Can I love someone without agreeing with their beliefs? | Ask A Pastor Ep. 20

Can I love someone without agreeing with their beliefs?

Absolutely. In fact, Jesus calls us to love our neighbors even when they don’t share our faith, convictions, or worldview.

In Episode 20 of Ask A Pastor, we talk about what it looks like for Christians to love people of other religions and beliefs without compromising biblical truth. From the Good Samaritan to Jesus’ command to love our enemies, Scripture shows us that conviction and compassion don’t have to be opposites.

We’ll explore how to listen before we assume, respect without pretending to agree, serve without treating people like projects, and share the Gospel with both truth and gentleness. Because our commitment to Jesus should make us better neighbors—not more combative ones.

Love them. Listen to them. Respect them. Serve them. Tell the truth. Share Jesus. Trust the Holy Spirit.

You don’t have to compromise your convictions to love your neighbor, and you don’t have to stop loving your neighbor in order to hold onto your convictions.

The stronger our commitment to Jesus becomes, the better neighbors we ought to become.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Ask It Pastor. So b awesome to be back with you here today on this scorcher. Supposed to be another uh high temperature. Uh, if you are not in Texas right now, uh, just be praying for us that the temperature will go down eventually. So good to be back with you today. If you're not familiar with this show, uh the the premise of this show is I'm a normal pastor that's answering all the tough questions. I've been really irritated scrolling through social media, watching people say, Well, pastors won't answer this and pastors won't answer that. I'm here, a real life pastor, answering all your questions. So if you enjoy this content, if you could like, subscribe, share, where all wherever you listen to this, uh, and then tell a friend about it. Because if you tell a friend about it, you're sharing the love of Jesus. So today I I'm uh I'm doing an episode. Ask my wife on Monday night what what uh what I should do the episode about. And she gave me two um two suggestions. I won't tell you what those were, uh, but I took her two suggestions and I melded it together uh into one. And so what we're tackling today is can I love someone without agreeing with their beliefs? Can we love someone without agreeing with their beliefs? So, especially when we're talking about different religions. How do I love my Muslim neighbor or my Hindu neighbor, my Buddhist neighbor, my atheist or agnostic neighbor, my Mormon neighbor, all these things. Christians can sometimes feel caught between two extremes. If I love them, I have to affirm what they believe, or if I stand for truth, I have to constantly correct what they believe. Jesus doesn't call us to either extreme. You have conviction without being combative. You can disagree with someone without being disrespectful. Loving someone of another faith isn't compromise of Christianity, it should be an expression of it. So loving someone of another faith is not necessarily contrary to what we believe as Christians. It is, in fact, what we believe. God calls us to love one another. That's what he calls us to do. So today, if you're taking notes, I've got seven points for you. Uh, and then we'll leave you as always with some practical things. So, point number one: loving someone doesn't mean agreeing with them. Loving someone doesn't equal agreeing with them. So, Matthew 22, 37 through 39 says, and he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. This is what you'll find on the side of the building here at Hope Church. Love God, love people. Our culture increasingly connects love with affirmation. But love and agreement aren't the same thing. We we already understand this in other relationships. So, for instance, I love my wife, but we don't always agree with everything. My wife loves sourdough, I love sports, and so we don't have to necessarily agree on those things. I will partake in my wife's sourdough, uh, and she'll go to a sporting event with me, but that doesn't mean that we always like it. In parenting, she doesn't always agree with how I parent the kids, and I don't always agree with how they they parent, but we still love each other. The same is true with our family. You know, we don't always like how our family acts, but we love them. Same is true with our friends. We don't always like everything that our friends do, but we still love them. I can believe you're wrong and still genuinely love you. Jesus never added the qualification, love your neighbor if they believe what you believe. Loving God and loving people aren't competing commandments. My commitment to Jesus should make me more loving, not less. So loving someone doesn't require me to abandon my convictions. It requires me to treat them as Jesus would. And I think sometimes we think that in order for us to love people, we have to affirm the way they're living. We don't have to affirm the way they're living. In fact, as a pastor, there's so many times that people come into my office uh and have so many different problems, and I never tell them that the way they're living is right, but I can do it in such a loving way to not make them feel like I'm being disrespectful or condemning them. And you'll see in the Bible, Jesus never did that either. So the second point today, Jesus never limited neighbor to people like us. Excuse me. Jesus never limited neighbor to people like us. So in Luke 10, 25 through 37, I'm not going to read the whole story to you, but this is the story of the good Samaritan. And the point of this story is that Jesus, uh, Jesus tells the parable and says the person that ends up loving the person that was hurt was a Samaritan. And so a Samaritan would be the people that these people would dislike. For instance, we're getting into uh to football season, okay? I'm a big Dallas Cowboy fan. He would have said an Eagles fan helped a Cowboys fan that was on the side of the road. That that doesn't happen. That's not how things uh work out. And the question that Jesus was posing to his audience is and who is my neighbor? A man was left beaten for dead. A priest passed him, a Levite passed him, but the Samaritan, the one that's not supposed to like him, he stopped. Why the Samaritan matters? Samaritans were simply strangers, they were serious religious, cultural, and historical differences between the Jews and the Samaritans, yet Jesus intentionally