The Great Commandment - Love Your Neighbor

Matthew 22:36-40 New King James Version

Series: G.O.A.T. The Greatest of All Time

2020

2021

2022 (2020 too)

What would it take to make _____ the GOAT?

· This year

· Your relationship with God

· Your marriage

· Your family

· Your life

· Your finances

Pastor Art did a great job kicking off this series last week.

I felt so inspired after his message (see picture).

Pastor Art taught us about the greatest of all commandments.

Matthew 22:36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

Matthew 22:37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lordyour God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

Matthew 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.

Matthew 22:39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Matthew 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Relationships are vital to making this year the G.O.A.T.

Leviticus 19:18 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.

Over time, as yourself became like yourself.

Two Truths:

1. It’s easy to love people who are like me.

a. The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37)

2. It’s easy to love people who like me.

What do I do with people who aren’t like me or don’t like me?

Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,

Matthew 5:45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Matthew 5:46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

Matthew 5:47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?

Matthew 5:48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

The problem with “love your neighbor as yourself” is myself– it is dependent upon me and my capacity to love others.

John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

John 13:12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?

John 13:13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.

John 13:14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

John 13:15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.

John 13:16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.

John 13:17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

Luke 6:15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot;

Matthew was a tax collector; Simon was a Zealot.

Matthew was a liberal; Simon was a conservative.

Judas would betray Jesus, but Jesus loved him anyway.

John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

John 13:11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”

To love like Jesus, I need to:

1. Personallyexperience Jesus’ love (1 John 4:19 ESV).

a. 1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.

2. Depend on the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).

a. Romans 5:5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

i. Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

ii. Galatians 5:23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

3. Be proactive (Romans 5:8).

a. Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

i. Demonstrate God’s love:

1. To your neighbor

2. To our neighbors to the south – Mexico Missions Trip

3. The world through praying and giving to Missions