Let's look at Luke 7, verse 42.
Towards the end of the verse, towards
the end of verse 42, tell me therefore,
which of them will love him more?
That's our theme now.
Which of the two will love him more?
Let me speak about the importance of loving
Jesus.
Jesus said there were two young men.
Both of them had debts.
One had a debt of five hundred denarius.
Well, we're not familiar.
Let's, we're not familiar with denarii.
Let's say, we'll speak in the old terms
of pounds, let's say ten, ten rand or
so, or more.
Or per
denarii.
In Now, when we were children, a cow
would cost as much as five pounds.
So ten beasts, you could say, is an
equivalent value.
Now, the second man had a debt of
just fifty pounds, you could say.
Now, both of them were completely imprisoned by
their debt in that they were incapable of
living a normal lifestyle.
Everything went into paying back the debt.
There were very strict laws pertaining to debt
in those days.
A person would be taken, even as a
slave, should he not pay back his debt.
So both these men were troubled.
How are we going to pay back our
debt?
And then the creditor, the one to whom
the money was owed, said to his debtors,
I forgive you, I wipe off all this
debt.
You must have been a very good man.
We live in an evil world, but praise
God, here and there, you still find a
good man.
So he said, I forgive you your debt.
And then Jesus asked a man, Simon, of
these two, who loved him most?
Or who loved the creditor most?
Who would be the most devoted, the most
grateful, appreciative of the two?
And so Simon answered, the one who was
forgiven much, who had the biggest debt wiped
out.
And Jesus said, you answer correctly.
He who's great debt has been removed, loves
that person much.
Now why should he say such a thing?
Now Simon was a Pharisee.
He had heard about Jesus' reputation and invited
him to come along and have a meal
with him.
And so when Jesus had arrived with his
disciples, and they were seated there at the
table, now we've heard Dr. Lutuli referring to
our various cultures.
When I was in Korea, I
was taken into the custom of the people
there in Korea, which was when you eat,
you sit down on the floor, and you
have a minute little table.
It's a very low down, and that is
how you eat at the table.
Now as a typical,
as a
typical Westerner, I found much difficulty trying to
fold my legs properly, and I felt awkward,
and I was amazed as to where they
put their legs.
So sometimes I would get my daughter to
sit next to me and say, well, just
stay close by so that I can get
my legs stretched out behind, and it's not
visible.
So if you do go to the East,
to places like Korea, do some good exercising
beforehand.
Anyway, it's good to be well exercised.
I think the men suffer from not being
able to fold their legs as well as
the ladies can.
Similar, in
a way, to the Middle Eastern custom of
the day, this context which we read of
here where our Lord was seated in this
way, they would be reclining at the table.
Now when he entered in, he noticed that
a woman was standing close by.
He knew her, recognized her.
She was famous, or should one say infamous.
She was promiscuous, as you'll find, like you
find promiscuity as we've heard of boys being
so promiscuous.
When Simon noticed this woman at the feet
of Jesus, he said to himself, if this
man was really a prophet, he would have
known what type of woman this is.
Now Dr. Luke records for us here in
our text that she was actually wiping Jesus'
feet while she was crying with the hair
of her head.
She was weeping so profusely and then wiping
the tears off his feet with her hair.
Wiping his hair, she even kissed his feet.
And she had a jar of very precious
perfume that she poured upon his feet.
Now Jesus, understanding her tears, said, Simon, you're
the one who's invited me.
Even though you are the host, you have
never brought me the customary dish and wiped
my feet with a towel.
But she cries upon my feet and she
washes my feet with her tears and wipes
my feet.
Why so?
Jesus then said, the answer is that he
who's forgiven much, loves much.
Now I've said that the theme for this
message is the importance of loving Jesus.
I don't know whether there's a love that
you feel towards the Lord Jesus.
There is an astonishing word in the Bible.
In 1 Corinthians 16 verse 22 it says,
Cursed is the one who does not love
the Lord.
Cursed is the one who does not love
the Lord.
And the original Greek means exactly that, anathema
to the one who does not love the
Lord.
It is of vital importance to love Jesus.
And then in the Lord's parable he takes
two people and asks which one loved the
most.
He doesn't say do they both have love,
he asks who loves the most.
That plays an important role in the Bible.
After Jesus' resurrection and he saw his disciples
and they were together on the shore, Jesus
said to Peter, Simon son of Jonah, do
you love me more than these?
