Today, the title of my message is: Love Completes Each Other.
People naturally want to win, to be the number one. We do not want others to surpass us. But there is one exception — when it comes to the people we love. The better they become, the happier we are.
Sometimes my son asks me questions. Sometimes about math, sometimes about the universe, and sometimes about the Bible. I try to explain things to him. But after every explanation,
I tell him, “This is my view. It is only a reference. I hope that one day you will have a better view of your own.” In my heart, I hope he will be better than me.
Love does not hold people down. Love completes each other.
John 14:12 says, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater works than these.”
Can you believe this? Jesus expects us to do greater works.
Jesus is God. Who are we? How can we do greater works than Him?
But Jesus says we can.
Not because we are stronger than Him, but because this is His plan.
Jesus preached on earth for only about three years. If He wanted, He could have done much more. But He entrusted the ministry and the opportunities to us.
Through this work, He helps us grow in faith, become more mature, become stronger,
and become more like Him — He wants to complete us.
So, do not think that when we share the gospel and serve others, the benefit is only for them. No — the greatest benefit is for ourselves.
While you are completing others, you are also being completed by Jesus.
Today, let us learn from Jesus how to complete each other.
First: Respect
When Jesus was passing through Jericho, many people were crowding around to see Him. A man was standing at the back and couldn’t see Jesus because he was short. No one helped him or made room for him. In fact, people did not like him, because he was a tax collector. He worked for the Roman government and helped them take money from the Jewish people. His name was Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus was a smart man. He ran ahead and climbed up a tree. He just wanted to see what kind of person Jesus really was.
When Jesus came to that place and looked up, He said:
“Zacchaeus, come down at once! I must stay at your house today.”
Because of this one sentence, Zacchaeus was changed. Before this, he was very rich, but no one respected him. On that day, unbelievably, Jesus was willing to stay at his house and be with him.
Zacchaeus came down at once and welcomed Jesus with joy. Then he said,
“Lord, I give half of what I have to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone unfairly, I will pay it back four times.”
Respect has great power. It helps people open their hearts and accept what you say. But contempt only brings conflict and pushes people away.
In 1997, Anna had just finished seminary. She and her husband decided to go to Senegal in Africa as missionaries. They stayed in the capital city for three years. After that, Anna heard that the eastern part of the country really needed the gospel, so they traveled there by bus. After they arrived, they rented a hut.
The next day, a strange man knocked on their door. He looked fierce, and his voice sounded threatening.
He asked, “Are you missionaries?”
Anna said yes.
The man said, “You should leave as soon as you can. In the 1970s, an American missionary family came here. When they went home for a break, their plane crashed, and they all died.
After that, other missionaries came, but none of them could stay. If you don't listen to me, you will die here too.”
That night, Anna was so terrified, she cried and prayed, asking God to give her courage.
The next day, Anna decided to stay and go out and make friends with local people.
She saw a local woman drawing water and helped her carry it back to her home.
Anna asked her, “May I learn your local language from you?”
The woman said, “Of course. My husband and I can teach you.”
At that moment, the woman's husband waved at Anna. Anna suddenly noticed that her husband had no hand — only a bare stump of forearm. And there were many lumps on his face. Then she looked at the woman’s hands, and some of her fingers were missing as well.
Anna asked in fear, “What kind of sickness do you have?”
The woman answered calmly, “We are leprosy patients. Not only our village, but eight other villages nearby are also places where leprosy patients live.”
Anna knew the Bible well. She knew that leprosy was a serious and contagious disease. She ran back to her hut and said to her husband,
“We must pack and leave now. We cannot stay here.”
At that moment, she felt a voice speak to her:
“Anna, take care of my little sheep. Go and shake their hands and hug them.”
That night, Anna cried many tears again. The next morning, she chose to obey.
She went into the village. She shook hands with each patient, and she hugged them one by one.
Many of them began to cry and said, “Our families left us here. No one wants to touch us. But you are willing to shake our hands and hug us.
Finally, someone treats us like human beings. Why do you do this?”
Anna answered, “Because God told me to do this.”
Soon the villagers spread the news and said, “God has finally sent someone to visit us!”
It didn’t take years; many people in the village believed in Jesus, and they decided to build a church. This came into conflict with their traditional religion. The leader of the nine leprosy villages heard about this and came to curse them. He said,
“When the church is finished, the roof will fall down and kill all of you.”
But they were not afraid. They finished the church, and no one died.
Years later, a French expert came to study the area. He found 72 new leprosy cases in the other eight villages, but in the village Anna served, there were zero new cases.
God turned the curse into a blessing.
Sometimes, one handshake, one hug, is stronger than many words.
Second: Point Out Sin
When Jesus was passing through Samaria, He saw a woman drawing water at a well. He spoke to her first. In Jewish tradition at that time, this was not allowed. But Jesus loves every lost soul; He wanted to save her. After talking for a while, Jesus suddenly said to her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
Why? Because Jesus knew that this woman was living in sin. She had had five husbands, and the man she was living with was not her husband.
If this woman wanted to build a relationship with God, she had to face and admit her sin.
So Jesus pointed it out.
Many times, we are afraid to point out sin, because we fear people may get angry or turn against us. But Jesus was not afraid.
And the woman was not angry either.
Instead, she went back to the town and shared her testimony about Jesus.
We can imagine that.
The woman said to the people:
“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
The people must ask, “What did He say?” She said, “He said I had five husbands.”
“Wow.” “And the man I have now is not my husband.” “Really?”
If I were that woman, it would be very hard for me to open my mouth.
