The Greatest Commandment

What is Love

Took a step out of the old comfort zone and delivered a sermon at church last Sunday. Here are some excerpts…

The Greatest Commandment. We Read in Matthew that on of the commandments is more important than all of the others.

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and [a]foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

- Matthew 22:36-40 NASB

This is passage is simple and straightforward. If you are a Christian than obeying this one should be nothing. But let’s look closer to see if we are really understanding this passage correctly.

To me it is clear that there is a key word, upon which our understanding of this passage hangs:

..You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and [a]foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself..

Love, what is Love?

Merriam-Websters says:

Love –

1. strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties
2. affection and tenderness felt by lovers
3. affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests
4. warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion

With this definition, we get this basic understanding:

..You shall (have a strong affection for) the Lord your God..

..You shall (have affection and tenderness toward) the Lord your God..

..You shall (have a warm attachment to) the Lord your God..

Simple enough. But we need to be sure we are using the correct definition. So let’s look at how God defines the word by digging into the Bible a little more for examples of God/Jesus loving others.

Isaiah 63:9

 In all their affliction He was afflicted, And the angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, And He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.

John 3:16

 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:35

 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.

John 15:13

 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

Romans 5:8

 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

1 John 3:16

 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

John 14:15

 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments

John 14:21

 He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.

John 14:23

 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him”

Romans 14:15

 For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.

If you go through all of these examples you will notice that not once does God love someone with merely an affection, devotion, or thought. Look at the key words. In almost every case there is an associated action:

-          Lifting up

-          Giving

-          Sacrificing

-          Obeying

-          Being considerate/ not harming

Love is not just a feeling of strong affection or devotion, but an affection that inevitably leads to action by the one who has it. And those actions are for the benefit of the one loved not the one who loves. So then our verse now reads:

..You shall (have a strong affection that leads you to take action for) the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind..

God did not love us with a passive love! His love was made real by the actions He took toward us for our benefit.

We need to love God with an active love that leads us to take actions that will please Him. Do not take actions for their own sake, but we all need to let our love of God drive us to take bold action. You can not obey this command passively in your own mind, true obedience to this command will be life changing.

Thanks again for your time,

Chief

A Joy to Serve

A quick thought this time.

A few weeks ago I was at work getting ready to go home and I got a text from my wife. She was going to be preparing supper and realized that she didn’t have one of the ingredients she needed. The text asked if I could stop and pick up the missing item on the way home.

Now maybe it is because my wife is a great cook and I knew how much I was looking forward to what she was going to make, or maybe it is just because I love my wife so much, but I was glad to help. Literally, I felt a sense of joy that I could help her out. I knew that she would appreciate it and that I would benefit from it and that it would make her happy, and it made me happy.

Upon reflection I believe that this is a microcosmic example of how we should relate to God. He does ask us to do things from time to time, and sometimes it may seem inconvenient. But if we are really, truly, in a right relationship with God. We know that obeying Him will make Him happy and will benefit us. If we can get to this place spiritually, them it will bring us joy to help Him out.

I don’t always keep the appropriate perspective, but I do thank God for the little reminders like this that help me understand things better. If you keep your eyes open, I think you will find that He drops these little reminders all around us.

God Bless,

Chief

Self-Knowledge

“All knowledge is ultimately self-knowledge.” – Bruce Lee

I have always liked this quote. It is simple and deep, like many great one-line philosophical quotes.

If you don’t know anything about Bruce Lee other than that he was some old kung-fu guy, then you should at least know that he lived a life in passionate pursuit of self-actualization. The idea that it is worth great effort to try to maximize everything you can about yourself to ultimately be the best version of yourself humanly possible.

I believe that this notion of constant self-improvement is a Biblical idea. Not that people like Bruce intentionally took the idea from the Bible, but they have nevertheless stumbled upon a portion of Truth.

This quote is a good example of that. In it he is talking about the idea that accumulating knowledge is a fundamental goal of existence but only by internalizing that knowledge, by applying it to yourself at an inner level, does that knowledge really help you become better.

Take this set of verses for example.

It speaks of those who hear the word (gathering knowledge) and of those who hear and do (self-knowledge or applying the knowledge).

Think about this question for a second-

Does your belief in Jesus impact how you think and/or act on a daily basis?

I once read that a study was done of thousands of self-professing Christians in America, and of those some 80-90% answered no to that question!

Perhaps you answered no to that question. Perhaps you are not a Christian… Too harsh? What good does it do us to gather knowledge if we don’t internalize it and apply it to ourselves? What if we look into that mirror and just walk away, forgetting what we saw?

I learned a long time ago not to judge others by the same standards that I hold myself too, but I can tell you from my experience that almost not a single day goes by that my faith in Jesus Christ does not come into play in some thought or action, or restraint from action. It is a real part of how I think about politics, work, marriage, parenting, movie watching, sometimes even eating. 

Gathering knowledge is not enough. Knowledge gained but not applied is knowledge you never really had. Only when we grab a hold of that knowledge and make it real in our hearts and minds does it become self-knowledge, or knowledge that leads to improvement.

A parable 

Take this as a challenge, if you will, to think about what you know. Are there Truth's you have found but never applied? Devote some time this week to attempt a more real understanding of what you already know; a thoroughly consistent application of your beliefs to yourself. If you do, it will only make you better...

-Chief