He didn't ask him do you love me
like they love me.
He asked do you love me more than
these?
Do you excel in your love for me?
Out of everyone of us, I would like
everyone to get this point straight.
This is a thing that matters to our
Lord Jesus Christ, to God.
He'll never tell you do you love me
like the others, no.
He says do you love me more than
those love me.
Remember in the Corinthian letter it refers to
competition, athletics and running the race.
Many run the race, he said.
Only one wins the prize.
Many compete, only one wins the prize.
And then he says run in that fashion,
in that way.
Not that you run to come second or
third.
He said the first.
We don't have time to really examine that
in all its richness, but it is an
important theme in the Bible.
Remember that man who had been lying for
38 years crippled next to the pool of
Bethesda?
The Lord came and said would you like
to be healed?
And he answered I have no one to
put me into the pool.
Whenever it is stirred I find that others
get there first.
What had been happening was that when the
angel stirred the waters only the first one
to get into the water would be healed.
Not the others, not the second or the
third.
That's a spiritual lesson to all Christians.
That's how we have got to believe.
That's how we have got to serve the
Lord.
But
sadly then Sadly,
that's often not the case.
You'd find rather Christians making excuses and saying
but that person does it, why can't I
do what that person, that person dresses like
that, can't we just be the same?
God doesn't want you just to be the
same.
He wants you to serve him with all
your heart that you individually serve him.
And in, here, John was, Jesus was testing
Peter, sorry, in that letter, the gospel of
John.
In the gospel of John Jesus asks do
you love me more than these?
Is your love greater towards Jesus than these?
Different angles, different ways of looking at it.
He was Peter's great friend of John.
Do you love me more than your friendship
towards John?
Do
you
love me
more than your friendship towards John?
I remember many years ago saying to a
young man who just got engaged, Jesus must
be first in your life.
He said what?
You don't understand Olo.
The thing is you don't know what the
love towards a girl is like.
That is all consuming, he said.
Because when I was a young man and
I got to know the Lord, I said
the first thing I'd like to have is
a bicycle.
I'll go on a bicycle and I'll go
from hut to hut and tell the people
about Jesus.
The second thing I pray for an old
pickup.
When I've got a tent for meetings that
I can carry the tent.
After that, marriage.
That weren't New Year resolutions.
I kept to that.
And I tell the Zulus, I'm a soldier.
In Shaka's time, a soldier was a soldier
up to 40 years.
After that, he could think of getting married.
First a soldier.
And with 40, I had the first child.
The Lord gave me grace to be pure
right to marriage.
And you hear that also you girls, you
who are virgins.
Also possible for a young man to remain
sexually pure right till marriage.
When I stood before the altar with my
bride, it was the first time that I
held my bride's hand.
I said that to the pastor.
He said, you can't be serious.
That can't be possible.
You fibbing.
There's no such thing.
But God knows it was true.
I never touched a girl.
And I told my wife, you know that
you're the first girl in my life.
If we do live like that, AIDS would
not be a problem.
So Jesus speaking then to Simon said, now
Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me
more than these?
For instance, Jesus also said, if you love
wife, husband, parents, children, whatever more than me,
you are not worthy of me.
The first place.
That's running the race.
Jesus first.
Do you love me more than these?
For it is all inclusive.
Do you love me more than your fishing?
More than them?
More than they love me?
I grew up in the Lutheran tradition.
In our Lutheran tradition, it is the norm
that we would baptize or christen children.
And as was our custom, I had my
godfather and two godfathers and an aunt.
And they had to believe for me and
say, we deny the devil.
We don't have anything to do.
Sadly though, one of my godfathers later on
when I became a Christian and I was
devoted to reading the Bible, he said, young
man, what are you reading the Bible for?
It will just make you go crazy.
The second one was on record as
saying, for me, the most important thing firstly
is my work, my farm.
Secondly, fishing.
Thirdly, hunting.
And the fourth one was on record as
saying, for me, the most important thing is
my
work,
my farm.
When this mission started, he came as an
older man then to me and said, I'm
repenting, I'm converting and stopping with my life
of sin, for the doctor has just told
me that my smoking is killing me.
And he said, if you stop today, maybe
you'll still live ten years.
And he came to me and said, Elo,
only ten years, only ten years, only ten
years.
He says, I'm repenting today.
