Love…The Strength of the Church

Jesus’ earthly ministry was a time of training his disciples and preparing them to build and maintain the Church. During his earthly ministry Jesus was questioned by the most religious group of people during that time, the Pharisees. At this time the Pharisees had over 600 laws for a devout Pharisee to follow. And they did follow the laws strictly, but in following them they never did reach up to help people. They never bothered to make sure that all of God’s creation was cared for. They followed the law for 1 reason…to make sure they were going to heaven.

In Matthew 22:34-40 we read about a Pharisee lawyer who tried to trip Jesus up concerning the law. The lawyer asked Jesus, “what is the greatest commandment”? Jesus reminds the pharisees in his answer that following the law is not what it is all about. Jesus answered,“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, And with all thy soul, And with all thy strength, And with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself”. Jesus was saying, “It is not about you and your salvation, but it is about making Christ known by showing the world the same love that Christ showed us.

Christianity is not about following rules and regulations.  It is about loving God by living out our faith; it is about loving our neighbor by helping them; it is about LOVE !

Love For God.

God isn’t just someone we worship and serve. He is someone we know. We have a relationship with Him. He has shared his life with us. Our relationship with Him must be a loving relationship and Jesus describes how we are to love Him.

1. We are to love him “with all thy heart”. In other words we are to love him passionately. The heart speaks of emotion.  We are to be emotional in our relationship with God. We are also to love him exclusively. Our first spiritual loyalty must be to Him. We are also to love him personally. We don’t have to be afraid to be ourselves when we are worshipping and talking with God. We need worry what other think.

2. We are to love him “will all thy strength“. In other words we are to love him expressively. We need to love God in a way that demonstrates our love. When we love expressively, with our strength, it makes us want to do something.  The greatest example of this is God’s own love.  “For God so loved the world that he done something….He Gave !

3. We are to love him “with all our mind”.  In other words we are to love him intelligently.  When we love intelligently it helps us avoid extremes and keeps us balanced.  Emotions must be balanced with Truth. We must think about why we Love Him.

Love For Others.

1. Loving your neighbor means that you do for him whatever you would do for yourself.  When you have a need you try to meet it.  When you have a hurt you try to heal it.  When you have a responsibility you attempt to fill it. When you have  a prayer request, you pray for it!

2. Your neighbor is anyone who needs help.

3. Questions to ask:  Do you find yourself judging the worth of a person before you decide whether or not you are going to help them?  Do you only feel comfortable helping those who are just like you?  Do you check their appearance before deciding if you want to help them.

4. Loving your neighbor requires action. It is not enough to be concerned. It is not enough to feel compassion. You have to get involved. You have to invest some time and sometimes your possessions. You have to do whatever it takes to care of your neighbor–just as you would do whatever it takes to take care of yourself.

Paul tells us in the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians what love truly is:

1.   Love suffereth long;  it is patient.

2.   Love is kind.

3.   Love envieth not.

4.   Love vaunteth not itself; it is not boastful or arrogant or rude.

5.   Love does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own; it does not insist on it’s   own way.

6.   Love is not easily provoked; it is not irritable or resentful.

7. Love thinketh no evil; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.

8.   Love beareth all things.

9.   Love believes all things.

10. Love hopes all things.

11. Love endures all things.

12. Love never fails; it never ends or lets us down.

This is what the Greatest Commandment is and what the Church needs to get back to.

Loving God 1st , then Loving Each Other is the greatest commandment. All other moral rules will be directly related to these commandments.

Does your church find it’s strength in Love?