been cut. And, and your monthly payment is squeezing every penny out of you.

You can't sell, you can't make more money, you're trapped. And then I want you to imagine that the president of the bank comes over. And, and, and it's not just a debt reduction. He's giving you, he, he knocks on the door and he comes in, and he gives you a big hug.

And he tells you, you, what, you don't have a mortgage anymore. And, and by the way, the, the $400,000 that you paid for the house, I, I put it back in your bank account with a little extra. And, and, and if that wasn't enough, he, he wants you to quit your dead-end job, and to come and work for him and he's gonna pay you $20,000 a month, because he likes you and he wants to hang out with you. See, that's what the woman got.

That's what the woman got. And having received this forgiveness, the woman was now free, not free for herself, not free to live however she wanted, no free. She was freed up to live. In love with Jesus, to love Jesus, she no longer had to atone for her sin and try to appease God, and try to save herself.

Now she was free of all that. See, Jesus had done all that. And now she was just free to set her love on him. Paul declares for freedom, Christ has set us free.

As believers, we are now free like this woman, to just pursue Jesus, to worship him, to serve him, to love Him. This is how we're going to, to grow in our love for Christ as we realize these things as daily we're, we're ingesting this, these truths and, and, and, and reminding ourselves of them. Well, not only do we want to realize who he is and what he's done, who you are and what you've become. But you, if you want to grow in your love for Christ, you've got to receive this forgiveness.

You've got to receive this forgiveness by faith and in humility. On August 12, 2000. Something catastrophic happened to the Kursk, a Russian nuclear submarine. Experts still don't know if a torpedo exploded inside or whether it collided with the ocean floor as it was engaged in maneuvers.

The first explosion was followed by a second explosion that measured 4.2 on the Richter scale. And 23 men worked working in the 6th and 9th compartments, those are the back compartments. They, they survived the blast, the two blasts, and they gathered back in the 9th compartment, waiting 3, possibly 4 days for rescue vessels to come. But no rescue vessel ever reached them.

In her pride, in her pride, Russia downplayed the incident and declined initial offers for help. for rescue. And though a rescue attempt was offered by the US, the British, and the Norwegians, all 118 sailors and officers aboard the Kursk perished. A Dutch team later recovered the wreckage.

That's a picture of it. And all the bodies, and they were all buried in Russia. You see, if you're going to grow in your love for Christ, you must receive His forgiveness. You, you can hear the gospel your entire life and never be saved.

And Jesus makes it clear that the woman, it, it was, it was receiving grabbing that forgiveness and taking it for herself that saved her. And but this is a humbling thing. This is a humbling thing. We live in a world where we don't want to ask for help.

We pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. I love what CJ Mahaney says. He says, have you received forgiveness for your sins? See, over the years I've met, I've met individuals who appear to be aware of their sin.

But there's an absence of this gratefulness to the Savior, an absence of this affection for the savior that is displayed by this woman. And I've often wondered why. And often I think these individuals aren't so much convicted by their sin as they are discouraged because of their sin. And their discouragement reveals self righteousness, and the false hope that they can eventually achieve forgiveness through their obedience.

You see, when we receive God's forgiveness, part of that receiving is for the rest of our lives, just, just living in humility and saying, Lord, I need you. I need you. We've got to stop living in our own strength. We've got to stop living in our own self-righteousness.

We've got to stop living as if we could save ourselves. And instead we've got to just live dependent on Him. Got to receive his forgiveness. And as you continually realize who Jesus is, And the truths that we've talked about, and then as you receive that forgiveness and humility.

You're going to respond. If you're doing these things, if you're consumed with the gospel in this way, and if you've received Christ's forgiveness, you're going to respond with love like this woman. You're going to respond. With a love that does several things.

Number one, that pursues Jesus. See, I want, I want, I want us to get in that, that, that first John 4:19 passage, it really sums us up, that our love is just a response. When we're so focused on Jesus, and we're consumed with his love for us, and we'll respond to it. True love does not have to be coerced.

It does not have to be forced. It just happens. It wants to happen. This woman wanted to go to the Pharisee's house to see Jesus.

She didn't, she wasn't forced to do that. She didn't feel, she had to do it out of duty or fear or guilt. Now she wanted to go there. Do we live that way?

Do we, do we love Jesus because we have to? Or because we want to And I think what's so sad is that so often we're, we're, we're pursuing and we're so passionate about so many other things, we're so distracted. But I love what Paul says in Philippians 3:7. He says, whatever things were gained to me.

These things I've counted as loss for the sake of Christ. You see, Paul, once he, once he was blown away by God's love, he just set everything else aside. We're so distracted by other things, but we've got to just, just pull everything behind us. Everything's got to become a distant second, as we just focus on Jesus for the rest of our lives, and, and, and love him.

And pursue him. Paul says, whatever things were gained to me, those things I've counted as loss for the sake of Christ. And more than that, I count all things to be loss, in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and I count them as rubbish, so that I may gain Christ. See, love pursues Jesus.

If we love him, we'll pursue him. As we grow in our love for Christ, we'll also worship Him. will respond with a love that worships him. Let me ask you a question.

Are you a glory robber? What's that? A glory robber. The Pharisee was a glory robber.

You see, he lived, he did, he did holy things. He did holy things and lived in a way so that, that people would look at him and go, wow. They would, they would adore him and marvel at him. And glorify Him, even the sinful woman, even the sinful woman before she came to know Jesus Christ, she was a glory robber.

