Archive for February 2026
“He Saw Her”: Becoming a People of Love
This message continues the series Becoming a People of Love, exploring how love is meant to be the defining characteristic of Jesus’ followers. Jesus teaches that while love for God is foundational, it is our love for one another that reveals our true identity to the world (see John13:34–35). But what does that kind of love actually look like in everyday life?
Rather than offering abstract ideas, this series looks closely at how Jesus loved people in real situations. Becoming people of love, as Jesus models it, is not achieved by trying harder or performing better—it is a slow, transformative work of thee Holy Spirit that flows out of knowing how much we are already loved by God. Jesus begins His ministry grounded in this assurance at His baptism, when the Father declares His delight in Him (Luke 3:21–22). Everything Jesus does flows from belovedness, not striving.
The sermon then turns to two stories that reveal a key aspect of Jesus’ way of love: He truly sees people.
In Luke 7:11–17, Jesus encounters a funeral procession in the village of Nain. Amid the noise and the crowds, Jesus sees a widow who has lost her only son—a loss that leaves her facing deep grief and a future of abject poverty. This is more than simply noticing her; Jesus perceives the full weight of her suffering. Moved with compassion, He interrupts the procession, touches the coffin (risking ritual uncleanness), and restores the boy to life. He then gives the son back to his mother, restoring not just life, but relationship and hope.
A second story in Luke 19 shows the same loving “seeing” from a different perspective. Zacchaeus, a despised tax collector, climbs a tree hoping to see Jesus without being noticed himself. Yet Jesus sees him, calls him by name, and chooses to enter his home. This act of love leads to repentance, transformation, and the restoration of the relationship between Zacchaeus and his community, from which he was excluded as a traitor.
In both stories, the Greek word used for “seeing” implies far more than observation. Jesus sees with understanding, allows what He sees to move His heart, and then acts for the other person’s ultimate good.
The invitation for us is clear. Like Jesus, we can live from a place of confidence in our belovedness and ask the Holy Spirit to help us truly see the people around us—not just their surface, but their stories, pain, and potential. Love may begin with noticing, but it grows when we take time, listen, and respond.
The challenge at the close of the message is simple and profound: Who is God inviting you to see this week—at church, at work, or in daily life?
Your Highest Goal: Making Love the Center of the Christian Life
Love is arguably the word most used—and with the widest range of definitions in our culture. From song lyrics to Valentine’s Day celebrations, everyone talks about love, yet defining it proves surprisingly difficult. Ask a room full of people what love means, and you’re likely to get answers “all over the map.”
Yet Scripture makes it clear that love is not a vague or optional idea. The word love appears repeatedly throughout the Gospels—78 times in total, with a striking concentration in John chapters 13–17. These are Jesus’ own words, spoken at the most intimate moment with His disciples. From the very beginning, John tells us that God’s love entered the world through Jesus (John 1:17). When Jesus is asked to identify the greatest commandment, He responds that loving God fully and loving our neighbour as ourselves sums up the entire Law and the Prophets (Matthew 22:38–40). Later, He gives His disciples a “new command”: to love one another as He has loved them—declaring that this love will be the defining mark of His followers (John 13:33–34).
Clearly, love sits at the very heart of apprenticeship to Jesus.
The apostles understood this as well. The letters of the New Testament use the word love over 170 times. In addressing the Corinthian church’s understanding of spiritual gifts, Paul makes a striking statement: “Make love your highest goal” (1 Corinthians 14:1). He devotes an entire chapter—1 Corinthians 13—to explaining that love is the foundation for all the work of the Holy Spirit. Without love, even the most impressive spiritual activity amounts to nothing.
Because love is so central to Jesus’ teaching and the life of the Church, this new series sets out to go deeper—not only to understand what love is, but to learn how we can become people who are genuinely characterised by it.
One challenge we face is that most modern definitions of love focus on feelings and emotions—things we cannot control or command. As Dharius Daniels in his book “re-Presenting Jesus “observes, “feelings can be managed but not commanded“. This creates a problem, because Jesus does command us to love, and to love in the way He loves (John 15:17). That means love as Jesus demonstrated must be more than emotion; it must be something visible, intentional, and embodied.
The New Testament most often uses the Greek word agape to describe God’s love. Rather than defining it abstractly, the best way to understand agape is by looking at the life of Jesus Himself. Over the coming weeks, this series will do exactly that—examining how Jesus lives out love, using 1 Corinthians 13:4–6 as a lens through which to observe His actions and character.
