The Bryce Crawford Podcast - How To Love Like Jesus (EP 89)

Episode Date: March 31, 2025

In this episode, Bryce talks about how to love like Jesus Christ. We dive into Matthew 22 and Matthew 25!

I have a huge announcement before you guys continue to watch this episode of the podcast. Guys, May 18th, we are doing our second live podcast show in my home state, Atlanta, Georgia. We're going to be at the Cobb Energy Center, May 18th for worship and a powerful word. Guys, I am so excited to be back in the same city that God took me from death to life. If you guys want to come out to the hometown live podcast show, May 18th, go to Ticketmaster and search up Bryce Crawford and get your tickets today. Guys, I'm looking forward to seeing you guys on May 18th. Go to Ticketmaster.

Search Bryce Crawford. Get your tickets to the live podcast show May 18th. Love you guys. Now enjoy the episode. What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce and today we are back with another solo episode talking about how to love people like Jesus.

How do we love like Jesus love? Now look, before we get into the episode, guys, I pray and hope that the last few episodes have been a blessing. We've had some amazing guests on the past three, four episodes. So guys, please let us know what episode was your favorite and why. We're super pumped. I'm happy to be back with a solo episode. I pray that this one is so specific to your situation. But today we're going to be in the gospel of Matthew, two different sections, Matthew 22 versus 37 through 40. Then we're going to be in Matthew chapter 25 here in a moment. We're going to talk about how to love like Jesus. And I think this is very important because so many people think,

oh, what does it look like to have pure religion? Pure religion. What does it mean to be a Christian? James chapter one does not say, hey, pure religion before God is talking about how holy you are. Jesus and the Bible does not tell us that pure Christianity is talking about how holy we are, how much good we do for God, how many devotionals we've read, how much of the Bible we read.

The Bible does not say that is what Christianity is. The Bible says that Christianity is very. visiting widows and orphans in their infliction. So what does James mean in chapter one when he says pure religion is visiting widows and orphans in their affliction? What he's saying is he's saying that pure religion is doing. He says pure religion isn't talking about how holy you are because that's what the Pharisees do. Pharisees are all talking.

So many people are too tired of hearing people talk. They said, I want to see someone actually live it out. And that's what I love about Jesus Christ is he shows us that it is possible to live the gospel out, to live righteousness out. He doesn't just tell us how to do it. shows us how to do it. He shows the Pharisees up in his actions. And in today's society, we can let our actions speak louder than words and show that we really believe what we say we believe. Now, Matthew 22, the context of the passage that we're going to be looking at verses 37 through 40

is the Pharisees are trying to get Jesus to say that one commandant is greater than the other out of the 613 laws and 10 commandments. Because if Jesus says one law is greater than the other, they can arrest him for blasphemy and kill him. They're looking for a reason to get him tied up. And they say, okay, Jesus, which is the greatest? And this is what he says. He says, you shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then the second is just like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus Christ does not say that the good life is more money, more fame, more status, more women, more boyfriends, more girlfriends. He says the good life is loving God and loving people. Now, the last solo episode we did, we talked about, does Jesus really love you? And he does. we went over that passage of loving the Lord your God with your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Now we're going to talk about how to love like Jesus. And then he says the second one is just as important as the first. Loving your neighbor as yourself.

Why does Jesus say loving your neighbor as yourself is important? Okay. Well, first off, we know the Bible tells us that the goodness of God brings man to repentance. When people see this unconditional, no strings attached to love that you show to other people, that can be the God people experience. Someone asked me, we've been doing a little side quest. going around to college campuses and talking to students and it's been a big blessing. And I had quite a few people asked the same question.

They said, well, you know, my friend has been going through some side of suffering or experienced trauma or been hurt by the church. And because of trauma, church hurt or X, Y, and Z, they say that God, they can't feel God and that God doesn't love them because they can't feel them. And this was my response to them. I said, well, maybe they can feel God through you when you are the first to love them, the first shoulder that they are there to cry on, the first one to serve them, the first one to check in on them, the first one to pray for them. The way people can feel and experience God

is through the love human being show because they love God and love people. Now, what does Jesus mean when He is saying, love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength? What does he mean when he says love your neighbor as yourself? Jesus Christ is saying, when you see yourself the way that God sees you, then you begin to realize that he sees everybody else the same way he sees you, valuable, free, clean, and his son or daughter. And so because of that, you begin to love people with the same value insight that God sees you as valuable, which is so compelling and magnificent. Because in today's society, love is hindered.