And I've brought you some luquat plants, let's
plant them.
Those will testify to the fact that the
day they were planted, I turned to God.
And he said, Elo, only ten years, only
ten years, only ten years.
And I've brought you some luquat plants, let's
plant them.
And he said, Elo, only
ten years, only ten years, only ten years.
And I've brought you some
luquat
plants, let's plant them.
He got a greater shock than a person
when he's told he's got AIDS.
He says, only ten years to live.
He says, I live for myself, for my
farm, for fishing and for shooting.
Stop!
For now, from now on, I'll only live
for God.
The last ten years.
And he did it.
But he didn't even live ten years.
When those luquats flowered for the first time,
I think after five years, he died.
But he died a blessed day.
His wife was very, very out of the
ordinary musical.
She was my mother's sister.
But she couldn't teach anybody to play the
piano.
Because when she taught them, they said, why
can't you play those notes?
There, it is written.
Just sit down and play those notes.
So very clever people usually are bad teachers.
They can't understand those that haven't got brains
like them.
So when he lay on his deathbed, all
can understand English for a moment.
When he lay on his deathbed and the
children around and the wife, he said, music,
music.
And one of the children said, Mama, he
wants you to play the piano.
She said, no, no, no, music.
A heavenly choir came down to sing for
him when he left this world and went
to the one whom he loved the last
five, six years of his life.
When he left this world and went to
the one whom he loved the last five,
six years of his life.
He would come back late at night.
And it was before the time of the
cell phone where you could phone your wife
and say, I'm going to be late.
He would be out late telling others about
the Lord Jesus.
Now may I ask you a personal question?
When I am tending to Jesus, When
I am tending to Jesus, Jesus said, Simon,
son of Jonah, do you love me more
than these?
In English, we've just got the word love.
Just one word.
And yet we can't distinguish sometimes between love
and lust.
Three different words in Greek define love.
We use love for all three.
Let me just refer to two of them.
So Phileo and Agape.
So Jesus was saying to him, Simon, do
you Agape me?
He answered and said, Lord, you know
all things.
You know that I Phileo you.
Agape in Greek
refers
to
God's love.
That which is only of God, which is
a self-sacrificing love, which lays down its
life, loving the world, laying down his life.
The Phileo love is more that platonic love
towards a friend.
A strong affection to a person.
So Jesus was asking Peter, do you have
this godly love, Agape love?
And Peter said, yes, Lord, you know all
things that I have this Phileo love to
you.
Jesus said, well, shepherd my and feed my
lambs.
Asking again, Jesus said, Peter, do you have
this Agape love towards me?
And Peter said, Lord, you know all things
that I have Phileo love towards you.
Jesus said, then shepherd my sheep.
Then the third time Jesus asked Peter again,
Peter, do you just Phileo me?
Do you have this Phileo love towards me?
And it was then that Peter's heart was
broken.
That is what made him to feel so
hurt and wounded him so when Jesus said,
what, do you love me just as a
friend with just Phileo love, not with Agape
love?
Now let me ask this personal question, dear
brother, dear sister, sons and daughters, do you
love Jesus with a godly love, Agape, or
do you just Phileo him?
Dear friend, listen attentively, I don't want you
to go through this without looking at this
question in your eyes.
Do you love Jesus?
Or is there no Agape love in you?
You don't think about him, you forget, he
is a heavy wheel behind the wheel.
You will not call upon him if there
is something wrong with one of your wills.
He is not a heavy wheel.
Dear brother, listen attentively, I don't want you
to go through this without looking at this
question in your eyes.
Final point.
How will we get this love?
That should be everybody's aim, to have this
love.
That should be everybody's aim, to have this
love.
Jesus says in our text, he who has
forgiven much, loves much.
There's no person without sin in this world.
Many years ago I'd go to Pietermaritzburg at
night, walk the streets, speak to the drunkards,
try to help them.
I went and visited Indians, Hindus, and I
told one man, everybody has got sins.
He says no, I haven't got a sin.
I say I'm sorry, I've got sins and
you've got sins as well.
He says of course, you are right.
When I walk out of the front door
and I...
He said, well, my sin is that sometimes
I trample these insects like an ant, believing
in the idea that, well, it must be
the forefathers, the ancestral spirits that have gone
into this ant and through reincarnation.
That's my real sin, he said.
I said, no, there's more to it than
just that.
