June 30, 2025 • 29 mins
Navigating what it truly means to love our neighbor ranks among the most challenging aspects of living out our Christian faith. Pastor Timothy Mann cuts through cultural confusion with a powerful reminder that love isn't an optional extra for believers—it's the main course.
Drawing from John 13:34-35, 1 John 4:20, and Mark 12:29-31, Pastor Tim establishes that loving others directly reflects our love for God. This teaching provides a transformative framework for how Christians should approach relationships, particularly with those whose lifestyles or identities may conflict with Biblical teaching.
The message unpacks three essential components of Biblical love. First, love promotes dignity by recognizing every person bears God's image regardless of their choices or identity. History's greatest atrocities—from the Holocaust to slavery—stemmed from denying this fundamental truth. Second, love requires empathy, the willingness to understand another's perspective before speaking into their life. As Galatians 6:2 instructs, we must "bear one another's burdens." Third, love shares truth, which often contradicts our culture's definition that equates love with affirming every desire.
Pastor Tim addresses the tension Christians face between speaking Biblical truth and being labeled hateful, reminding us that true love isn't measured by popularity but by alignment with Scripture. This teaching provides practical wisdom for believers navigating relationships in an increasingly divided society.
Whether you're struggling to love difficult people, wrestling with how to engage loved ones making choices contrary to Scripture, or simply seeking to deepen your understanding of Christian love, this message offers biblical clarity and compassionate guidance. The question isn't whether we'll encounter people with different values and identities—it's whether we'll respond with dignity, empathy, and truth.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Foundations of Truth, the Bible
teaching ministry of PastorTimothy Mann and Providence
Church, ormond Beach, florida.
Providence Church is a localassembly of followers of Jesus
Christ dedicated to helpingpeople become committed and
mature followers of Jesus Christ.
Now here's Pastor Tim teachingthe Word Turning your Bibles to.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
John, chapter 13 is where we'll start.
Gospel of John, chapter 13.
We'll also be traveling over tohis little letter, the first
letter after his gospel, 1, john.
We'll go there, and then we'regoing to work our way back to
the gospel of Mark, and so we'llbegin in John, the gospel of
John.
We'll go to 1 John, we'll comeback to Mark, chapter 12.
(00:48):
So Mark, chapter 12, is wherewe'll end, but we're going to
begin in John 13.
Hopefully you're there by now.
Jesus is speaking here as Johnrecords it for us.
He's speaking to his followers,his disciples, and he says in
verses 34 and 35, he says a newcommandment I give to you that
(01:08):
you love one another as I haveloved you.
In other words, in the same waythat I've loved you, in the
same manner that I've loved youas I have loved you, that you
also love one another as I haveloved you, that you also love
one another.
(01:29):
And by this that is to say thatyou actually love one another
as I have loved you.
By this, all will know that youare my disciples if you have
love for one another.
1 John, a little letter in thelatter part of the New Testament
before you get to Revelation.
1 John, chapter 4, verse 20.
(01:51):
1 John, chapter 4, verse 20.
The Bible says if someone says Ilove God and hates his brother,
he is a liar.
For he who does not love hisbrother, whom he has seen, how
can he love god whom he has notseen?
Turn with me back over to thegospel of mark mark, chapter 12.
(02:17):
The context here is one of thereligious leaders, one of the
scribes, ask a question,probably in hopes to trip Jesus
up, about which is the firstcommandment of all.
Verse 29 of chapter 12, jesusanswers.
Chapter 12, verse 29 says Jesusanswered him.
(02:40):
The first of all thecommandments is hear, o Israel,
the Lord, our God.
The Lord is one and you shalllove the Lord, your God, with
all your heart, with all yoursoul, with all your mind and
with all your strength.
This is the first commandment,and the second, like it, is this
(03:01):
you shall love your neighbor asyourself.
There is no other commandmentgreater than these.
And we'll stop here.
This is God's word that we'vejust read.
As we traveled home from ourgrandson's ball game baseball
game I made a meal purchaseusing an app on my iPhone.
(03:24):
Yes, I've entered the 21stcentury.
I'm trying to get alltechnological on you, right?
So I made a meal purchase usingan app on my iPhone and after I
had selected the main items andthen also the sides from the
menu, I then had a spot on theapp to click an icon for
(03:44):
optional extras that I could addto my order, such as butter and
whatever else, silverware andthings like that, and sauce and
yeah, all kinds of optionalextras.
And even though I ordered a fewextras, it really didn't matter
much, because some of thethings including a side for
(04:06):
crying out loud did not maketheir way into the bag that held
my order.
And of course, we're traveling.
You know how that goes.
Love can never be an optionalextra for the Christian.
Never be an optional extra forthe Christian.
(04:28):
We're talking this morningabout how to love your neighbor,
how to love your neighbor.
Love can never be an optionalextra for a Christian.
It's not like we get eternallife and then a sign of
forgiveness and a future hopeand then have love as an
optional extra.
