Love: The Greatest Commandment

Series: It is God’s love in action that distinguishes the Church from the World.

John 13:35 “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

The first task of the church is not to fix the world, but to show the world the difference between the world and the Church.

How do we do that?

—-> By allowing the work of the Holy Spirit to create in us the kind of love that WILL change the world!

Do you believe that? Do you really believe in the power of God’s love working through you to restore the broken places of this world? [PAUSE]

Truth: We are too often more interested in pointing out the sin in the world than we are actually loving the world.

The Greatest Commandment : (Called the Shema) Deuteronomy 6:4-9 “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

The Great Commandment: Matthew 22:36-40 “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.””

The New Commandment: John 13:34–35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

Different kinds of love...

Romance - this is the kind where you take your spouse to the Marriage Retreat in September, buy her flowers, chocolate, and find a babysitter!

Bromance! - it’s what happens when grown men enjoy each other so much they turn into boys when they get around each other

Galentines Day Love or Sisterhood - I don’t know what this is, but I know crazy things happen when the girls hit the town!

Brotherly Love - me and my brothers usually expressed that love in a wrestling match growing up

Mother/Daughter Love - special love which the daughter does something that sets off the mom, then the mom says something that makes the daughter mad…then they sit down to watch hallmark movies together! (to this day I still don’t understand)

Grandaddy and Meema Love (my family) - when grandparents ignore everything the parent says and gives their grandkids chocolate and coca-cola before bedtime

The Love of God is Different (Slide: Two Columns)

Human Affection

A Feeling

Convenient

Self-Gratifying

Contains In/Out Boundaries

Contractual

Quid Pro Quo (something for something)

Agape Love

An Action

Inconvenient

Selfless

Boundary-less

Covenental

Unconditional

We’ve learned to accept a cultural love of comfort and convenience rather than a cruciform love grounded in covenant.

The Result: We can easily start to believe that romantic love or family love is the ultimate goal in life…leaving a lot a people feeling alone and left on the outside of our “church circles.”

Two things I want you to hear today:

Love is a Risen Savior, not a feeling. And his name is Jesus.

The love of Jesus changes us and changes the ones we love.

As a culture, we are more connected than ever with more access to each other than ever...

…yet we are more isolated, lonely, and divided than ever…our unity doesn’t last, our marriages fall apart, and our families are broken.

WHY?!

Because we have traded a love of covenant for a love of convenience.

The Love that Jesus gives...

Leads to reliance on God rather than reliance on self

Have you ever been so mad at your child you just blurted out, “Lord please help me not to end this child!!!”

Any wives ever said that about your husbands??!!!

Long after you lose the FEELINGS of Love the presence of Jesus in your life will carry your relationships.

There’s a reason for that… You’re gonna need the presence of Jesus to love like Jesus loves!

Leads to a surrender of our will & preferences

Luke 22:42 ““Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

John 15:13 “No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.”

Leads to making room for others not like us

There’s a reason why are attracted to people who think like us, act like us, like the same things, believe the same things...

But Scripture tells us that WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, Christ died for us…he didn’t wait until we believed or agreed.

Leads to words that affirm and lift up rather than words that tear-down

Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

Agape Love has a language and it’s rooted in the presence of Jesus in our home and in our words.

A little boy named Stevie, who was quiet and shy, moved to a new neighborhood. One day he came home from school and said, “You know, Mom, Valentine’s Day is coming, and I want to make a valentine for everyone in my class. I want them to know that I love them.” His mother’s heart sank at the prospect of her son’s rejection. Every afternoon she watched the children coming home from school, laughing and hanging on to one another—all except Stevie who always walked behind them.

But at the same time she did not want to discourage her well-intentioned son. So she purchased glue and paper and crayons, and for three weeks Stevie painstakingly made thirty-five valentines. When the big day came, he stacked the valentines under his arm and ran out the door. His mother thought, “This is going to be a tough day for Stevie. I’ll bake some cookies and have some milk ready for him when he comes home from school. Maybe that will ease the pain of not getting many valentines.”

That afternoon she had the warm cookies and milk out on the table. She went over to the window, scratched a little of the frost off the glass, and looked out. Sure enough, here came all the children, laughing, valentines tucked under their arms. And there was her Stevie. Though walking behind the children, he was walking faster than usual, and she thought, “Bless his heart. He’s ready to break into tears.” His arms were empty. He was not carrying any valentines.

Stevie came into the house, and his mother said, “Sweetheart, Mom has some warm cookies and milk for you, just sit down.” But Stevie’s face was all aglow, and as he marched right by her, all he could say was, “Not a one, not a single one. I didn’t forget one. They all know I love them.”