Loving your Neighbor
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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.’
“This is the great and foremost commandment.
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-38
Matthew 22:37-
I get to come up here and have so much fun. The fact that you all trust a young buck of 25 years old to come up and start talking away should be considered a miracle in and of itself.
Prayer
I’ve learned so much...
Opening- I am a fan of keeping things simple. A few weeks ago, I talked on loving God with everything we have: heart, soul and might. A simple command to guide us. As many of you are aware, there is a second half of Jesus’s statement. And to ensure to everyone that I am not negligent, I wanted to speak on that today.
37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
A resident Fellow on the effects of Loving your neighbor as yourself
A resident Fellow on the effects of Loving your neighbor as yourself
Opening- A few weeks ago, I talked on loving God with everything we have: heart, soul and might. As many of you are aware, there is a second half of Jesus’s statement. And to ensure to everyone that I am not negligent, I wanted to speak on that today.
Story of Christmas Break Car Fiasco
This story makes you all feel a certain way. The beginning had you one way, but in the end, with me standing here with a smile on my face telling you of the good things that happened in the midst of the struggle...
Now… all of a sudden, all of these small and quite large acts of kindness… They have involved people beyond myself, they have represented something greater than a simple act… It’s gone past a simple statement that we have all heard a thousand times… It’s more than just a golden rule to live by....
Toady’s main passage is going to be from a tiny book, and only 4 verses within that tiny book:
4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. 6 I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. 7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.
Keeping it simple
When we love others… The effects go beyond those directly involved.
When we love others… The effects go beyond those directly involved.
-The effects of loving your neighbor go well beyond those directly involved.
and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake.
Philemon
>- Guess what, when I was stranded in Missouri, and my brother and cousin came and picked me up… You better believe i told others about that! Not only from pure joy, but because for the next two weeks all I was asked was how I got home. Others from all over hear about the goodness that goes on, whether we realize it or not.
When we love others… We represent Christ.
-Loving others is a key representation of Christ. The first commandment was to love God with everything we had. This second commandment, is simply telling us to prove our love for God by showing that love to others!
-Loving others is a key representation of Christ. The first commandment was to love God with everything we had. This second commandment, is simply telling us to prove our love for God by showing that love to others!
-Loving others is a key representation of Christ. The first commandment was to love God with everything we had. This second commandment, is simply telling us to prove our love for God by showing that love to others!
>-Simple, yet truth.
-Loving others is a key representation of Christ. The first commandment was to love God with everything we had. This second commandment, is simply telling us to prove our love for God by showing that love to others!
>-I loved what Pastor Glenn mentioned last week about WWF. Word, Worship, Fellowship. How are we acting out fellowship? Do we rely simply on Sunday mornings, or are we going out into school, our work places, the streets and demonstrating the love of God.
>- When my brother and cousin came to the rescue, you know what it represented? It represented the love they had for me. It represented the love our family has for each other. It’s the same way within the Church! How do we love each other? Are we committed to each other? How much are we willing to sacrifice for our brothers and sisters?
When we love others… The effects go beyond those directly involved.
When we love others… The effects go beyond those directly involved.
4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus.
When we love others… The effects go beyond those directly involved.
-The effects of loving your neighbor go well beyond those directly involved.
-The effects of loving your neighbor go well beyond those directly involved.
>- Paul is an outsider to Philemon’s Church, and yet not only is he hearing about their love towards other brothers and sisters in the faith, but he is filled with joy and comfort.
>- Guess what, when I was stranded in Missouri, and my brother and cousin came and picked me up… You better believe i told others about that! Not only from pure joy, but because for the next two weeks all I was asked was how I got home. Others from all over hear about the goodness that goes on, whether we realize it or not.
When we love others… The Church becomes stronger.
When we love others… The Church becomes stronger.
7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.
Philemon
-Whether we are loving others outside of the Church, or inside the Church, the church continually becomes stronger.
-Whether we are loving others outside of the Church, or inside the Church, the church continually becomes stronger.
>-If you are showing love to some one who is not a Christian, guess what you are still demonstrating Christ to that person! You are still strengthening your relationship with God, because you are listening to His calling on your life! We become closer to our Creator, to our Father.