And even if we think we wouldlike love as an extra, sometimes
(04:53):
it sure looks like it didn'tmake it into our Christian bag.
See, to be a Christian means tolove as you have been loved by
God.
To be a Christian means to loveas you have been loved by God.
(05:14):
Look again at John 13.
John 13, once again, jesus saida new commandment, not a new
suggestion.
A new commandment I give to youthat you love one another as I
have loved you, that you alsolove one another.
(05:36):
Did you catch that?
Jesus says that if we fail tolove other believers, we show
that we do not really love God.
And I didn't even read this onethis morning.
It's a famous parable.
Most everyone knows it, evenkind of.
What the title of the parableis is used in today's vernacular
(06:00):
.
The famous parable of the GoodSamaritan actually shows that by
others he also means all others.
My neighbor, your neighborincludes anyone and everyone.
(06:30):
Jesus is.
Apostle John spells it out againin the first, in verse 20,
first letter, chapter 4, verse20.
He says if someone says I loveGod and hates his brother, now
we would be inclined to say,well, he's a hypocrite.
(06:51):
A hypocrite, that's bad enough.
Nobody likes to be called orthought of as a hypocrite, but
the Holy Spirit of God did notinspire the apostle John to use
the word hypocrite.
Instead, he just gets to theheart of the matter and he says
if someone says I love God andhates his brother, he is a what.
I don't like this sermon.
(07:12):
Already I didn't like it as Istudied for it, because it's
very convicting he who does notlove his brother, whom he's seen
, how can he love God whom he'snot seen?
And so, for followers of Christ,love is not just an attitude
tacked on to the Christian lifeas an afterthought.
(07:35):
Love is not an appetizer.
Love is not a dessert.
Love is the main course.
Love is not a dessert.
Love is the main course, it'sthe main dish.
And so a heart that cultivates,actually works toward and
(08:08):
cultivates love for God and lovetoward others is at the core of
what it means to be a Christian, to be a follower of Jesus.
Jesus even says that the lovewe foster in our hearts toward
others is a reflection of thelove that we have for God.
Being a Christian, being aChristian and harboring hate
toward others does not work fora follower of Jesus.
It doesn't work for a followerof Jesus why?
(08:30):
Well, because love is thefoundation of the greatest
commandments, as we read in Mark, chapter 12.
Look at it again, verses 29through 31.
Verse 30,.
And you shall love the Lord,your God, with all your heart
and with all your soul and withall your mind and with all your
(08:52):
strength.
This is the first commandment,and the second, like it, is this
you shall love your neighbor asyourself.
There's no other commandmentgreater than these.
So the centrality of love mustbe the foundation for for our
interaction with friends, withfamily, with neighbors, with our
(09:18):
fellow citizens, including allthose who are experiencing
gender dysphoria or who haveembraced a transgender identity
or are living a homosexuallifestyle.
A biblical response to all thefolks that we've been discussing
(09:42):
in this series is to see themas our neighbors and to love
them because they are ourneighbors.
But that's easier said thandone.
Even if we're determined thismorning to turn our backs on all
(10:05):
knee-jerk reactions of one kindor another, it's still easier
said than done.
And what does it even mean tolove?
Because, from the Bible to theBeatles, we're told all you need
is love.
But what does it actually meanto love someone?
(10:27):
As a Christian, I may want toact lovingly toward all people,
regardless of their age or theirrace, or their background or
their gender identity.
But how do I do that?
What does it even look likebiblically speaking.
Now, there's many things thatcould be said biblically.
(10:51):
We could go a hundred differentdirections this morning
biblically, but there are fourprinciples that I want to share
with you this morning, fourbiblical truths.
That's foundational and veryintegral in this topic, in this
theme that we've been discussing.
If we're talking about lovingour neighbor, it's interesting.
(11:14):
Interesting because Jesus saidbetween us, between believers,
we're to actually love eachother how as he has loved us.
I mean think about the waysthat Jesus has loved you, and
that means that fellow believer,that brother, that sister,
we're to love each other in thatsame way as Jesus loved us.
(11:38):
For our neighbor, that personwe don't know, he didn't use
that same language, but he saidthis you're to love your
neighbor as you love yourself.
I promise you today, sometimetoday, if you've not done so
already, sometime today, you'regoing to feed yourself.
Right?
(12:00):
How many of you have alreadyfed yourself this morning?
How many of you are going tofeed yourself in a little bit?
It's because you love you.
That's why, thankfully, you allclothed yourself this morning.
You clothed yourself, youdidn't come out naked.
It'll be harsh in the elementsand on everybody else too.
(12:21):
You bathe yourself?
Most likely.
I don't know, danny, he's byhimself over here, I'm not sure.
But no, I'm kidding coach, wedo these things, we care for
ourselves.
Why?
Because we love us.
And he says your neighbor, thatperson you don't even know, you
(12:43):
may not like, you have noaffection for or fondness toward
you're to love them at least asmuch as you love you.
