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Rise Community PodcastAuthor: Rise Community Church
The latest teaching and news from Rise Community Church. Language: en Genres: Religion & Spirituality Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Irresponsible Love: Seeing People Through God's Eyes
Sunday, 1 February, 2026
This week's message challenges us to reimagine what love truly means through Jesus' radical teaching in Matthew 5:43-48. We're confronted with an uncomfortable truth: we all create mental categories and rankings of people, justifying why some deserve our kindness while others don't. But Jesus demolishes these artificial boundaries by commanding us to love our enemies—not with warm feelings, but with agape love, a deliberate, sacrificial choice to treat everyone with dignity. The Greek word 'teleos' reveals that perfection isn't about flawlessness; it's about wholeness, being fully formed and aligned with God's character. When Jesus declared 'it is finished' on the cross, he showed us what perfection actually looks like—irresponsible, reckless love poured out for enemies. This teaching connects beautifully to Genesis, where God called creation 'tov' (good/whole), and invites us into a restoration journey back to that original goodness. The challenge is deeply personal: what labels have we attached to people? How have we justified treating others as less human? God doesn't see our categories—He sees His image in every person, and He's calling us to do the same, one courageous act of love at a time.
