Love Everybody, Always

Introduction

Good morning church,

As Bob introduced last week we are going through a series called The Lost Art of Loving. For the next little while we’re going to be looking at this topic of love and how it looks when we consider our relationships with one another and the people around us. Really how we should love others around us.

It is easy to say a statement like “I just love everyone” isn’t it. But it is a whole other thing to live it out in this world around us.

The bible gives us really great insight into this thing called love. There are many great examples in scripture. God’s word helps us to define what love is and how we are to love.

On the other side this world also does its job at telling us what love is. This world dictates to us how we are to love and what it looks like when we act it out. You know love in the bible and love based on the world are two totally different things. The world tells us that love is fleeting, it is here in a moment and is gone the next. Based on the world we can effectively fall out of love with something or someone. The world tells us that we can pick, choose and refuse who we give our love to. We can hold it back when it suits us and give it out when the time is right for us. Love in the bible doesn’t work that way. And we’re going to spend time this morning looking at at an important scripture in the bible that we should consider when we are looking at this topic of love.

So, I think our question this morning, and what I want us to be thinking about as we continue this morning is, “Who are we supposed to love and what does that love look like in our lives?”

Please turn with me to , “34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 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 first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.””

PRAY

Background

Before we jump into our passage for this morning let’s take a quick look at what has taken place to get Jesus to the point of making this statement.

In Matthew chapter 21 we see Jesus entering the temple in Jerusalem. This being a natural place for teaching at the time. While he was here teaching the chief priests and elders came and they began questioning Jesus. Their first question was around who gave Him the Authority to do the things that he was doing. And in this we see Jesus responding to their questions by asking them questions.

We then see Jesus begin to teach them through parables. And you know what the Chief Priests and the elders were only caring for and loving the people whom they wanted. They viewed themselves on this pedestal and looked down on everyone around them. And so Jesus’ parables focused on this, pointing out to them how flawed their thinking is. This had the great effect of just rattling these religious leaders. Jesus’ teachings left them speechless, stunned and unsure how to continue their line of questioning.

Then we get to the passage that we are looking at this morning. We see the Sadducees, who were a small group of very wealthy priests who were also part of the government, they were silenced. Jesus’ responses to their questioning put them in their place, they have nothing else to say. And so the Pharisees, who were around and witnessed what was going on and who had already tried to trap Jesus without any success, felt that this was an opportunity for them to try again. And so one of them a lawyer tried to test Jesus. It’s funny that lawyers haven’t really changed a lot over the last 2000 years. This lawyer was trying to find a way to trap Jesus, he was trying to trick Jesus into giving an answer that would discredit Jesus. They never learned, time and time again Jesus gave them a response that would blow them out of the water. And this time was no exception.

The question that this lawyer asked Jesus was, “Which is the great commandment in the Law?”. This was an interesting question for them, because the Pharisees put the 613 commandments or laws found in the OT into different buckets, those that were light and those that were more weighty. They did believe that all the laws with all seriousness, but they believed that some were more important than others. What they were really doing was trying to get Jesus to trip up and place a law or command higher than another. They were probably ready for Jesus to say one of the 10 commandments, which were written by God, and to them stood out over all the other commandments. And believe you me they were ready to argue if Jesus had said one these, they were primed to tell him why another commandment was greater.

But Jesus’ response was amazing. He didn’t choose one of the 10 commandments. Instead he chose the command to Love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all mind. He said this was the great and first commandment. And then he said to them there is a second and it is like the first. He said You shall love your neighbour as yourself. Jesus said it was on these two commandments that all the Law and Prophets depend on, all of the 613 commandments depend on these.

So we’re going to look at these 2 commandments this morning in light of our question, “Who are we supposed to love and what does that love look like in our lives?”

#1 - Love God

The first and greatest commandment is to Love God with everything we are. Why do we love God?

Firstly, if you want to read about how much God loves you I would recommend that you read 1 John in the bible and really dial in on chapter 4. This book is packed with a ton of verses which highlight the love that God has for each one of us. And so I’m going to look at a few elements of this love from God in this book.