Easier said than done, sometimes, and in the context of gender
(13:11):
sexuality, what does that looklike?
Let me suggest some things toyou.
First one is this If you'retaking some notes, you can jot
these down.
What does that look like?
Let me suggest some things toyou.
First one is this If you'retaking some notes, you can jot
these down.
What does love do?
How, how do we love ourneighbor?
First of all this love promotesdignity.
Love promotes dignity.
(13:33):
See, first we need tounderstand who our neighbors are
, and our neighbors are peoplemade in God's image, as we've
already seen.
We studied that and talkedabout that in detail.
A few messages back People madein God's image.
Genesis, chapter 1, verse 27,says God created man in his own
image, not in the image of ananimal, in his own image.
(13:54):
In the image of God, he createdhim Male and female.
He created them, and so thetruth that man and woman are
made in God's image is thefoundation, it's the starting
point for human dignity.
Dignity the human dignity isthe concept that individuals
possess an unassailable worth, avalue that cannot be violated,
(14:28):
and there are no exceptions tothis truth.
There is no way for someone tobe a human and not bear God's
image, even though they mayobscure it, even though they may
mar it.
There's no way for someone tobe a human and not bear God's
image.
Oftentimes you'll hear someonesay about someone else well,
(14:51):
he's just trash, she's justtrash.
That's not true.
They're a human made in theimage of God, and nothing they
can do with their lives or dowith their lives can eradicate
the image of God.
No human authority can take itaway.
(15:13):
All humans possess God-givendignity and possess it equally.
Presidents and peasants bothare exactly the same in God's
eyes.
Christians and non-Christiansboth are made in God's image.
Those who deal with same-sexsexual attraction and those who
(15:35):
do not both possess the sameinherent dignity.
A person confused about theirgender and someone at peace with
their gender both possess thesame dignity, and failing to
understand how this truthapplies to every single person
equally is the foundation forall sorts of abuse and
(15:58):
atrocities In Nazi Germany.
A failure to see the fulldignity of the Jews led to the
Holocaust Early in the foundingof the United States.
A failure on the part of manywhite people to see the full
dignity of persons with blackskin led to the evils of racism
and slavery in this country Forthe last 50 years.
(16:23):
A failure to see the fulldignity of persons who are not
yet born has led to 50 millionlegal abortions in the US alone
abortions in the US alone.
History's greatest crimesresult from denying God's image
in every single man and woman.
(16:43):
A transgendered person is madein God's image and that means
dignity is due to them as people, regardless of whether I agree
(17:03):
with their self-perception.
Dignity demands that we speak indefense of someone's worth
instead of saying, well, they'rejust trash.
It means we speak in defense ofsomeone's worth even when, as
Bible believers, we rightly andcorrectly disagree with their
way of life.
See, love does something.
(17:27):
It has nothing to do withaffection, it has nothing to do
with fondness.
Love does something, and thatis, it promotes the dignity of
another human, simply becausethey carry the image of God.
And, ladies and gentlemen, forthat reason and that reason is
enough, for that reason theyhave value.
(17:47):
Love promotes dignity, not onlythat.
Second point love requiresempathy.
Love requires empathy.
(18:10):
You don't love somebody youdon't empathize with, not really
See.
Understanding the perspectiveof someone unlike you is
absolutely vital to developingempathy and building
relationships.
I would even go so far as tosay this Listen to me, christian
(18:32):
Empathy is the prerequisite forspeaking meaningfully and
authoritatively into someone'slife.
Meaningfully and authoritativelyinto someone's life.
Let me ask you a question as aChristian do you just want to be
(18:53):
right or do you want toinfluence somebody?
It's a prerequisite for beingable to speak meaningfully and
authoritatively into someone'slife.
The Apostle Paul tells thechurch in Galatia Galatia,
chapter 6, verse 2,.
This is what he says.
He says bear one another'sburdens and so fulfill the law
(19:15):
of Christ.
What is the law of Christ?
That we love one another.
What is the law of Christ?
That we love one another?
The new commandment he gave tolove one another and to love our
neighbor as ourself.
Bear one another's burdens.
So to love someone, we have towork hard to empathize with them
(19:36):
.
What does empathy mean?
To empathize with someone meansthat you're seeking to look at
life from their perspective andto walk in their shoes.
Empathy is very close tocompassion, and both of those
(19:57):
words, their root meaning fromthe original language, has the
idea to feel in the bowels, or,stated this way, it means to
suffer with.
That's the idea.
Let me ask you a question Is iteasy for you to simply dismiss
(20:21):
someone out of hand becausetheir struggle seems alien or
strange to you?
Is it easy for you to justdismiss someone out of hand
because you disagree with thechoices they've made or the
identity they assume and thethings they do?
I mean you can, just, no secondthought, just dismiss them out
(20:46):
of hand, because empathy,extending empathy, doesn't mean
that you accept or affirm orencourage someone to embrace
their desire to live, contraryto God's creative design.