makes a religious outsider the hero. So what does the Samaritan do? He sees him, has compassion, treats his wounds, provides transportation, finds him shelter, and prays for pays for his care. So Jesus asks, which of these prove to be his neighbor? The answer is the one who showed mercy. So Jesus tells them, so you go and do likewise. And so that shift should be the same for us. Are you being a neighbor? Are you stop and looking towards one another? Are you are you caring for those around you? Even those people that maybe don't dress like you, don't look like you, maybe don't run in the same crowds as you. The key thought here is Jesus didn't tell us to determine who deserves our love. He told us to become people who love others. That's what God commands us to do. Number three, Jesus doesn't require watering down what you believe. Because you love someone, that doesn't mean you have to water down what you believe. Listen, we need to be clear here. All religions do not teach the same thing. There can be overlapping in some ethical teachings. A lot of religions teach compassion, generosity, caring for the poor, treating people well. But there are significant differences between what we believe and what others believe, like who and what God is, who is Jesus, uh, what is wrong with humanity, what happens after we die? How are we to be saved? For instance, Islam, uh, Islam, Muslims, uh, they emphasize the absolute oneness of God. They they believe in Allah, which, you know, this may not be a popular belief, but the more I study Allah, the more I look into scripture, maybe this will be an episode by itself. If you want it to be, drop it in the comments. I believe that that Satan has has disguised himself as the Allah that the Muslims worship. But Islam also rejects the Christian belief that Jesus is the divine son of God. Hinduism. Hinduism contains a wide range of beliefs concerning God and ultimately reality. It includes concepts such as karma and reincarnation. Listen, if you're a Christian and you say karma is coming to get you, please don't, because that's a Buddhist belief. And we as Christians don't believe in karma. Uh, we believe that God is just and God brings all things to conclusions. So I'm not judging you if you say karma, uh, but if you say it around me, I probably will. But Buddhism. Buddhism generally doesn't center on a belief in a personal creator, God. But Christianity, we believe in one God who is in three parts Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus is God incarnate. Jesus died for our sins, Jesus physically rose from the dead, and salvation is found in Christ alone. John 14, 6 says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. So I don't have to pretend that our differences don't matter. So what we have to understand is respect does not equal agreement. Respect does not equal agreement. I can say I respect you, I care about you, but I want you to understand, but I want to I want to understand what you believe while also saying I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the only way to the Father. So you don't honor someone by pretending your differences don't exist. You honor them by treating them with dignity in the middle of those differences. And so you can love someone that agrees and uh and and practices something different with their life that they do, uh, but just when they ask questions, stand on the truth. You don't have to be hateful about it, but just talk to them like you would any other human being. Number four, listen before you assume. Listen before you assume. James 1.19. Know this, my beloved. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Listen, this is a whole lot, that's a whole lot easier said than done. But one of the most practical ways to love people of other religions is to actually listen to them. Instead of assuming that you know what they believe, ask, what do you believe? Why do you believe it? What does it mean to have faith in your tradition? Do you did you grow up believing this? How does your faith affect your everyday life? Don't just listen to respond. Sometimes Christian approaches conversations like debates. We're mentally prepared uh to to go and and and to talk to people, but listening doesn't equal agreement. Listening communicates dignity. Relationships change things once um once you know someone personally, they no longer are the Muslim, the Hindu, the atheist. They have a name. And listen, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Listen, every person has a family, children, fears, dreams, struggles, joys, grief. But most importantly, every person that you look into their eyes is created in the image of God. And it's much easier to argue with a category than it is to hate someone whose story you've taken the time to hear. So take the time, get to know someone uh and care for them. And only after you get to know them are they really gonna want to hear what you have to say. Number five, don't misinterpret what someone else's someone else believes. Uh, Exodus 20, 16, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. That should include how we talk about someone's religion. Don't find the craziest representative of another religion and prep and pretend they represent everybody else. Listen, I don't want everybody to take all these crazy Christians. You know, there's some Christians uh not too long ago that were protesting, protesting the funerals of soldiers. They don't represent me. Don't categorize me as those people. We wouldn't want people to do that to us. Uh, so don't argue against a caricature of of what that religion is. Understand what they actually believe. And if you don't know what they believe, ask them. So you don't strengthen the truth by misinterpreting someone else's beliefs. You know, listen, learn about them, learn how they came to, you know, they probably just didn't come to that faith um in a in a slow fashion. Listen to them, understand what they believe. Uh, and when they open up the conversation to ask you what you believe, make sure you know what you believe and answer it. Number six, love has hands and feet. Biblical love isn't simply you do, you do me, and I'll do you, or you do you and I do me. Matthew 5, 44 says, But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. If Jesus commands us to love our enemies, surely we can love our neighbor who simply believes differently than us. Romans 12, 18. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Some of us need to read that again, especially with the social media comments I see from some of you. