We’re beginning Holy Week by reflecting on Christ’s passion and what the cross teaches us about loving others. Using 1 John 3:16 and 1 John 4:7–12, we explore how love isn’t just acceptance, tolerance, or warm feelings, but self-giving sacrifice for someone’s ultimate good—even when they can’t or won’t reciprocate.

We talk about how spiritual maturity is measured by love, and how differences, weaknesses, and faults in others aren’t barriers but opportunities to love like Christ, who loved us while we were still sinners. Because God has loved and secured us, we’re freed to give ourselves without fear of losing.

We end by asking God to bring someone to mind we can love more tangibly today and close with the Lord’s Prayer.

00:00 Holy Week Focus

01:05 Love Defined by the Cross

10:56 Practice Love Tangibly

13:10 Closing Lord's Prayer

13:39 Final Wrap Up

Welcome back to In Light of the Cross

we are Beginning holy week now the

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time when we remember Christ's passion

as he moves toward the cross which

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demonstrates his love for us And we are

sitting in this idea of God's love for

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us our love for ourselves as what we

talked about on Friday And now we're

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talking about love for others Love and

accepting others Yeah And this is Really

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beautiful here because it's the cross

that demonstrates God's love for us in

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its most pure form So let's just begin

with a pause and ask the spirit to help

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us receive what he has for us today

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As Nathan mentioned we want to talk about

loving others and in particular how we

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can love them in light of the cross The

world talks about loving others a lot

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but maybe they don't always have the

right definition of love or understand

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how this works because of the love that

God showed for us Thankfully John in his

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first epistle ties these two things in

so tightly and so beautifully For example

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in one John chapter three verse 16 he

writes this is how we know what love is

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Jesus Christ lay down his life for us

and we ought to lay down our lives for

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our brothers and sisters So he begins by

defining how we know what love is It's not

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that God simply felt a certain way about

us it's what God did for us God so loved

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the world He said in John three 16 that

he gave that he gave his only begotten

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son for us The idea that John understood

as he dwelled with Jesus for those three

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years in the spirit of God and dwelt and

helped him many decades after that was

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that God is love But that love is this

self-giving even at cost towards the good

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of those who are loved in this case us

It's not just that God felt good about

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us but that his heart was so passionately

devoted to our good that he was willing

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to give his own son and Jesus was willing

to be the son who went to the cross for

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our sins he carries that forward in the

next chapter in one John And again note

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how he ties it into our love for others

In one John four seven dear friends let us

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love one another For love comes from God

Everyone who loves has been born of God

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and knows God Whoever does not love does

not know God because God is love This is

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how God showed his love among us He sent

his one and only son into the world that

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we might live through Him This is love

Not that we loved God but that he loved us

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and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice

for our sins Dear friends since God so

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loved us we ought to love one another No

one has ever seen God but if we love one

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another God lives within us and His love

is made complete in us Now Nathan and I

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were talking before about some people not

really accepting this idea That God's goal

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is to make us creatures of love and there

are responsibilities to love each other

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in this radical way and I think sometimes

it's because we don't often have the right

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definition of what love is We think it

may mean something no more than acceptance

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and tolerance and being nice but here

John defines what love is God showed his

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love for us in that he gave for our good

He gave sacrificially for our ultimate

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need So when we talk about loving other

people we're not just talking about being

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nice to them We are talking about giving

of ourselves for their ultimate good not

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giving themselves for what they want but

for their ultimate good it's sacrificing

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my time my comfort sometimes my gifts my

treasures for the ultimate good of that

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other person That is what love is And John

says if we have received that kind of love

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the goal of that is to make us the people

who do that towards others In other words

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the goal is to be like God the one who

is love Mm-hmm Yeah That's so good and so

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difficult to do Um one thing for another

definition that's very similar but it

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kind of includes this idea that um We love

regardless of their desire or ability to

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reciprocate Yes it's a free it's a free

gift that God has given us and what could

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we give back to God You know what I mean

Mm-hmm And so that love for others that's

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um self-sacrifice for their good it's a

really difficult definition of love but a

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really beautiful one too Yeah And it's the

one God gives us God is in the business

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of forming us into people of love Mm-hmm

And love is the measuring stick By which

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we judge spiritual maturity I think John

Mark Comer says and I think that's true

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Paul says in Galatians five that the only

thing that counts now is faith expressing

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itself in love I love that phrase Yeah

Isn't that good So it's it's like this

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idea that we've been Seeing what God has

done in the past and we see what God is

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leading us toward in the future And so

the way that we grow and prepare is to

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give ourselves to yield more and more of

ourselves to the work of the spirit in

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us And we know that the form of the work

that the Spirit is doing is into people

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of love Right And that's why Jesus could

say that They'll know you're my followers

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Not by having correct doctrine not by

doing the right things not by voting the

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right way but by the love that you have

for each other cause that's who I am

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That's how they'll know your mind Yeah