Like, people don't love each other unless you do something back. Oh, well, I'll love you if you scratch my back, or I'll do something for you if you do something for me. That's the sin of partiality. That's favoritism. And Jesus actually says in the Gospels, how easy is it to do something good for someone when they've done something for you? And then he even gives this example. He says, which one of you is going to give a stone to a little one when they ask for a fish?

saying is, is if you're not even a Christian and people know how to give good gifts and how much more good gifts, does the God of heaven and earth know how to give. The point I'm making here is that when we see ourselves the way that God sees us, then we begin to have the same eyes God has for us for other people. And then we begin to love people unconditionally. We begin to serve people. We begin to sacrifice time for people. Now, when we look at the Gospels and we look at the Gospels and we look at Jesus Christ. So in the in the Gospels and in the Bible, the body of Christ, the body of Christ being Christians. Christians are considered the bride of Christ. Okay. And Jesus being the bridegroom. And when the Bible teaches us what it means to love the bride, the Bible tells us that

we should love people, love our significant others, the same way that Christ loves the church. So if we're supposed to love people the same way Christ loves people, then how are we supposed to love people? We're supposed to love people unto death. What does it mean to love someone unto death? That means no strings attached, no hindrance, no holding back means I'm all in for people. People are valuable.

Sacrificial love. The Hebrew word for God's love is Ahava, which means to lay your life down for someone. and because Jesus Christ's faithfulness, because God's faithfulness has been shown to us, it's easier for us to be faithful to God and people because He has shown us faithfulness to us. And so because God has shown us how much he loves us by laying his life down for us, then in return we lay his life down, we lay our lives down for him. But because we're laying our lives down for Christ, it means we lay our lives down for other people.

Because they're his children. Love the Lord your God with your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. love people the same way God has loved you. All in. Let's flip a couple chapters later. Matthew chapter 25. The passage that I'm about to read,

if you guys know Matthew chapter 24 and 25, Jesus talks about the end times. Okay. And we've always been in the end times. Let me preface this. We've always been in the end times. The end times is the period in one. which Jesus is supposed to return his second time. So the apostles were in the end times,

Billy Graham was in the end times, we're in the end times. Okay? So this is applicable today. This passage correlates to Revelation, not only, but this correlates to everyday life. Now, aside from us, have always been in the end times, we can look at the world the past, you know, one, two, three, four years and say, dang, it's been really crazy. And there's been a lot of suffering and there's been a lot of birth pains and a lot of craziness going on. Okay. And in Matthew chapter 25, Jesus gives this comparison with sheep and goats. He says, before him he will be gathered all the nations and he will separate the people

from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on his left. Okay. In Matthew chapter 25, Jesus is given this description where he's separate. separating the goats from the sheep. And it goes to the people on the right and says, you are blessed by me. You inherit the kingdom of heaven.

The people on us right are the sheep. And he says, for I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Jesus says to the sheep,

in every circumstance of my being, you've seen me and served me and loved me. You are blessed, you inherit the kingdom of heaven. And then it says, the other group, the goats, they say, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirst you or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison or visit you? This is that Jesus will respond, as you do to the least of these you do unto me. And the holy conviction that sets in when I read that scripture to think that today's society

teaches us to, oh, don't talk to the homeless man. All he wants is money. Oh, don't talk to the homeless lady over there. She's just hooked up on drugs and that's just who she is. And she's never going to get by that. Or, oh, man, did you hear what Sally did last Friday and Saturday? Oh, she's awful. That's all who she is. Man, today's society labels people for their sin or labels people for their struggles. And Jesus Christ says, no, no, no, no, no. You see, you judge people because you thought they weren't valuable because you didn't think they were mine.

But he says, what you did to the least of these, the least of these, those who were hungry, thirsty, naked, a stranger, the sick, the imprisoned, those people, those people are mine. Why are they mine? Because they're made in my image. People are valuable because they're made in their image. Every human being has the same value before God's eyes because they're making. in the image, they have his imprint on their life.