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Leviticus 19, 34 says, You shall treat a stranger who sojourns with you as a native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you for you were strangers in the land of Egypt, and I am the Lord your God. So, what does this actually look like? Your Muslim neighbor gets sick, bring him dinner. Your atheist co-worker experiences a family tragedy, show up for them. Someone of another religion moves into your neighborhood, welcome them. They're grieving, grieve with them. They're being mistreated because of their religious uh beliefs. Don't participate and don't tolerate it. Why? Not because they're Christian, but because you are. My behavior towards you isn't determined by your beliefs, it's determined by mine. Let me let that sink in for a second. My behavior towards you isn't determined by your beliefs, it's determined by my beliefs. And my beliefs tell me that I'm supposed to love you no matter what. Number seven, final point. Loving someone doesn't mean I can't share Jesus with them. Loving someone doesn't mean I can't share Jesus with them. There's another extreme. If you really respect someone, you shouldn't try to change their beliefs. But uh, but think about this from a Christian perspective. If you, if I genuinely believe Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus died for their sins, Jesus rose from the dead, salvation is only found through him, then why wouldn't I tell somebody about him? Romans 1:16 says, For all, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and to the Greek. Sharing Jesus isn't inerrantly disrespectful. But the way we do it can be. If we tell people, if we go around telling people, I'll never forget we were my wife and I were in downtown. I don't remember what we were going to do. Uh, but there were some street preachers that were just yelling and screaming and telling everybody they were going to hell. And my sweet wife, if you ever met Crystal, uh, she's not been a rude to uh a person a day of her life. And uh one of those street preachers approached us, letting us know that we were going to hell. Uh, and my wife just said, Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't worry, don't worry. My husband's a pastor. What do you think that response was? He amped up what he was preaching. Well, you're going to hell even more because you're down here with all these heathens. And I was like, Oh my gosh. Listen, that's not the way to save people. The way to save people is to love them. First Peter 3:15 says, But in your hearts honor Christ as the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with great gentleness and respect. So be prepared to give a reason for your hope. But here's the thing truth plus gentleness plus respect usually equals a balance with people. Be truthful, be gentle, but be respectful of them as a person. Don't make people your projects. Love them even though they may never come to church. Serve them even if they never convert to Jesus. Build genuine friendships. When opportunities come, talk about Jesus, but trust the Holy Spirit with the results. Listen, you may never see your friend come to Christ, but it's not your job to see them come to Christ. Your job is to introduce them to Christ. That's all that's your job. The gospel doesn't need me to be obnoxious in order for it to be powerful. So, number eight, I miscounted my points. So this is my last point, I promise. People are people are people, not projects. People are people, not projects. Look at Jesus. He ate with people, others avoided. He touched people, others wouldn't touch. He talked to people that others wouldn't talk to. He showed compassion, told the truth, called people to repentance, but never compromise who he was. So how do you practically apply this to your life as a Christian? What would happen if Christians simply became better neighbors? Invite someone over for dinner, ask about their life, learn their story, let your kids play together, serve your community together, talk about faith, ask what they believe, tell them what you believe, share Jesus when the opportunity arrives, but don't panic when you disagree. Because relationships don't require theological agreement. You don't have to believe the same thing as someone else to be in a relationship with them. So in closing today, can I love someone without agreeing with their beliefs? Absolutely you can. That's the kind of love that Jesus was talking about. Matthew 5, 46 says, For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do you not even love, do not even the tax collectors do the same? He's say the tax collectors, because those were the worst of the worst. So anybody can love people who think like them, worship like them, look like them, agree with them, but Jesus calls his followers to something deeper. So here's the wrong question. Do they believe what I believe? Here's the right question. What does following Jesus require of me and how I treat them? The answer to that question is love them, listen to them, respect them, serve them, tell the truth, share Jesus, trust the Holy Spirit. You don't have to compromise your convictions to love your neighbor. And you don't have to stop loving your neighbor in order to hold to your convictions. So final thought today. The stronger our commitment to Jesus becomes, the better neighbors we should become. Because Christian love isn't about agreeing with everybody, it's about becoming more like Jesus in the way that we treat everybody. And listen, the church needs that message now more than ever before. God calls us to be the best neighbors, calls us to be the best citizens, calls us to be the best people that are at our job. That's what God calls us to do. That's all I got for you today on Ask a Pastor. It was so good uh to be with you. Hey, listen, if you don't have a church that you belong to, we'd love to have you here at Hope Church. We've got two services on Sunday at 9:30 and 11. We also have a campus in Meridian. They meet at 10:30. We're working on a campus in Alvaredo, should be open sometime next year. Uh, and we're so excited uh for you to be a part. If you enjoyed this show and you'd like to give to it, go to Hope ChurchCleavern.com. Uh, and there's a giving way to do that. The Hope Church is is what supports this show 100%. But again, like, comment, and share. Uh, we would love to share this show and be a good neighbor and love everybody around us. So thanks for being us with us this week, and we will see you next time on Ask a Pastor.