We see in in verst 7 it tells us that love is from God, in verse 8 it says that God is love. Then in verse 9 it says that God loved us so much that he sent Jesus for us. In this book John tells us that love as a characteristic comes from God. He says that this is a trait that God holds and God has shown this love for us by making a way for us to enter into a relationship with him, through his son Jesus.

Love is a

Looking at a physical side we love God because he takes care of us. The bible says in “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” God really does take care of us. I’ve seen this take place in my life. Just before God had me enroll in Seminary and start the journey of becoming a Pastor God pulled me out of a career in accounting and out of a job where I was stressed and stretched in my work environment. God then provided a job where I had the time to study and do ministry, the things that I got the most joy and satisfaction out of. Not only did he give me the time that I needed but he provided for my family financially, in this he showed me that in all things he takes care of us. You may also have a story in your life where God took care of you or is taking care of you, and it may be in a way where you may not recognize at first; to be honest I didn’t see God taking care of me in the middle of my situation. What I knew was that I was moving out of a job where I thought I’d be for a long time and I was going somewhere else. But looking back I see God opened doors and closed doors to get me to the place where he needed me and he made sure I was taken care of. Why? Because he loves me. Why does he do it for you? Because he loves you!

Matthew 6:26 ESV

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

The bible also tells us that God has great plans for us. says “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” He has a special purpose for his people, which he prepared ahead of us. Because he loves us with such a great love he plans ahead for us, he makes a way for us. At times it will be painful, we may be uncomfortable and we will maybe not like it. But God has purpose in his plans for each one of us. And the reason that he does this is because he loves us!

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

And a verse that really does make this love alive for me is which tells us that “We love because he first loved us.”

God first loved us. God takes the first step in our relationship with him. God seeks us out and calls us to himself because he loves us. I love how Pastor Kolby in Salmon Arm puts it, when God calls us to himself he gives us significance because he loves us. He tells us we are important and recognizes our worth. I look back on my life when I didn’t have Christ and I was looking for this significance or love from the things of this world; the people or the stuff, looking for who would see me as important or what would make me important. But you know what I didn’t find this significance in the world, where I found it was in Jesus. The world and what it offered did nothing but disappoint me but a life with Jesus has shown me that God loves me more than anything. And this love causes me to love God and it should cause us to love God. To place our hope and our trust in him. To do what Jesus said and to love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind.

1 John 4:19 ESV

We love because he first loved us.

#2 - Love Others

John highlights that the visible symbol of this love, is in the sending of God’s Son. This was to be seen, appreciated and ultimately believe and accepted. Note that God sent for us his ‘one and only Son’. This describes Christs uniqueness. God had only one Son, who he sent into the world because of his love for the world. John says here that ‘love comes from God’ and ‘God is love’. He explains to them that this love doesn’t come from them but should be understood in the terms of God’s love for his people.

The purpose for him sending him into the world is that we might live through him. Who do you think is the ‘we’ that John is speaking about? It is the believing community, the people who positively responded to the demonstrating of God’s love for them by believing in Jesus. And in addition to this he said that they might “live through him”. This is a verb here it indicates a continual process, this isn’t just for a moment in time but something that will go on continually for that believer.

In verse 10 John goes on to further spell out what he means when he said that ‘love comes from God’ and ‘God is love’. He does this by explaining for them what God did for them. He again points out to them that this love doesn’t come from them but should be understood in the terms of God’s love for his people.

God first loved us. God takes the first step in our relationship with him. Because he loved us so much he sent Jesus to , not just for the sake of it, but he did it in our place. He sent Jesus in our place, to

We are first called to love God and then Jesus says that the second command, which is like the first. He said You shall love your neighbour as yourself. Folks this is where the rubber meets the road. We are surrounded everyday by our neighbours. Bob Goff says it great when he says, “They’re ahead of us, behind us, on each side of us. They’re every place we go. They’re sacking groceries and attending city council meetings. They’re holding cardboard signs on street corners and raking leaves next door. They play high school football and deliver the mail. They’re heroes and hookers and pastors and pilots. They live on the streets and design our bridges. They go to seminaries and live in prisons. They govern us and they bother us. They’re everywhere we look. It’s one thing we all have in common: we’re all somebody’s neighbour, and they’re ours”. We are surrounded by neighbours.