But it does mean, however, thatinstead of rejecting a person
outright, we make an effort toseek to understand what they're
(21:08):
dealing with and what theirstruggles are.
That's what it means.
Listen, folks, you need tounderstand.
There are going to be people inyour life.
There are going to be people inyour life who experienced
dysphoria of some kind.
(21:29):
It's inevitable.
There's people in your church.
There's people in your family.
There's people in your schools,there's people in your family,
there's people in your schools,and so what are you going to do
(21:55):
when someone you encounteradmits to these struggles?
Will you respond with your jawon the floor?
Will your facial expressionturn someone away?
Or will you extend a hand ofcompassion and make sure you ask
questions and listen hard?
Or your children?
(22:16):
Can they even admit a struggleto you?
Can they even admit a struggleto you?
Look what our eyebrows and ournoses do when we meet someone
tells them much more about howwe truly feel than do our words
(22:37):
or our posts on social media.
See, the Bible says that we'renot only to get to know people,
but we're to bear their burdens,which means someone else's load
also becomes my load.
Someone else's struggle becomesmy struggle.
And you cannot love yourneighbor, the one who God puts
(22:59):
in your path, if you do notempathize with them, if you do
not have compassion on them, ifyou don't suffer with, if you
don't feel it in your bowel, inyour gut.
You can't love your neighbor ifyou don't empathize with them.
(23:20):
The reason don't have time tounpack it today the reason the
Samaritan got down in the ditchwith the half-dead Jew who was
prejudiced against the Samaritan.
The only reason he got in theditch with him, the Bible says
in the Gospel of Luke, is he hadcompassion on him.
He empathized with him.
(23:41):
What's our attitude?
Our attitude is usually this hedeserves to be in the ditch.
He got himself into this mess.
Let him figure a way to get outof it, and we don't offer to
help.
What do we do?
We just kick more dirt in onhim.
Dirt in on him.
(24:31):
Love promotes dignity and loveworks to empath me.
Thirdly, love shares truth.
Love shares truth.
First Corinthians, chapter 13.
I did not enjoy reading firstCorinthians chapter 13.
I mean, oh, it sounds beautiful.
It's good to be read atweddings.
It's all high sounding andflowery and beautiful.
All about love.
You probably got a verse up inyour home somewhere, man.
I don't like it.
You know why?
Because I started looking atmyself as I read 1 Corinthians
(24:56):
13.
I failed the test.
You do too, because we don'tmeasure up to what 1 Corinthians
13 says about love.
One of the things it says aboutlove is this 1 Corinthians 13,
verse 6 says Love does notrejoice in iniquity.
(25:19):
We could put it this way Lovedoes not rejoice at wrongdoing,
but rejoices with the truth.
Love does not rejoice ininiquity, but rejoices with the
truth.
So what does love do?
Love shares truth.
Now, here is perhaps the mostdelicate aspect of loving our
(25:41):
neighbor.
Here is perhaps the mostdelicate aspect of loving our
neighbor, our transgenderneighbor, our practicing
homosexual neighbor, while notsending signals that we approve
of someone living in a genderopposite of their sex, or no sex
at all, or in a sexuallyimmoral way, opposite from God's
design.
Because here's the reality.
(26:02):
The Bible's definition of loveruns contrary to the world's
definition.
Runs contrary Because,according to the world,
according to the world, lovingsomeone means giving them
license to pursue whatever theybelieve will bring them
happiness or fulfillment.
That's the world's definitionof love.
(26:24):
The Bible says that loverequires truth.
Love requires truth.
Love does not mean listen to me,especially if you have kids or
grandkids and home still, orgrandkids At home still.
Love does not mean lookingsomeone in the eye and affirming
(26:52):
every desire they experience.
Love means looking someone inthe eyes and communicating the
truth of Scripture.
That's what love is.
We're to do so humbly, we're todo so gently, but we're to do
so nonetheless.
And it is very important tobear in mind that what
Christians call loving will notoften be considered loving by
(27:13):
the world.
So we should never assesswhether we are truly loving by
the world's response or anindividual's response to our
message of love.
Love and truth are neverdetermined by whether they're
popular, because often what isloving and true is very
(27:34):
unpopular, and you know this tobe the case increasingly today.
Speaking truth out of love iscalled hate speech.
It's called hate speech, butthe Bible says.
The Bible says that love cannotexist without truth and love
cannot rejoice at wrongdoing, itcannot rejoice in iniquity.
(27:59):
So if we accept the authorityof the Bible and that's really
what it comes down to, isn't it?
We've been talking about thatfor a number of weeks now that
is really what it comes down to.
I need a good amen right there.
That really is what it comesdown to is do you accept the
(28:21):
authority of the Bible?
Is this the final word?
Everything over your life andmy life, whether I like it,
whether I'm comfortable with it,whether it makes me happy,
whether it makes me comfortable,it doesn't matter.