To help frame this journey, a working definition of love—drawn from Jesus’ life and the wisdom of Scripture—has been introduced and will remain visible throughout the series, open to refinement as we continue learning together. Agape-To make an absolute priority of, and to work relentlessly for, the absolute best for another person(s) without expecting a return
To launch this exploration, the sermon concludes in an unusual way: with a story. Stories often reveal truth more powerfully than explanations, and few modern writers capture the lived reality of love better than Bob Goff. The opening story from his book Love Does offers a compelling picture of what it looks like when love moves beyond words and becomes action—a fitting invitation into a series devoted to making love our highest goal.
As we bring this series on the Holy Spirit to a close, we are returning to some of our favourite Scriptures—passages I hope have become at least a little more familiar over the past few weeks. As we have sought to deepen and broaden our understanding of “The Familiar Stranger,” we’ve realised that our most reliable source of insight has, of course, been Jesus himself.
The place where Jesus tells us most about the Holy Spirit is in the remarkable, intimate conversations he shares with his closest friends in John chapters 14–17. These words are spoken as he prepares them for his impending death and eventual return to his Father. The question hanging in the air is obvious: How are they supposed to cope without his physical presence?
Jesus reassures them that God has this fully in hand. He promises that the Father will send the Holy Spirit—someone he refers to as “the Advocate” (John 14:16). Even more astonishing, Jesus insists that this will be better than having him physically present with them, as they had enjoyed for the past three years. If we’re honest, that’s a hard sell—for them, and for us. After all, we never had the privilege of walking with Jesus face to face.
The Helper: Parakletos
In these chapters, Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit directly four times, and each time he uses the Greek word parakletos. English translations render this word in several ways: Advocate, Comforter, Counsellor, and—in the ESV—Helper, which I’ve taken as the title for this message.
A longer definition often used for parakletos is “the one called alongside to help.” Each of the English translations carries its own nuance, but all fit beautifully within that larger meaning.
Let’s take a moment to reflect on those nuances.
- The Comforter is the one who refuses to leave us alone. Jesus says in John 14:18, “I will not leave you as orphans.” The Spirit is present with us in our pain and loss.
- The Advocate is the one who has our back. While the word can suggest legal imagery, it’s far broader than that. Romans 8 gives us a powerful picture of the Spirit actively helping us, interceding for us, and enabling us to resist the lies and deceptions of the evil one.
- The Counsellor helps us see differently. There was a time when seeing a counsellor or therapist was viewed as weakness, even instability. Thankfully, that attitude has largely changed. Good counsellors ask thoughtful questions, help us reframe our experiences, and enable us to understand our own stories more deeply. I know that many times—while listening to a sermon, reading Scripture, or engaging with a book—my thinking has been shifted or expanded. I believe that is often the Holy Spirit at work as our Counsellor.
A Helper from the Beginning
But these ideas are far more than Jesus’ solution to his physical departure. They take us to the very centre of God’s character and what he wants us to know about himself. To see that clearly, we need to go back to Genesis (no surprise there).
In Genesis 2, God creates a beautiful garden and places the man there to work it and care for it (2:15). He provides everything the man needs (2:16), and together they name the animals (2:19). It’s a stunning picture of companionship and shared purpose.
Then we encounter a striking statement in Genesis 2:18: “It is not good for the man to be alone.” That observation is fascinating. The man hasn’t complained. He has God himself for company. And yet God sees something deeper. He declares that aloneness, even in paradise, is not good.
God goes on to say that there is no suitable “helper” among the animals (2:20). I suspect this was not news to God—but perhaps it was something God wanted Adam to discover for himself. God demonstrates that he understands Adam’s needs, even those Adam doesn’t yet fully recognise.
These verses tell us so much about the character of God.
First, God is a God of relationship (the Trinity) and He created humans for relationship. Even in perfection, isolation is not good. Second, the relationship Adam needs must be suitable—a relationship of equality and companionship, not hierarchy. The English word “helper” can mislead us here.
The Hebrew word used is ezer, and in most of the Old Testament, ezer refers to God himself (for example, Psalm 54:4). That tells us something profound: this “helper” is not lesser, but strong, equal, and life-giving—reflecting God’s own character.
The Ultimate Coming Alongside
From the very beginning, we see that our God is a relational God, and that his creation is designed for relationship—with him and with one another. When that relationship was broken, God continually took steps to remain present with his people: the tabernacle, the temple, and ultimately, his Son.
Now comes what may be the final and most intimate step of all. God sends the Holy Spirit—not just to be with us, but to live in us and work through us. This is a whole new level of “coming alongside.” Perhaps we should even call it “coming inside.”
This is the ultimate Helper.
A Familiar Friend
So I wonder—what have you learned about the Holy Spirit during this series? Has “The Familiar Stranger,” someone you knew existed but found mysterious, begun to feel more like a familiar friend?
One who wants to come alongside and help you.
A partner. A companion.
One who has desired a relationship with humanity since the beginning of time.