When thinking about the 2 greatest commandments Jesus gives Bob Goff writes, “Sometimes we see these as two separate ideas, but Jesus saw loving God and loving our neighbours as one inseparable mandate.” To Jesus these commands are one and the same. This means that we can’t say that we love God and then not love the people that he surrounds us with.

If we aim to love God the outflow will be a love for those around us.

If we say that we love God and aim for that, the outflow of that has to be a love for the people around us.

There will be some people who are not easy to love, but we also know that if everyone was easy to love that we probably wouldn’t need a command to love others, right. We are generally taught by the world to love those who love us. But we see in Jesus commands us to even love our enemies, he says, “43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbours and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” We are not to be selective in how we give out our love. We are not to be like the world around us.

Bob Goff also shares that “What often keeps us from loving our neighbours is fear of what will happen when we do. Frankly, what scares me more is thinking about what will happen if we don’t.” Sometimes we are afraid of stepping out and loving or serving those people around us. A big part of that fear is maybe thinking that we might be rejected. That the love that we show won’t be accepted by the other person. And you know what sometimes that might happen. But what I would encourage you in is that, this love is also likely to be accepted. And what we can do with the love that is accepted is great, because we can point others to the source of the love that is in us. Remember that love is from God and so when we love it is because of the love that God gives to each one of us. And when we give that love to others it gives us a great opportunity to simply tell them that this is because of what God has done in your life.

This summer I had an excellent example of this played out in front of me. I’ve been blessed to be able to spend a bunch of time with Pastor Bob, learning how to minister to people. I’ve learned that there are a number of homeless people who travel around the country just trying to get by or just trying to get somewhere else. This summer there was a gentleman who stopped in Sicamous for a while and we saw him in town. And I saw this love played out in front of me. Bob engaged this guy; gave him a drink and asked him who he was and where we was going. When the guy found out that Bob was a pastor he went on a rant about church people not helping people like him, which we can’t necessarily confirm, but what he did recognize was the kindness and love that was shown to him in Sicamous. And you know what really stood out to me about this encounter is that Bob made sure that this man knew why we did what we did. Not in an offensive way but in a way that I really believe may have pushed this man closer toward Jesus.

Bob Goff also says, “We can’t love people we don’t know”. Simple but it is the truth. We can’t expect people to come to us and hear about this great message of Jesus. We must get to know them. Jesus life is a great example of this. As we read about his ministry we see him out with people. There are a bunch of great stories where he met people where they were at and did life with them. We see his interaction with the woman at the well. We see Jesus interacting with people who were sick and in need of help. We see him interacting with the leaders of the day. Jesus got to know the people, he went to them and interacted with them. This is what we should do as well. We need to go to our neighbours to love them and we need to engage them.

We need to be people who love others. You know what a love like that drew me into wanting to find out who this Jesus really was. And its a love that really does draw others in. We should not to be complacent and forget what our heavenly father commands us to do. But remember that in order for us to be able to do this we need to be getting God’s love into us.

Because he loved us so much he sent Jesus to , not just for the sake of it, but he did it in our place. He sent Jesus in our place, to

Conclusion

As we close this morning I want you to think about what it would look like if we loved like how we’ve talked about this morning. What if we loved everybody with a love that is talked about in Matthew.

I would think that it would cause people to be drawn to us, not to us for the sake of us but for the sake of Christ. It would be Jesus that they are drawn to and Jesus who we should direct them to.

Could you imagine what that would look like in your homes, on your street or in your neighbourhood. What effect that might have on Sicamous. What would the Shuswap look like or B.C or even Canada. When God’s love is in us and is poured out to those around us we can see major changes take place. We can see radical things take shape. But we need to start somewhere.

And as a bit of homework for us this morning I want to encourage you to pray about how you can love on someone this week. Ask God to direct you to someone who need his love, and see who God takes you too. Try to let go of the fear that might hold you back and really let God work through you for his glory. And see what happens. See what God’s love can do. If we all work toward that we can see God’s love grow more and more in Sicamous and in this world.

Let’s pray.