Is this the final say?
Speaker 1 (28:38):
You've been listening to.
Foundations of Truth, the Bibleteaching ministry of Pastor
Timothy Mann at ProvidenceChurch, ormond Beach, florida.
You're invited to join us onSundays at 1151 West Granada
Boulevard in Ormond Beach Forservice times, bible fellowship
groups and more information onactivities at Providence Church.
Go online totheprovidencechurchorg.
(28:58):
If you feel led by God tofinancially support Foundations
of Truth, visit the giving linkat theprovidencechurchorg.
If you feel led by God tofinancially support Foundations
of Truth, visit the giving linkat TheProvidenceChurchorg.
Until next time, continue tobuild your life on the
foundations of truth throughJesus Christ and God's written
word.
Welcome to Foundations of Truth, the Bible
teaching ministry of PastorTimothy Mann and Providence
Church, ormond Beach, florida.
Providence Church is a localassembly of followers of Jesus
Christ dedicated to helpingpeople become committed and
mature followers of Jesus Christ.
Now here's Pastor Tim teachingthe Word Turning your Bibles to.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
John, chapter 13 is where we'll start.
Gospel of John, chapter 13.
We'll also be traveling over tohis little letter, the first
letter after his gospel, 1, john.
We'll go there, and then we'regoing to work our way back to
the gospel of Mark, and so we'llbegin in John, the gospel of
John.
We'll go to 1 John, we'll comeback to Mark, chapter 12.
(00:48):
So Mark, chapter 12, is wherewe'll end, but we're going to
begin in John 13.
Hopefully you're there by now.
Jesus is speaking here as Johnrecords it for us.
He's speaking to his followers,his disciples, and he says in
verses 34 and 35, he says a newcommandment I give to you that
(01:08):
you love one another as I haveloved you.
In other words, in the same waythat I've loved you, in the
same manner that I've loved youas I have loved you, that you
also love one another as I haveloved you, that you also love
one another.
(01:29):
And by this that is to say thatyou actually love one another
as I have loved you.
By this, all will know that youare my disciples if you have
love for one another.
1 John, a little letter in thelatter part of the New Testament
before you get to Revelation.
1 John, chapter 4, verse 20.
(01:51):
1 John, chapter 4, verse 20.
The Bible says if someone says Ilove God and hates his brother,
he is a liar.
For he who does not love hisbrother, whom he has seen, how
can he love god whom he has notseen?
Turn with me back over to thegospel of mark mark, chapter 12.
(02:17):
The context here is one of thereligious leaders, one of the
scribes, ask a question,probably in hopes to trip Jesus
up, about which is the firstcommandment of all.
Verse 29 of chapter 12, jesusanswers.
Chapter 12, verse 29 says Jesusanswered him.
(02:40):
The first of all thecommandments is hear, o Israel,
the Lord, our God.
The Lord is one and you shalllove the Lord, your God, with
all your heart, with all yoursoul, with all your mind and
with all your strength.
This is the first commandment,and the second, like it, is this
(03:01):
you shall love your neighbor asyourself.
There is no other commandmentgreater than these.
And we'll stop here.
This is God's word that we'vejust read.
As we traveled home from ourgrandson's ball game baseball
game I made a meal purchaseusing an app on my iPhone.
(03:24):
Yes, I've entered the 21stcentury.
I'm trying to get alltechnological on you, right?
So I made a meal purchase usingan app on my iPhone and after I
had selected the main items andthen also the sides from the
menu, I then had a spot on theapp to click an icon for
(03:44):
optional extras that I could addto my order, such as butter and
whatever else, silverware andthings like that, and sauce and
yeah, all kinds of optionalextras.
And even though I ordered a fewextras, it really didn't matter
much, because some of thethings including a side for
(04:06):
crying out loud did not maketheir way into the bag that held
my order.
And of course, we're traveling.
You know how that goes.
Love can never be an optionalextra for the Christian.
Never be an optional extra forthe Christian.
(04:28):
We're talking this morningabout how to love your neighbor,
how to love your neighbor.
Love can never be an optionalextra for a Christian.
It's not like we get eternallife and then a sign of
forgiveness and a future hopeand then have love as an
optional extra.
And even if we think we wouldlike love as an extra, sometimes
(04:53):
it sure looks like it didn'tmake it into our Christian bag.
See, to be a Christian means tolove as you have been loved by
God.
To be a Christian means to loveas you have been loved by God.
(05:14):
Look again at John 13.
John 13, once again, jesus saida new commandment, not a new
suggestion.
A new commandment I give to youthat you love one another as I
have loved you, that you alsolove one another.
(05:36):
Did you catch that?
Jesus says that if we fail tolove other believers, we show
that we do not really love God.
And I didn't even read this onethis morning.
It's a famous parable.
Most everyone knows it, evenkind of.
What the title of the parableis is used in today's vernacular
(06:00):
.
The famous parable of the GoodSamaritan actually shows that by
others he also means all others.
