No More Rusty Christians - Part 4 · The Disciple Machine

No More Rusty Christians - Part 4

Love Warns Because Danger Is Real

Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” Then He said, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. But again, we must let God define love. Loving your neighbor does not mean affirming everything your neighbor does. Loving your neighbor does not mean staying silent while your neighbor walks toward destruction. Loving your neighbor means caring enough about their soul to tell them the truth.

Leviticus 19:17-18 says, “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him,” and then it says, “love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.” That is powerful. God connects love with warning. He does not say love means silence. He says if you love your neighbor, you will not let sin destroy him without warning him. Now that does not mean we beat people over the head with the Bible. There are plenty of religious people who have used God’s Word like a club, and that is not what I am talking about. But it does mean love hates what evil does to people so much that it sets aside comfort to warn them.

This is where the picture of the flares comes in. Imagine driving down a dark highway at night, and there has been an accident ahead. You cannot see the danger yet, but someone is standing there with flares, waving them, trying to get your attention. Warning. Warning. Warning. Stop. Slow down. Danger ahead. That person is not being hateful. He is not trying to ruin your night. He is trying to save your life. That is what believers are called to do in this world. We are called to stand with the flares of truth and warn people about what is ahead if they remain on the path they are on.

In Matthew 5, Jesus said His people are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. But some Christians are stuck in the salt shaker. They have truth, but they are not touching anything. They have light, but they keep it hidden. They do not want to be thought of as weird, extreme, judgmental, or out of control. But what good is salt if it never gets poured out? What good is light if it never shines in darkness? We have to connect with people. We have to love people. We have to warn people. We may not love what they are doing, but we love them enough to tell them about the consequences of staying on that road.

There have been many times when it would have been easier for me to shut up. It would have been easier not to preach. It would have been easier not to sit in front of a camera. It would have been easier to say, “Maybe I will just pray for them in secret and hope they straighten out.” Prayer matters, but prayer is not an excuse for silence when God has called you to speak. A sent one is sent for a purpose. You may have loved ones, friends, neighbors, or strangers God puts in your path. If their faith is not in Jesus Christ, you may be the warning flare God has placed in front of them.

The point is simple: if I refuse to warn people because I am more concerned with my own comfort, then I have chosen to love myself more than my neighbor. Believe me, loving myself is easier than loving my neighbor. If I love myself more, life gets easier. I do not have to risk rejection. I do not have to be misunderstood. I do not have to be called names. I do not have to feel uncomfortable. But if I care more about my comfort than someone’s eternal life, shame on me. Love speaks the truth. Love protects. Love warns.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:6-7 that love “Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” Love does not rejoice while sin destroys people. Love rejoices in truth. Love endures. Love keeps standing. Love keeps warning. Love keeps hoping. Noah preached while he built. When Noah was not building, he was warning. He was putting out the flares, saying judgment was coming and they needed to get in the ark. Only eight survived the flood, but Noah did not quit because the response was small. He kept going until the door closed.

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No More Rusty Christians - Part 4