Minimum to Maximum

Minimum to Maximum

Key Scripture

Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)

37 And Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all of 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.’

Personal Story

Doing an Old Testament deep-dive, trying to read with the eyes of Christ, and seeing that the 10 commandments are more than just a list of do’s and dont’s, but God telling his people how He wants to be loved. I had realized I was loving God the way I wanted to love Him, not the way He wanted to be loved which are two vastly different things.

Reading the Bible with the eyes of Christ provides a lens to how can I, instead of living by meeting the minimum expectations, live to the maximum...the fullest extent possible for not just myself, but God’s people as well.

Practical Application

Use all of your heart, all of your being, and all of your resources. (Deuteronomy 6:5 CJB)

Touchpoints:

Shema prayer

CJB translation compared to others

Limit ourselves spiritually by limiting ourselves physically

Heart as the seat of the emotions, being as everything that makes us- us, resources as everything at our disposal that we either own or can use

Take the church’s infrastructure as an example

Loving God is loving people and loving people is loving God.

Lay down your life (John 15:13)

Greater love has no one than this than he lay down his life for his friends.

Touchpoints:

Not necessarily physical death, but this is what our minds automatically go to.

Social & political unrest

Social justice movements

Laying down our lives to make life better for others (doesn’t mean life will get worse...Lazarus and Dives. Imagine getting judged for not what you did do, but what you didn’t).

We can’t be unmoved by people’s plight. We should strive to make each other’s lives and experiences better.

Dives wasn’t moved by Lazarus’ need

Swing the sword (Hebrews 4:12)

The word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Touchpoints:

Not what’s on your mind or your heart, but what’s in them

Reveals our true thoughts and attitudes and our current climate has made unsavory things acceptable.

Measures how we treat people

As holy?

A voice to the voiceless

Justice (dikaiosyne) for the oppressed

The least of these not the most of these

Could be children, single mothers, addicts, oppressed minorities, felons, orphans, the abused, etc…

As unwanted

Charles Spencer’s survival of the fittest where we keep all the everything in the hands of those who already have them.

Do we love people or not?

Conclusion

Jesus said “You have heard it said, but I tell you…” to give us not just behavior modification, but heart transformation as well. This isn’t just an exercise in personal piety- a thinking man’s game if you will, but a full on exercise of every sphere of your make up -mentally (thinking), physically (doing), and emotions (feeling) and utilizing with the eyes of Christ and the Word of God as a mirror to reflect and a lens to search for areas where we are not using our all, sacrificing for others, or checking our thoughts/actions/attitudes to make sure that we can give a positive account not to just others but to God.