My neighbor, your neighborincludes anyone and everyone.
(06:30):
Jesus is.
Apostle John spells it out againin the first, in verse 20,
first letter, chapter 4, verse20.
He says if someone says I loveGod and hates his brother, now
we would be inclined to say,well, he's a hypocrite.
(06:51):
A hypocrite, that's bad enough.
Nobody likes to be called orthought of as a hypocrite, but
the Holy Spirit of God did notinspire the apostle John to use
the word hypocrite.
Instead, he just gets to theheart of the matter and he says
if someone says I love God andhates his brother, he is a what.
I don't like this sermon.
(07:12):
Already I didn't like it as Istudied for it, because it's
very convicting he who does notlove his brother, whom he's seen
, how can he love God whom he'snot seen?
And so, for followers of Christ,love is not just an attitude
tacked on to the Christian lifeas an afterthought.
(07:35):
Love is not an appetizer.
Love is not a dessert.
Love is the main course.
Love is not a dessert.
Love is the main course, it'sthe main dish.
And so a heart that cultivates,actually works toward and
(08:08):
cultivates love for God and lovetoward others is at the core of
what it means to be a Christian, to be a follower of Jesus.
Jesus even says that the lovewe foster in our hearts toward
others is a reflection of thelove that we have for God.
Being a Christian, being aChristian and harboring hate
toward others does not work fora follower of Jesus.
It doesn't work for a followerof Jesus why?
(08:30):
Well, because love is thefoundation of the greatest
commandments, as we read in Mark, chapter 12.
Look at it again, verses 29through 31.
Verse 30,.
And you shall love the Lord,your God, with all your heart
and with all your soul and withall your mind and with all your
(08:52):
strength.
This is the first commandment,and the second, like it, is this
you shall love your neighbor asyourself.
There's no other commandmentgreater than these.
So the centrality of love mustbe the foundation for for our
interaction with friends, withfamily, with neighbors, with our
(09:18):
fellow citizens, including allthose who are experiencing
gender dysphoria or who haveembraced a transgender identity
or are living a homosexuallifestyle.
A biblical response to all thefolks that we've been discussing
(09:42):
in this series is to see themas our neighbors and to love
them because they are ourneighbors.
But that's easier said thandone.
Even if we're determined thismorning to turn our backs on all
(10:05):
knee-jerk reactions of one kindor another, it's still easier
said than done.
And what does it even mean tolove?
Because, from the Bible to theBeatles, we're told all you need
is love.
But what does it actually meanto love someone?
(10:27):
As a Christian, I may want toact lovingly toward all people,
regardless of their age or theirrace, or their background or
their gender identity.
But how do I do that?
What does it even look likebiblically speaking.
Now, there's many things thatcould be said biblically.
(10:51):
We could go a hundred differentdirections this morning
biblically, but there are fourprinciples that I want to share
with you this morning, fourbiblical truths.
That's foundational and veryintegral in this topic, in this
theme that we've been discussing.
If we're talking about lovingour neighbor, it's interesting.
(11:14):
Interesting because Jesus saidbetween us, between believers,
we're to actually love eachother how as he has loved us.
I mean think about the waysthat Jesus has loved you, and
that means that fellow believer,that brother, that sister,
we're to love each other in thatsame way as Jesus loved us.
(11:38):
For our neighbor, that personwe don't know, he didn't use
that same language, but he saidthis you're to love your
neighbor as you love yourself.
I promise you today, sometimetoday, if you've not done so
already, sometime today, you'regoing to feed yourself.
Right?
(12:00):
How many of you have alreadyfed yourself this morning?
How many of you are going tofeed yourself in a little bit?
It's because you love you.
That's why, thankfully, you allclothed yourself this morning.
You clothed yourself, youdidn't come out naked.
It'll be harsh in the elementsand on everybody else too.
(12:21):
You bathe yourself?
Most likely.
I don't know, danny, he's byhimself over here, I'm not sure.
But no, I'm kidding coach, wedo these things, we care for
ourselves.
Why?
Because we love us.
And he says your neighbor, thatperson you don't even know, you
(12:43):
may not like, you have noaffection for or fondness toward
you're to love them at least asmuch as you love you.
Easier said than done, sometimes, and in the context of gender
(13:11):
sexuality, what does that looklike?
Let me suggest some things toyou.
First one is this If you'retaking some notes, you can jot
these down.
What does that look like?
Let me suggest some things toyou.
First one is this If you'retaking some notes, you can jot
these down.
What does love do?
How, how do we love ourneighbor?
First of all this love promotesdignity.
Love promotes dignity.
(13:33):
See, first we need tounderstand who our neighbors are
, and our neighbors are peoplemade in God's image, as we've
already seen.
We studied that and talkedabout that in detail.
A few messages back People madein God's image.
Genesis, chapter 1, verse 27,says God created man in his own
image, not in the image of ananimal, in his own image.
