Following my labor previously to present what loving the world means in light of the gospel, it is essential to understand how to do it, for Biblical love demands action practically.
Have Solid Convictions
So, the first point is that we must make a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ as the first pointer of our love to the world, not desiring to lie with it in its wickedness but rather to reveal to it the Christ who saves. How are we to love the world in that regard? We must first be convinced of the person and work of Christ. How is it that the disciples would present to the rest of the world a redeemer when they initially had not yet been convinced of who He was? Their eyes were blind to the Christ of the Scriptures, and God had to open their eyes to come to belief as He set them up to proclaim the Gospel to the world. He first had to stir up love in their hearts for Him before He could send them out in the world to ask the world to love Him. Therefore, Christ has to be revealed according to the Scriptures (Luke 24:44). Notice that there is an environment of uncertainty amongst the disciples who left Christ buried in the tomb but have received news of His resurrection. Luke says a lot concerning their doubts and what occurs in their unbelief. Luke tells us of two men headed to a village named Emmaus and that the two men are thinking of political liberation and not the spiritual liberation proclaimed by Jesus and the Old Testament, even though they are conversing about Jesus (Luke 24:13-35). They did not understand their most significant problem, and that is why they never had the proper understanding of Christ: His life, death, and resurrection. These two men were spiritually blind, like many in the world. Jesus reveals Himself to them by narrating the words contained in the Scriptures (Old Testament), beginning with Moses (representing the law), the prophets, and the Psalms, telling them that the Scriptures have been fulfilled through and in Him. Christ meant to show them that the fact of His being the redeemer of His people's sins, His death which would be sufficient for that very purpose, and that of His salvation going forth to all nations is all contained in the Holy Scriptures. Without such a conviction, they could not point the world to its redeemer; that is, they could not truly love the world. Perhaps Paul's words to the believers at Corinth would show you the gravity of what is at stake if what Jesus was saying was all false (1 Corinthians 15: 1-19).
My dear brothers and sisters, nothing in us can push us to love the world in the fact that we seek to point it to Christ the Savior if we are not convinced that all of Scripture is about Him and the only way to know about Him. Scripture is our starting point. But please know that there is such a thing as knowing the Scriptures but remaining ignorant of them, as we see of these two disciples. Let us earnestly ask that the Lord fills us with His light to come to a true understanding of His Word. When we have been enlightened, our hearts should sink with sorrow at the condition of our fallen world, but in sinking should arise a burning resolve and a love for the world to make known the one who redeems, but having first learned to love Him who is revealed through the Scriptures.
Be Eager to Share the Gospel
Secondly, we must boldly declare the message, which is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. However, be warned that many go about reading the Word to soothe themselves but never find in it the power of redemption because they peruse the Scriptures without ever seeing Christ in those Scriptures. Oh, how we should pray that just as Christ opened the minds of the two disciples to understand the Scriptures, that He should open and enlighten our minds that we should understand His Word. The understanding is first that Christ is entirely at the center of the Scriptures so that we can present Him to the world. Thus, having understood the Scriptures, in loving the world, we should deliver the message of spiritual liberation, that is, the Gospel, to a wicked world (Luke 24:45-48). I do not mean that by reading these verses, we are the witnesses that Jesus is referring to because clearly, He is talking of those disciples who saw with their own eyes that He had died and was resurrected. But do we not have sure witnesses who also passed along that message to us? A message that is contained in the Scriptures that we hold gladly and boldly in our hands? Read the Apostle Peter, who was amongst those witnesses, as he writes in 2 Peter 1:16-21. According to Peter, the disciples are not talking about myths or fables. Still, they were witnesses to the very things they shared concerning the Gospel, such that they were able to deliver a sure Word to us through the Scripture.
We have no other authority to use in our witness to the world other than the Scriptures, even as we pray that our Lord would open the minds of people to see Him presented therein. Suppose we really love the world as we seek to point them to a savior. In that case, we cannot appeal to our philosophies or those feel-good messages, for only the Scriptures reveal the fallen condition of the world and point people to the fact of their shame and guilt, showing their need for a savior. Christ does not send the disciples out to proclaim their names, but His name. Further, the message is not to serve their self-interest, but rather, it is the message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Just as the witnesses received a sure Word and through them, we have it in our possession, so should we present it. That is the only way that we can love the world without being part of the world.
Pray to be Empowered by the Holy Spirit
Lastly, we cannot love the world by witnessing to it without receiving power from on High, that is, through the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Many think that in a hostile world, a worldly kind of boldness is effective in witnessing Christ. Unless there is the proper knowledge that the world hates us because of the love of Christ, we cannot understand that we need a different kind of boldness. It isn't easy to love those who are continually against you because of what you proclaim. But we need to study the book of Acts and see how these timid witnesses were given the boldness to proclaim Christ and His Gospel even at the risk of their own lives. Nonetheless, the Holy Spirit is the one mandated to empower every believer to have boldness as they proclaim Christ their Lord. The Holy Spirit gave the witnesses boldness to proclaim the Gospel, which was a promise to them by Christ as we are told in the book of Acts, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
Faithfully, as the Holy Spirit gave them power to be bold, so does He empower us who are believers in Christ as we step out into a world that is hostile to the Gospel. Paul also encourages Timothy as he prepares him to share the Gospel by telling him that "…for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control" (2 Tim. 1:7). To love the world in seeking to point it to the Savior requires courage, but not the kind that we get from raising our morale; instead, it is a boldness by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
Be Practical in Loving the World
If you have your convictions about the Lord Jesus Christ founded in absolute faith, then loving the world that hates you for loving Him will not shake your faith in Him. Remember that many consider the gospel as foolishness (1 Cor. 1:18) and that the world hates you as a believer (John 15:18-19) but yet we are mandated to preach the message of salvation through Jesus Christ to all people (Rom. 10:13-15). You need to understand that the Lord uses you as His witness to preach the Gospel as a means of grace to a lost world. Sharing the Gospel is a command from our Lord, and understanding what is at stake causes us to see it as an act of love because we who belong to Him have also been loved in our rebellion. Step out into the world and boldly declare Jesus’ redeeming love because He, the Holy Spirit, has given you boldness as promised. Let love reign that shows a rebellious people the source of true love that has been delivered to us by the Lord Jesus Christ.
