Give me your eyes

Text: Luke 15:11-32

Imagine you go out on a Saturday afternoon and buy the most awesome car you’ve ever laid eyes on. This is the car of your dreams- the one you have been saving for your entire life. After driving it off the lot, you see one, then another, and another … soon you realize that every single car on the road is exactly like yours. They’re free to everyone who walks through the door.

Suddenly the excitement is gone. Why? Even if we don’t realize it, it is in our very nature to want to be recognized for who we are and loved for what we have accomplished.

To the wretched man who can’t afford a car? To him this gift is everything.

We work hard, we achieve. We’re friendly, we have friends. We’re loving; we are loved back.

Logic tells us that love is earned, God tells us it is a free gift. (Learning to Love 4 Week Bible Study, Darlene Schacht, The Time-Warp Wife)

Valentine’s day celebrates a type of love called eros – it is a romantic love. God’s love is an agape love – unearned, unmerited, unconditional. We all know about God’s gift of unconditional love for us. John 3 :16 For God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  Now I could preach today on how much God loves us. But lets be honest, if you haven’t figured it out yet, I am not really into the feel good messages. I want you to leave here today and every other day I preach challenged.

So my question today is what do we as Christians do with God’s agape love in a world that is self consumed?

Let’s look at the Parable of the Prodigal Son

11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” Luke 15:11-32 NIV

As we read this parable, it is easy to understand why the older brother is upset. He has stuck by his father through everything and his brother has gone off and deserted the family. Now he comes back and they are having a party. I can hear it now… uh hello, what am I chopped liver? I stay here and stick by you and I get nothing. He leaves you, squanders everything away and he gets a party?

But this is agape love. It  doesn’t make sense. It is foolishness to the self righteous. It goes against our desire to be recognized for what we have done. But to the sinner who understands the depth of his sin, it means everything.

Agape reflects the unconditional love of God and it is this unconditional love that we as Christians are supposed to be showing. But agape love does not make sense unless we remember that we are here to serve God. This means we love because He loves us!

So what does this agape love look like in today’s world? We show agape love to God through obedience and submission to Him. Part of this obedience and submission requires sacrifice. We must love the world He has put us in with a sacrificial, unconditional love.

Chris Tomlin has a song titled, Give me your eyes. The words go like this:

Step out on the busy street.

See a girl and our eyes meet.

Does her best to smile at me.

To hide what's underneath. 

There's a man just to her right

Black suit and a bright red tie.

Too ashamed to tell his wife he's out of work, he's buyin time.

( you see agape love takes the time to see more than what is on the surface. We walk around a world where people are putting on appearences. Agape love takes the time to build relationships and see what is inside being hidden away from the world and then seeks to meet those hidden needs)

All those people going somewhere, why have I never cared.

I've been there a million times

A couple million lives

Just moving past me by, I swear I never thought that I was wrong

But I wanna second glance so give me a second chance

To see the way you've seen the people all along

Give me your eyes for just one second

Give me your eyes so I can see,

Everything that I keep missing,

Give your love for humanity.

Give me your arms for the broken-hearted

The ones that are far beyond my reach.

Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten.

Give me Your eyes so I can see.

Our world needs God’s Agape love and the only way they will get it is if we take the time to share it. We need to see the world through His eyes because only then can we truly love them with agape love.

God’s agape love is why He sent His only son into this world knowing the world would reject Him and put Him to death. Why did He do this?  There is only one reason for this act of sacrifice. And that is to bring His children back into a right relationship with Him. He poured His agape love out on us because He wants a relationship with us. It is this very reason that should be the motivating factor behind our display of agape love. We don’t love the world around us because they deserve it. We love them because God puts them in our path to love with His unconditional love.

So, here is my challenge. I believe that God has put people in our lives that He wants us to pour His agape love out on. People who need to experience this love first hand so they will understand what God wants to do in their lives. Our world is filled with “Christians” that have distorted the world’s view of who God is and what He is all about. My challenge is that we as a church come to Him first seeking forgiveness for those times when we did not show His love. Then we need to seek His path. We need to ask Him who it is that He wants us to be building relationships with and pouring His agape love out on. We need to commit to praying for these names He puts on our minds and seeking His council for how we need to go about building a relationship with them. Start off with one person, unless God gives you more than that. Purposely pray for that person. Purposely build a relationship with that person. And when that person asks you about the love you are pouring out on them, be confident in sharing with them the love God has for us that allows you to turn around and show the same kind of love. Be His love in their life until they can’t stand it anymore and want what you have. Then help them get it and disciple them as they begin their relationship with God.