(13:54):
In the image of God, he createdhim Male and female.
He created them, and so thetruth that man and woman are
made in God's image is thefoundation, it's the starting
point for human dignity.
Dignity the human dignity isthe concept that individuals
possess an unassailable worth, avalue that cannot be violated,
(14:28):
and there are no exceptions tothis truth.
There is no way for someone tobe a human and not bear God's
image, even though they mayobscure it, even though they may
mar it.
There's no way for someone tobe a human and not bear God's
image.
Oftentimes you'll hear someonesay about someone else well,
(14:51):
he's just trash, she's justtrash.
That's not true.
They're a human made in theimage of God, and nothing they
can do with their lives or dowith their lives can eradicate
the image of God.
No human authority can take itaway.
(15:13):
All humans possess God-givendignity and possess it equally.
Presidents and peasants bothare exactly the same in God's
eyes.
Christians and non-Christiansboth are made in God's image.
Those who deal with same-sexsexual attraction and those who
(15:35):
do not both possess the sameinherent dignity.
A person confused about theirgender and someone at peace with
their gender both possess thesame dignity, and failing to
understand how this truthapplies to every single person
equally is the foundation forall sorts of abuse and
(15:58):
atrocities In Nazi Germany.
A failure to see the fulldignity of the Jews led to the
Holocaust Early in the foundingof the United States.
A failure on the part of manywhite people to see the full
dignity of persons with blackskin led to the evils of racism
and slavery in this country Forthe last 50 years.
(16:23):
A failure to see the fulldignity of persons who are not
yet born has led to 50 millionlegal abortions in the US alone
abortions in the US alone.
History's greatest crimesresult from denying God's image
in every single man and woman.
(16:43):
A transgendered person is madein God's image and that means
dignity is due to them as people, regardless of whether I agree
(17:03):
with their self-perception.
Dignity demands that we speak indefense of someone's worth
instead of saying, well, they'rejust trash.
It means we speak in defense ofsomeone's worth even when, as
Bible believers, we rightly andcorrectly disagree with their
way of life.
See, love does something.
(17:27):
It has nothing to do withaffection, it has nothing to do
with fondness.
Love does something, and thatis, it promotes the dignity of
another human, simply becausethey carry the image of God.
And, ladies and gentlemen, forthat reason and that reason is
enough, for that reason theyhave value.
(17:47):
Love promotes dignity, not onlythat.
Second point love requiresempathy.
Love requires empathy.
(18:10):
You don't love somebody youdon't empathize with, not really
See.
Understanding the perspectiveof someone unlike you is
absolutely vital to developingempathy and building
relationships.
I would even go so far as tosay this Listen to me, christian
(18:32):
Empathy is the prerequisite forspeaking meaningfully and
authoritatively into someone'slife.
Meaningfully and authoritativelyinto someone's life.
Let me ask you a question as aChristian do you just want to be
(18:53):
right or do you want toinfluence somebody?
It's a prerequisite for beingable to speak meaningfully and
authoritatively into someone'slife.
The Apostle Paul tells thechurch in Galatia Galatia,
chapter 6, verse 2,.
This is what he says.
He says bear one another'sburdens and so fulfill the law
(19:15):
of Christ.
What is the law of Christ?
That we love one another.
What is the law of Christ?
That we love one another?
The new commandment he gave tolove one another and to love our
neighbor as ourself.
Bear one another's burdens.
So to love someone, we have towork hard to empathize with them
(19:36):
.
What does empathy mean?
To empathize with someone meansthat you're seeking to look at
life from their perspective andto walk in their shoes.
Empathy is very close tocompassion, and both of those
(19:57):
words, their root meaning fromthe original language, has the
idea to feel in the bowels, or,stated this way, it means to
suffer with.
That's the idea.
Let me ask you a question Is iteasy for you to simply dismiss
(20:21):
someone out of hand becausetheir struggle seems alien or
strange to you?
Is it easy for you to justdismiss someone out of hand
because you disagree with thechoices they've made or the
identity they assume and thethings they do?
I mean you can, just, no secondthought, just dismiss them out
(20:46):
of hand, because empathy,extending empathy, doesn't mean
that you accept or affirm orencourage someone to embrace
their desire to live, contraryto God's creative design.
But it does mean, however, thatinstead of rejecting a person
outright, we make an effort toseek to understand what they're
(21:08):
dealing with and what theirstruggles are.
That's what it means.
Listen, folks, you need tounderstand.
There are going to be people inyour life.
There are going to be people inyour life who experienced
dysphoria of some kind.
(21:29):
It's inevitable.
There's people in your church.
There's people in your family.
There's people in your schools,there's people in your family,
there's people in your schools,and so what are you going to do
(21:55):
when someone you encounteradmits to these struggles?
Will you respond with your jawon the floor?
Will your facial expressionturn someone away?
Or will you extend a hand ofcompassion and make sure you ask
questions and listen hard?
Or your children?
