Love Your Neighbor As Love Yourself
Loving Each Other • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 38 viewsNotes
Transcript
Love Your Neighbor As Love Yourself
Love Your Neighbor As Love Yourself
Kidz World Today - Children’s Church
35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
Confession of Faith
I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved by what I believe. I believe the WORD of God! The victory is mine! I have it now! I can see it through the eyes of my faith! In Jesus name
Last Week we looked at the commandment to love God with all you heart, soul and mind.
Mat
37 Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’
Today we are going to look at the second part of the commandment:
39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
38 This is the first and great commandment.
Jesus is actually quoting from
18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
Love Your Neighbor As You Love Yourself
The person who asked the question, had not asked for the second greatest commandment, but because the first commandment at times cannot be seen or understood standing by itself. Jesus had show a demonstration, an act, something done for love to be seen and understood.
Just you professing love without a demonstration is empty.
It ‘s just something to say.
Love is not known without showing it.
1. Love is an active experience, not inactive and dormant. That is what Christ is pointing out. Love for God acts. Love acts by showing and demonstrating itself. It is inaccurate and foolish for a man to say, "I love God," and then be inactive and dormant, doing nothing for God. If he truly loves God, he will do things for God. Any person who loves does things for the one loved.
2. The primary thing God wants from us is love for our neighbors, not the doing of religious things. Doing religious things is good, but it is not the first thing God wants. God wants us to make loving our neighbor the first order of our lives.
To do religious things is only dealing with things such as rituals, observances, ordinances, and laws.
Those things are lifeless, unfeeling, and unresponsive. They are immaterial.
They make us feel good and religious which is beneficial to our growth, but religious things are not what demonstrates our love for God.
Loving our neighbor is what proves our love for God.
A person may say they love God, but if they hate and act unkindly and spitefully toward their neighbor, everyone knows their religion is talk only
20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?
21 And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.
3. The first great commandment to love God flows downward into another great commandment—to love our neighbor as ourselves. You can’t get around that fact
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
When a man really sees the love of God for him, he cannot help but love God and share the love of God with his neighbors.
It is the love of Christ for us, His death and sacrifice, that compels us to go and love all men everywhere.
19 We love him, because he first loved us.
21 And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.
14 For the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us, because we are of the opinion and conviction that [if] One died for all, then all died;
15 And He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake.
4. We are to love ourselves.
a. There is a corrupt love of self that feels the world should center around you!
This self-love... • wants all attention centered around oneself. • pushes self forward. • insists on one's own way. • demands and revels in recognition. • shows conceit and ignores others.
b. However, There is a godly love for self that is natural and pleasing to God.
It is a love that stirs a strong self-image, confidence, and assurance.
It is a love that even helps in preventing some illnesses such as ulcers, tension, and high blood pressure.
The godly love of self comes from knowing three things.
⇒ That you are actually the creation of God: the highest creation possible.
⇒ That you are actually the object of God's love: the most supreme love possible.
⇒ That you are actually the trustee the one in care of God's gifts: the greatest gifts possible.
c. The godly love of self has three traits that are clearly seen.
⇒ Godly self love places a high value on others more than self.
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.
Godly self love It looks out for the things of others. It looks after your own things as a trustee of God's gifts, but it also looks on the things of others.
4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
Godly self love walks humbly before others.
11 The greatest among you must be a servant.
12 But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Mat. 23:
5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”
To love our neighbor is a command, not an option.
If the commandment is not obeyed, God is displeased and we stand guilty of having broken the law of God.
To love our neighbor arouses the question: Who is our neighbor?
Luke
25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”
27 The man answered, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”
29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.
31 “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by.
32 A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.
33 “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him.
34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him.
35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’
36 “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.
37 The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”
A good neighbor is he that shows mercy on any who need mercy
Therefore our neighbor is everyone in the world, no matter his status, condition, or circumstances.
Next Steps:
Next Steps:
Read 1st Corinthians