It's it's easier said than done Um but

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you know what's crazy is that when push

comes to shove the place where we're able

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to practice that the most is the place of

difference Yes I mean when we when we come

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across somebody who thinks differently

than us but also has their faith in

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Jesus or who votes differently or behaves

differently then we have an opportunity

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to love them in in a way that's even more

difficult I mean that's the place where

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the formation takes place I think Yeah

that's a good point And I think along with

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that related to that one of the things

I've I've mentioned in times past When you

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are dealing with another person whether

it's a spouse or someone that you know

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much less intimately and have less much

less dealings with their weaknesses or

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their faults are not a barrier to your

love are not a barrier to your love in a

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sense they are the way the avenue that in

which you can love Because if that other

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person has no needs there's no way for

them to grow better than what they are

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to become more like Jesus Christ There's

a sense in which it's very difficult to

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love them in the sense of giving myself

for their ultimate good Mm-hmm But if

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they have areas where they need help if

they have areas where I can point them

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to the right way Even if it cost me a lot

of time or involvement then I can show my

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love to them in the same way that Christ

did for me Mm-hmm Yeah I mean that that

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point of what what we would say is a lack

arrival on their behalf is the the place

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where we can love them It makes me think

of uh Romans five where it says but God

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demonstrates his love for us in this that

while we were still sinners right Not

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after we cleaned ourselves up exactly but

while we were still sinners Christ died

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for us And the place where I see that

the most beautifully is in the gospels

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The story of that truth that Paul says in

Romans five um when Jesus is having his

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last meal with his disciples knowing that

One of them is going to betray him but all

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of them are going to abandon him and yet

he loves them and breaks bread with them

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and says this is my body broken for you

and this is the blood of the covenant for

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the sins of many poured out for you and

washes their feet I mean the the love not

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because they're good but in spite of their

goodness And then for John who was in

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that room to have the audacity to say that

they will know We are Christians we are

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followers of Jesus by love The way that

he defines it is really kind of a A crazy

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claim It helps us it helps me recognize

my need for the spirit to help me love

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others in this way Yeah Yeah that's a good

thought And so I think when we talk about

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seeing how to love others in light of the

cross obviously these two things come to

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mind Number one when I see the cross I

understand what love is Love is not simply

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having a good feeling of affection towards

someone else It's actively giving towards

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their ultimate good even if it costs

me something And number two I can love

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because God has loved me in that way So if

God has so claim me as a zone and called

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me as father and guaranteed that I'll

face no ultimate harm but instead ultimate

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glory Then I don't have to worry that

if I give of myself to love someone else

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I'm gonna be the loser somehow No I might

lose time I might lose money I might have

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more stress but God is overseeing my true

needs and I'm becoming more like him and

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that's no small thing Yeah to know that

we are loved unlocks us to be able to love

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others right And to know that brothers

and sisters in Christ are also the beloved

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I mean I I don't want my kids not loving

each other right Because they're both

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loved by me for me to recognize that my

brother or sister is dearly loved by God

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ought to soften my heart towards them

Even in the midst of relational tension

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Yeah Yeah exactly Yeah I am loved so I

have that security But also it's only

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right then that if God has loved me in

spite of my faults and regardless of my

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faults and my sins that I do the same

thing How can I receive God's grace and

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love and that desire To do that towards

other people If I'm not desiring that

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that means I'm not really receiving that

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Now I know this is easier than it sounds

So our next episode we're gonna we're

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gonna be talking about forgiveness and

forbearance So forgiving those who have

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done us harm and forbearance with those

who annoy us And we've got both of those

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people in our life probably But we're

gonna talk about how love works itself

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out in those two ways On our next episode

for today I think maybe a good way to

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conclude this is just to ask God to show

you someone Put them in your mind that

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you can love more deeply simply because

you have been loved this way In the

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light of the cross you're not gonna get

everything right You're not gonna love

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every person fully But is there someone

that God has brought into your mind that

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maybe you you've just been kinda resisting

giving yourself to their true need for

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some reason Ask God to show you what do

we mean to love that person and to give

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you the courage to step out in his love

and do that And again this doesn't mean

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that you'll have warm fuzzy feelings

for them that may come ultimately but

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that doesn't mean that you can't love

them So what is the tangible thing just

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as uh Christ sacrificed out of love for

us Is there a tangible thing Is there

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a a kind word that you could share

with them or a gift that you could give

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them or a way of demonstrating tangibly

through your your sacrifice of time or

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attention or resources a love for them

as another beloved child of God So take

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a moment now to think who comes to your

mind and ask the spirit to help you What

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is a way of tangibly demonstrating the

love of God toward this person today

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Unless close with a prayer to our father

Our father in Heaven Hall be your name

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Your kingdom come your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven Give us

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today our daily bread And forgive us

our debts as we also have forgiven our

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debtors And lead us not into temptation

but deliver us from the evil one Amen

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I.