Your anger, your grudges, your bitterness, all these
things, that's real sin.
Have you ever seen your sin as sin?
Are you to justify it like smoking?
He says, well, I don't know.
Is it wrong or is it right?
I don't know whether it's really a sin.
You'll never stop it.
But you see it in God's sight.
You can even say smoked meat lasts longer.
You can try to justify it.
But the day you recognize and see sin
in God's light, the way God sees it,
there'll be godly sorrow in your life and
you'll say, God, I'm the greatest sinner.
Please forgive me.
Godly sorrow worketh repentance.
Godly sorrow brings repentance.
Godly sorrow
brings
self-murder.
But godly sorrow brings repentance.
If you see sin in God's light and
how terrible it is, you can say, gentlemen,
I'm a sinner.
There's no one like me.
Paul said, I'm the greatest of all the
apostles.
That's how he saw his sin.
And for the rest of his life, he
said, I'm the smallest.
I'm not worthy to be called an apostle.
That's true repentance.
That's godly sorrow.
Godly sorrow brings self-murder.
Godly sorrow
brings
self-murder.
Once again, godly sorrow.
We speak about forgiveness.
But have we really confessed the sin in
the light of God and seen the awfulness
of sin?
Look at the cross where Jesus died.
Because of that thing, Jesus was murdered.
The most murderous death that can be died.
He died because of your sin.
And if you realize that, then the life
of sin is over.
And by the grace of God, never again.
That anger, that anger, that anger is gone.
And if that love can fill your heart.
Then you will love your brother.
Even the enemy.
And if you are white, even a black
person.
Or an Indian.
Because Jesus bloomed for them, and died for
them.
death.
And the Bible say, He what say?
He had for God live, and not for
his neighbor live, not for his brother.
He is a liar, he is a liar.
If you see your sins in the light
of the cross, that it caused Jesus to
have to be murdered on the cross, it
makes a great difference.
Then you know what it is to have
godly sorrow and repentance.
And then you will love all people, realizing
that Jesus bled and died for them too.
You won't say, well, I dislike this type
of person and discriminate and say that I
don't like that person or whatever type.
But you'll have the love of God towards
everybody.
And then friends, you don't love those, only
the big guys.
On judgment day, Jesus will take the least,
and the last, and the poorest, and say
what you've done to him, you've done to
me.
You can't love Jesus one drop, one iota
more.
Then the least in your eyes.
And who is that?
Who's the least in your eyes?
And your heart doesn't go out.
And godly love to that person.
Jesus will take the smallest, the least, the
lowest.
On the day of judgment, and say what
you've done to that man, or woman, or
child, you've done to me.
You'll be judged according to that for all
eternity.
You'll go into heaven, or you'll be doomed
and damned forever and ever.
Jesus will
take the smallest, the least,
the lowest.
And if
you
don't love the Lord Jesus, he might say
to you, well, I was that sick person.
Maybe that person with HIV that you did
not visit.
Jesus will say that last, that least one
that was of no worth to you.
And like the rich man and the poor
man that Jesus refers to in the Bible,
the rich man just ignored completely the poor
man who was dying of sores outside the
gate.
But it was that man who went to
heaven, not the rich man.
The Bible says God through his Holy Spirit
has poured out his love into our hearts.
The overflowing of love.
Have you got that love?
The Bible says if you've got that love,
you'll keep his word and it won't be
difficult.
If you've got that love, you can't help
your brother and you won't be able not
to feel and bleed for the least and
the lowly.
Now, please pardon me, forgive me that I
took so much of your time.
Maybe you say it's the first time that
I've sat so long in a church.
But because of the importance of this matter,
I said, may they bear with me.
We're facing eternal issues and you don't know
when you'll die.
It could be today or tomorrow.
And woe to you if you've got to
stand before God and you didn't love him
more than others.
Let's stand and pray.
We thank you Lord for all that you've
done.
We thank you that Dr. Lutuli could be
in our midst.
Bless her, bless the work she's doing.
May it mean much, not only to us,
but to the whole country.
And then your question to all of us.
Do you love me more than these?
May it be a question that will be
answered by everyone right now.
May we face the squarely.
And may it be true that that love
is not just theory, but experience in our
life and a reality.
That the curse won't come upon us, which
comes to all those that don't love the
Lord.
Now God may your grace, Lord Jesus, be
with us all.
The grace to attain to this love.
Amen.