Because she sought to be beautiful in the eyes of lustful men, so that they would worship her and her body instead of Jesus. Do you rob God's glory by wanting to worship and love, and wanting people to worship and love you more than, than Christ? See, all of us rob God of His glory when we love ourselves more than Him, when we worship ourselves instead of Him. And when we make much of ourselves in place of Him, But God can change all that.

When the woman came into the Pharisee's home, she, she, it was no longer about her. She, she put herself aside and she came to the house because she wanted to lift up Jesus. She wanted to, to come and to see him glorified and him worshiped and exalted. You see, worship is more than singing songs to God, worship is making is using all of our life, all of our actions, our thoughts, are being to make much of Jesus, to lift him up.

It's living in a way that makes God awesome to people around you. And the woman had become transformed into that worshiper. See, love for Jesus worships him, doesn't worship. We don't worship ourselves anymore.

And as we grow in our love for Jesus, we'll respond with a love that serves Jesus. You see, people who love Jesus, don't go to any lengths for him. They'll go without, they'll give up. They'll do whatever it takes to see the one that died for them served.

The woman, when she came, she was intent on anointing Jesus' feet. And when his dirty feet got in the way, it was no problem for her. She said, I'll, I'll gladly wipe his feet. I'll gladly clean and serve his feet.

And we may be asking, it's natural for us to ask, well, Jesus isn't here on earth right now. How do we serve him now? How do I, how am I supposed to serve him right now? And the answer is by obeying him, by obeying him, by doing the things that he's commanded for us to do.

Jeez, I love when Jesus says, he says, if you love me, You'll keep my commandments. Jesus isn't saying, if you loved me, you'd keep my commandments. No, he's saying, if you love me, you're going to want to keep my commandments. And Jesus also tells us that the way that we can serve Him is by serving others, by serving the least among men.

He says, when we're doing that, we're doing it unto Him. That's why when we claim to love God but hate our brother, We're really hating God. We're really hating Christ. You see, serving others is serving Christ, and loving others is loving Christ.

So we'll respond with a love that serves him. And then lastly, we'll respond with a love that is unashamed of him. People who love Jesus are unashamed of him. They'll speak about him in places he's not welcome.

They'll walk with him in a world that hates him. And they'll be willing to suffer alongside of him. I love Mark chapter 8. She says if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

She says the thing, I've been called to suffer. And if you want to follow me, then you take up your cross and follow me in that same suffering. And don't be ashamed. And Jesus, right after that, then he says, for whoever is ashamed of me, and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him with the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in His glory, when God comes, when Jesus comes back in his glory, and, and then nobody will be ashamed of him.

He'll he'll be beautiful, be amazing. People will just be bowing down. He says that then at that time, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes with his glory, the glory of His Father and His holy angels. Are you ashamed of Jesus?

Do we pray and have our quiet time and read our Bible in private only? And then, and then publicly deny that we know him by the way we live. You see this woman. She, she pursued Jesus, she worshiped him, she served him, not in private.

She came to that home. She came to a Pharisee's home. That wasn't easy to do. Everybody knew who this woman was.

These were people who had mocked her, who had, who had judged her, who hated her, who thought, slowly of her. And, and she, she doesn't care. She doesn't care. She's, she's not ashamed.

She just comes. To worship Jesus. So love for Jesus. will be unashamed of Jesus.

I want to close our time and I want to just ask that you bow your heads with me. You might be able to convince your spouse, or someone else that you love and care for them. there's people that have done that. They've lived in relationships where they try to fool people, but the, the, the crazy thing will never fool Jesus.

he sees our hearts, he can see us right now, and he knows whether we love him or not. And the thing is that he wants so desperately for us to love him. He wants us to be in a deep love relationship with him. I'm I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm so convinced more than ever that we glorify God the most.

We bring him maximum glory when we're loving Him. That's when he's glorified. This is what he went to great lengths to do. Sending His Son to die on the cross for our sins, to redeem a group of people that would forever be in love with him.

If you're here this morning, and you don't know Jesus Christ, then you'll never be able to love him. You've got to see Him for who He is and recognize your sinfulness and then receive that forgiveness from Him. And for those of us who do know him and walk with him for months, who walked with him for months and years, and decades, Does our love Look like the sinful woman's. If not, then do what she did.

See Jesus is precious, spend hours consumed with Him, pursue Him, worship Him, fall in love with him. And then run to him and tell him, I love you, Lord, but help my love. Help it to grow more. And then use the freedom that God's given you to love him for the rest of your life.

As I pray, I want the ushers to come forward. This is our opportunity to, to tangibly show Jesus Christ's love. As we give of our offerings to Him. Jesus gave up everything for us.

He says, I love a cheerful, cheerful giver. why Jesus loves a cheerful giver? Because a cheerful giver loves him. So this is our opportunity to show love to Jesus, and I want to pray as ushers come forward.

Father, we thank you For your word, we thank you for Jesus. Our awesome savior, our God, who came to this earth for us, who died on the cross for us. Lord, you spared no expense. Our salvation was free to us, but it cost you everything.

And we thank you Lord for that salvation. Lord, help, help us as we gaze upon your love to respond with a love. Just as strong, just as passionate. Help us, Lord.

Help us to, to be changed and to, to leave this room just determined and excited to love you more. We pray it all in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.