And he says, look, listen, when you choose to show partiality to people because you don't think they're valuable because of their physical status? Are you kidding me? Jesus says, what you do to the least of these? The way you treat those people is the way you would treat me. And the way I look at my life and think, man, all the people I've looked past because I thought they were not valuable because of the physical structure they offered or because of their physical well-being or because I thought they were too far gone because of their addictions or

because of their struggles or because of their sins against the government and sins against the world because I thought that they were invaluable because of the things that they've done. Are you kidding me? And then I reflect on my own life and I think, man, I'm just as bad, if not worse, than these guys. Like, sure, I haven't murdered, but Jesus says, if I'm angry at a brother, then I've committed murder in my heart. I'm just as bad. Or maybe he says, well, you know, maybe I haven't cheated on a significant other.

I've never been unfaithful. but man he says if you if you look at someone lustily you've committed adultery in your heart i mean like man i'm just as bad as these people but jesus is how you treat those people is how you would treat me what does it mean to love like jesus it means to see everyone as christ to love like jesus is to see christ and people even if they don't know him because his imprint is on their life to love people like jesus is to fall at the feet of those who are in need and who are hungry and who are thirsty as if it is the feet of Jesus and say, I'm going to serve you and love you unconditionally because the love of

Christ is I'm going to serve you and love you and be there for you even if you never return it back to me. I'm going to do it for you because that's what Christ has done for me. I mean, Jesus Christ loved people and offered his life for people that aren't even going to turn to him. Jesus Christ offers us love the people that are going to say no and then have said no. Jesus Christ is on the cross in between two dudes where one dude is denying Jesus and the other dude is saying, no, Jesus, you really are who you say you are. And he died for both. And you know how well Jesus Christ's love? Jesus Christ loved his disciples so much and loved his enemies so well that they didn't know who was going to betray him until he physically passed the bread to Judas. To love Jesus Christ doesn't mean just to love like Jesus doesn't mean just to love.

love people that love God, it means to love people who don't love God. To love like Jesus love means to love people who hate you. To love like Jesus love means to love people who love you and hate you. To love people who are sick and healthy. To love people who are good and bad in quotations. To love all people. To love the Muslim. To love the Buddhists. To love the Hindu. To love the atheist. It's to love like Jesus would. But here's the catch, guys. This is how I want to close. just because Jesus sat with sinners and loved them doesn't mean he endorsed their sin. In the same way, the love of Christ is going to offend people's brains to get to people's hearts. God is going to use you to offend people's brains to get to their hearts with the love of Christ shown through you

so that they know that they're valuable, but it calls them out of their lifestyle sin, it calls them out of the deception, or it points their eyes to the real God of the universe. That's what it means to love like Christ. So I want to close this podcast out by praying. But I want to pray that God gives us two things. Number one, the eyes to see Christ in all people, to see people the way that he sees us. But number two, I want to ask God to give us strength to love people, unconditional. Because we can't do it alone.

Jesus, I thank you so much for today. God, I thank you that you love every human being just as much as you love me. God, we ask for two things. God, would you give us the strength that love people unconditionally because we can't do it alone? We can't. We need your strength, God. And God, would you give us eyes to see Christ and everyone, to see people the way that you see us? God, would you give us these eyes so that we could treat people with this unconditional love that they've been so lovesick for, that they've been desperate for?

Like, God, would you give us this strength in the eyes to see people? people that way. And lastly, God, let us not take for granted every opportunity to love people. Waiter, waitress, Uber, friends we've known for years, strangers we've never met. God, let us love everyone in our lives and everyone that we will encounter the same way. No strings attached. God, we thank you, love you, and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Guys, thanks so much for watching and listen into the episode. If you like it, subscribe, follow us on everything, Bryce Crawford podcast. Appreciate you guys. Love you guys. and see you guys next week for the next episode.

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digital and in-person ministry, go to Jesus in the street.org, pray and ask God, how should I partner with Bryce and their ministry and Jesus in the street ministry? Should I partner with them in prayer? Should I partner with them in finances? Should I partner with them in support? Whatever it may be, pray and ask God, how should I support Jesus in the street ministry? Love you guys. See you guys next week for the next episode.