(22:16):
Can they even admit a struggleto you?
Can they even admit a struggleto you?
Look what our eyebrows and ournoses do when we meet someone
tells them much more about howwe truly feel than do our words
(22:37):
or our posts on social media.
See, the Bible says that we'renot only to get to know people,
but we're to bear their burdens,which means someone else's load
also becomes my load.
Someone else's struggle becomesmy struggle.
And you cannot love yourneighbor, the one who God puts
(22:59):
in your path, if you do notempathize with them, if you do
not have compassion on them, ifyou don't suffer with, if you
don't feel it in your bowel, inyour gut.
You can't love your neighbor ifyou don't empathize with them.
(23:20):
The reason don't have time tounpack it today the reason the
Samaritan got down in the ditchwith the half-dead Jew who was
prejudiced against the Samaritan.
The only reason he got in theditch with him, the Bible says
in the Gospel of Luke, is he hadcompassion on him.
He empathized with him.
(23:41):
What's our attitude?
Our attitude is usually this hedeserves to be in the ditch.
He got himself into this mess.
Let him figure a way to get outof it, and we don't offer to
help.
What do we do?
We just kick more dirt in onhim.
Dirt in on him.
(24:31):
Love promotes dignity and loveworks to empath me.
Thirdly, love shares truth.
Love shares truth.
First Corinthians, chapter 13.
I did not enjoy reading firstCorinthians chapter 13.
I mean, oh, it sounds beautiful.
It's good to be read atweddings.
It's all high sounding andflowery and beautiful.
All about love.
You probably got a verse up inyour home somewhere, man.
I don't like it.
You know why?
Because I started looking atmyself as I read 1 Corinthians
(24:56):
13.
I failed the test.
You do too, because we don'tmeasure up to what 1 Corinthians
13 says about love.
One of the things it says aboutlove is this 1 Corinthians 13,
verse 6 says Love does notrejoice in iniquity.
(25:19):
We could put it this way Lovedoes not rejoice at wrongdoing,
but rejoices with the truth.
Love does not rejoice ininiquity, but rejoices with the
truth.
So what does love do?
Love shares truth.
Now, here is perhaps the mostdelicate aspect of loving our
(25:41):
neighbor.
Here is perhaps the mostdelicate aspect of loving our
neighbor, our transgenderneighbor, our practicing
homosexual neighbor, while notsending signals that we approve
of someone living in a genderopposite of their sex, or no sex
at all, or in a sexuallyimmoral way, opposite from God's
design.
Because here's the reality.
(26:02):
The Bible's definition of loveruns contrary to the world's
definition.
Runs contrary Because,according to the world,
according to the world, lovingsomeone means giving them
license to pursue whatever theybelieve will bring them
happiness or fulfillment.
That's the world's definitionof love.
(26:24):
The Bible says that loverequires truth.
Love requires truth.
Love does not mean listen to me,especially if you have kids or
grandkids and home still, orgrandkids At home still.
Love does not mean lookingsomeone in the eye and affirming
(26:52):
every desire they experience.
Love means looking someone inthe eyes and communicating the
truth of Scripture.
That's what love is.
We're to do so humbly, we're todo so gently, but we're to do
so nonetheless.
And it is very important tobear in mind that what
Christians call loving will notoften be considered loving by
(27:13):
the world.
So we should never assesswhether we are truly loving by
the world's response or anindividual's response to our
message of love.
Love and truth are neverdetermined by whether they're
popular, because often what isloving and true is very
(27:34):
unpopular, and you know this tobe the case increasingly today.
Speaking truth out of love iscalled hate speech.
It's called hate speech, butthe Bible says.
The Bible says that love cannotexist without truth and love
cannot rejoice at wrongdoing, itcannot rejoice in iniquity.
(27:59):
So if we accept the authorityof the Bible and that's really
what it comes down to, isn't it?
We've been talking about thatfor a number of weeks now that
is really what it comes down to.
I need a good amen right there.
That really is what it comesdown to is do you accept the
(28:21):
authority of the Bible?
Is this the final word?
Everything over your life andmy life, whether I like it,
whether I'm comfortable with it,whether it makes me happy,
whether it makes me comfortable,it doesn't matter.
Is this the final say?
Speaker 1 (28:38):
You've been listening to.
Foundations of Truth, the Bibleteaching ministry of Pastor
Timothy Mann at ProvidenceChurch, ormond Beach, florida.
You're invited to join us onSundays at 1151 West Granada
Boulevard in Ormond Beach Forservice times, bible fellowship
groups and more information onactivities at Providence Church.
Go online totheprovidencechurchorg.
(28:58):
If you feel led by God tofinancially support Foundations
of Truth, visit the giving linkat theprovidencechurchorg.
If you feel led by God tofinancially support Foundations
of Truth, visit the giving linkat TheProvidenceChurchorg.
Until next time, continue tobuild your life on the
foundations of truth throughJesus Christ and God's written
word.
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