The Holy Spirit is relentlessly committed to helping you fulfil God’s call and purpose in your life—reminding you how deeply you are loved, supplying power and gifts, and enabling you to take risks and do things that, on your own, would be utterly impossible.
That is the Helper…and He is closer than you think!
The Way of Love: The Foundation of the Spirit’s Gifts
Throughout this series, we have explored Paul’s teaching on spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14—why they are given, how they differ, and how they are meant to build up the church. But between those two chapters sits one of the most familiar passages in all of Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter Paul calls “the most excellent way.”
This chapter is frequently read in isolation—at weddings, on Valentine’s cards, or as a general reflection on love. While beautiful, removing it from its context risks missing Paul’s point. Paul is not interrupting his teaching on spiritual gifts; he is grounding it. Love is not an optional extra or a softer alternative to the gifts—it is the foundation on which all gifts must rest.
The Corinthian church appears to have been caught up in comparison: who had the better gift, whose ministry mattered more. Paul does not discourage the desire for spiritual gifts—in fact, he encourages it—but he challenges the mindset behind that desire. A life focused on acquiring or displaying gifts without love is not God’s way. Spiritual gifts are meant to be expressed through a way of life shaped by love.
That foundation is rooted in God’s own character. From the opening chapters of Genesis, we see a relational God—walking with humanity, providing for them, delighting in them, and calling them “very good.” Unlike other ancient creation stories, the biblical narrative is driven by God’s desire to be with His people. From Eden to the New Heaven and New Earth, Scripture tells a story of God’s relentless, restoring love, reaching its climax in Christ: “For God so loved the world…”
Paul’s definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13 reflects this deep, agape love—not driven by emotion alone, but expressed through attitudes, character, and ways of living. Love is patient, kind, humble, and enduring. These are not momentary actions but lifelong postures. Paul’s challenge is searching: the exercise of spiritual gifts without love is not just ineffective—it becomes worthless noise.
The apostle makes clear that while the church is rich in diverse gifts, it is only healthy when those gifts are exercised together and with love. Without this shared foundation, the body is diminished and divided. Truth spoken without love harms rather than heals; giftedness without love draws attention to the self rather than to God.
Ultimately, Paul reminds us why the Holy Spirit gives gifts at all—not for status, success, or self-promotion, but so that God’s love might be poured out through His people. Love is uniquely both a gift and a fruit of the Spirit. It is the first mark of a Spirit-filled life and the defining measure of how all other gifts are to be used.
The gifts are wonderful and worth desiring—but the way of love is the way they were always meant to be lived.
Healing: Living with Faith, Mystery, and Courage
Few subjects stir as much emotion in the church as healing. Because sickness touches every life, the gift of healing feels deeply personal and often painful. It raises hope—but also questions, disappointment, and mystery. Yet healing cannot be ignored. Scripture places it at the very heart of God’s story and the church’s mission.
Healing appears throughout the Bible, from God’s self-revelation as healer in the Old Testament to the ministry of Jesus in the New. The Gospels are filled with accounts of Jesus healing the sick, but Luke 10 is especially striking. There, Jesus commissions not just the Twelve, but seventy-two unnamed disciples to heal the sick and proclaim the nearness of God’s Kingdom. This wider sending points to healing as a normal part of the church’s everyday witness, not a rare or elite activity.
Yet the difficult question remains: if healing is part of God’s Kingdom, why doesn’t everyone get healed? This question has troubled believers throughout history and is closely tied to the broader mystery of unanswered prayer. Jesus consistently linked healing to the coming of the Kingdom of God—a Kingdom that is both “now and not yet.” In Eden, there was no sickness; in the New Creation, there will be none again. The healings we see today are glimpses—tastes—of what is to come. They are signs of God’s future breaking into the present, even while we still live in a broken world.
This tension helps us hold hope and honesty together. Healing sometimes happens, and when it does, it serves as a taste of God’s coming restoration. When it does not, we remain in the mystery of the “not yet.” Even Jesus’ own ministry reflects this tension—most notably at the pool of Bethesda, where only one person was healed.
Jesus healed in many different ways: with a word, a touch, at a distance, even in stages. The common thread was simplicity and authority. He did not use elaborate prayers or perform rituals; he simply said “be healed”. Healing, as one pastor put it, is a profoundly “Jesusie” thing to do.
So why don’t we see it more often today? One reason may be fear—fear of failure, fear of disappointment, fear of trying and not seeing results. Yet Scripture gives us no permission to opt out. While we must accept the mystery, we are still invited to participate.
Healing remains part of the Spirit’s work through the church. Living faithfully in the “not yet” means being willing to try, to pray, and to trust God with the outcome. As followers of Jesus, we are called not just to believe in “Jesus-like” things—but to dare to do them.
From the Zebra Bag 