>-The same goes when we love our fellow brothers and sisters! Accept, there is an addition… now it is an action that is twice as edifying! Not only are you building your own relationship with God, but you are pushing another brother/sister on toward a greater relationship with God! You are refreshing the hearts and minds of others to keep them running the good race. It’s as if you are the one holding the cup of water during a long race!
Loving your neighbor as yourself requires you to put yourself in their shoes. How would you like to be treated? How would you like to be remembered? We each have our own “love” language. We each have ways that we like to be loved on. Encouraging words, gifts, quality time…
My mother, she is superb at encouraging others! She is constantly sending out encouragement cards, care packages, making phone calls, helping others do lawn care… Because she puts herself into their shoes and wants to make sure they understand that someone loves them. That someone remembers them. This news then gets told about.
This congregation, has been huge to me over the last 3.5 months. The constant encouragement and inclusion into the congregation has been so incredibly welcoming. The encouragement, the inclusion… It has strengthened me, which in turn has allowed me to become more comfortable in my position here, which in turn allows me to better push and encourage and strengthen the youth...
When we love others… We represent Christ.
When we love others… We represent Christ.
6 I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ.
-Loving others is a key representation of Christ. The first commandment was to love God with everything we had. This second commandment, is simply telling us to prove our love for God by showing that love to others!
-We are all familiar with the golden rule. We all have heard it since young children. The secular world has an understanding of this! But this commandment goes beyond simply treating others the way you want to be treated. This commandment is about the representation of Christ. T
>-Simple, yet truth.
>-I loved what Pastor Glenn mentioned last week about WWF. Word, Worship, Fellowship. How are we acting out fellowship? Do we rely simply on Sunday mornings, or are we going out into school, our work places, the streets and demonstrating the love of God.
>- When my brother and cousin came to the rescue, you know what it represented? It represented the love they had for me. It represented the love our family has for each other. It’s the same way within the Church! How do we love each other? Are we committed to each other? How much are we willing to sacrifice for our brothers and sisters?
>-What is your motivation in loving others? Is it to be recognized? Is it to clear a guilty conscience? Is it to check off a list of good things to do? We can go through all of the actions, we can put in all of the work, but without Christ at the head of it all, we are simply running down the wrong road. A road that does not lead back to Christ. If the world understands the golden rule, how much more so as Christians should our motivation in loving others distinguish us?
We are all familiar with the golden rule. We all have heard it since young children. But this commandment goes beyond simply treating others the way you want to be treated. This commandment is about the representation of Christ.
Our actions should be a love offering to God
Our actions should be a love offering to God
>-Our actions should be a love and thankfulness offering to God. Not a way to earn anything for ourselves. Cain brought forth his offering to God. He did the work and he took the time and put in the effort to do so. However, his offering, unlike that of Abel’s, was not focused on His love toward God. As represented by his anger towards Abel, instead of a godly remorse and repentance. He wanted to be praised for the work of his hands. Abel, comes in with an offering to show his love toward God and was accepted.
How does look for our Church today?
How does look for our Church today?
How Does look for our Church today?
Though the commandment to Love your neighbor as yourself is universal and applies to everyone, here in his letter Paul specifically talks about Philemon’s love for other brothers and sisters in Christ.
Today, as you look around at the people sitting next to you, are you committed to loving them? Are you committed to sacrificing time, energy, money, convenience to ensure they are constantly being loved on? Are you committed to sticking through the tough times for your brothers and sisters? And are you willing to do it for the sake of Christ?
Here in this letter, Paul talks about Philemon’s church and how they have refreshed
tells us so much about love. And sometimes we can forget that this not only applies to marriage, but it applies to right here, right now with the people sitting beside you.
13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
Sometimes we like to read this in only the literal sense. But what if we read it such a way that it says “one lay down his own wants, needs, desires” for that of his friends. God calls us to be good stewards of what we have right now… Not to wait for “better” circumstances. Don’t wait to be committed to your brothers and sisters thinking you don’t have the resources, the personality or the abilities… Take the leap of faith and make it a commitment to love on them as they are and as you are right now! Christ will be proclaimed simply in these very actions.
The Hiding Place- Corrie ten Boom and her story.
This isn’t a recommendation, this is a command. This is how we demonstrate our love for Christ… Let this be our offering to God.