That day, the woman bravely faced her sin, and she became a vessel God used to lead many people in her town to believe in Jesus.
When a person's sin is pointed out with wisdom, and the person is willing to accept it with humility, that person will be completed.
In 1994, a genocide took place in Rwanda. In about one hundred days, around 800,000 people were killed. Do you know about this?
What is even more painful is that about 90% of the victims were Christians, and about 90% of the killers also claimed to be Christians.
Over the past one hundred years, the number of Christians in Africa has grown very fast.
But for many people, their faith did not have a strong foundation. When conflict and violence broke out, they did not live out the life of Christ.
During the genocide, about 10,000 Christians fled into a church, believing it would be a safe place. But the attackers came into the church and killed all 10,000 people there.
A group of people who called themselves Christians killed another group of Christians inside a church.
Even today, many of those who took part in the killings are still alive.
How many of them had their sin clearly pointed out by the church? How many truly repented?
I do not know. You know, some pastors even took part in the killings themselves.
This raises a very serious question: Are Christians who do not repent truly Christians?
They went into a church, but they never truly went into Christ.
They sang hymns, but they never built a real relationship with God.
They believed they would go to heaven, but when that day comes, Jesus may say to them:
“I never knew you.”
The church today should learn from Jesus and point out people's sins. This will prevent many future tragedies from happening.
Third: Set a Greater Goal
When Jesus called Peter and Andrew, He said, “Come, follow me,” and “I will send you out to fish for people.”
Fishing for people is a greater goal.
Later, Jesus taught His disciples, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,” but “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”
Storing up treasures in heaven is a greater goal.
Jesus also used the parable of the great banquet to lift their eyes beyond this life and toward eternal life in God's kingdom.
Eternal life is a greater goal.
Jesus always set greater goals for His disciples, giving them clearer direction, stronger motivation, and greater resilience.
I deeply relate to this.
When I was a student, the teachers in China told us that human beings are no different from monkeys. At that time, I felt my life didn't have any goal — do you think monkeys need a goal? No. They just eat, sleep, have fun, and if I'm as same as a monkey, I don't need a goal either. So I didn't take my studies seriously, and I often skipped class to play online games. When I was in university, I was caught cheating on an exam and was facing the risk of being expelled. At that time, I felt completely helpless, with no one who could help me. But my mother was a Christian, so I knew how to pray. I prayed, “Jesus whom my mother believes in, if You can help me get through this difficult time, I will believe in You for the rest of my life.”
The school leader told me to go back and wait for disciplinary action. That was truly a very dark period in my life. I lived in constant anxiety every day. But days passed, and no one came to tell me what the decision would be.
So I went to ask the teacher how my case would be handled. He simply told me to wait. After some days passed, I asked again, and he still told me to wait. I kept waiting — until I graduated. In the end, no one ever dealt with my case.
I came to realize that Jesus truly is God.
One night it suddenly hit me: if God created me, then He must have a plan and a purpose. My life isn't an accident — there should be a goal for my life, and that goal is to live out God's purpose for creating me. From that day on, I began to change. I started reading the Bible, going to church, and studying hard, and I became a more positive person with clear direction.
We see that Paul's life was remarkable, and his ministry was deeply fruitful. If you read his letters, you'll notice how often he speaks about rewards, crowns, and eternal glory. He had one great goal: that on the day he meet Jesus, he would receive Jesus' praise. That's why he ran without growing weary, faced danger without fear, and lived in prison without worry — because he knew he was drawing closer and closer to his goal.
One day, you too will meet Jesus. Will He praise you? If you think about it seriously, you will set greater goals for yourself and your loved ones.
Fourth: Accompany Them
After Jesus called His disciples, He didn't just give them teachings and walk away. He stayed with them day after day, because shaping and transforming a person is never an overnight work. Sometimes they needed encouragement, sometimes correction, and sometimes instruction. And because Jesus was with them, He could guide them to make the right choices at the right time.
That is also why, after Jesus ascended to heaven, He gave the Holy Spirit to us — through the Spirit, He would continue to be with us and accompany us. That is also why in our church, besides Sunday worship, we also have men's fellowship, women's fellowship, youth fellowship, and visiting ministries. We need to walk with one another. If we grow too distant from each other, our influence on one another will grow weaker.
In 2006, Prof. Dixon Chibanda was the only psychiatrist working in a public health center in Zimbabwe. One day, he received heartbreaking news: a young patient of his had died by suicide. He asked the patient's mother why she hadn't brought her in to see him sooner. The mother said they couldn't afford the expensive bus fare. That moment pushed Chibanda to make a change. He launched a project called the “Friendship Bench.” He first trained a group of grandmothers — teaching them how to listen, how to support, and how to help young people struggling with depression. Then he placed benches in local communities. So if you were a young person in pain, you might find a bench near your home, and a kind grandmother ready to listen. This project has helped many young people experience real improvement in their depression.
If you can’t come to me, I’ll come to you.
Let me close with a summary of what we can learn from Jesus about how to complete each other. First, respect. Respect is a strong beginning — it helps people become more willing to receive you. Second, we must have the courage to point out sin. Not to attack people, but to name sin as sin. Because a person will not truly change until he recognizes and faces his sin. Third, set a greater goal for yourself and others. Don't set small goals — set big ones. And that goal should be anchored in eternity, anchored in the day we meet Jesus. Finally, we need to accompany one another — encouraging, teaching, and helping one another grow and change. You may find even more — and even better — ways in Scripture. That's good. But remember: don't just know it. Use it. Practice it.