Good Friday 2022

The Three Core Christian Commands

Last week Christ handed out a weekly prayer guide for the Lenten season. As part of this prayer guide we spent time meditating on John 13.31-35.

In this passage Jesus gives his disciples and new commandment, to love one another in the same way that He has loved us.

As you have reflected on this passage what are some of the ways that you have committed to loving one another?

It is important for us as we study this passage together to understand the nature and meaning of love as it is used here.

The root word that Jesus uses in this passage is agape. It is a greek word that references and unconditional love. It points us to the kind of love that God has for His world. It is the kind of love that caused Him to send His only Begotten Son. In other words love is commitment. It is commitment that is unconditional, and boundless. It is the love of Jesus in the fulness of its expression.

In the Scriptures love is presented as an tribute of God, perhaps the central defining attribute of God. Love stands at the center of God’s character, therefore is also stands at the center of the story of story of Scripture.

Love is the core of the Christian life. A person who does not love is not a follower of Christ, a person without love cannot be a follower of Christ.

This morning as we have gathered together in this lenten season then let us examine the nature of the love that we are commanded to embrace and reflect.

The Scriptures present us with three core christian commands to love. Three core commitments that summarize the whole of the Scriptures.

Let us examine these commands together and commit ourselves to fulfilling them.

The three Core Commandments of the Christian Faith are: Love God, Love Neighbor, and Love one another.

Let us now turn to the first Core commandment of the Christian Faith, and commit ourselves to:

Love God Unconditionally

English Standard Version Chapter 12

28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength

What does the love of God look like in practice?

We Worship Him Alone

We Serve Him in all that we say and Do

Let us now turn to the second Core commandment of the Christian Faith, and commit ourselves to:

Love our Neighbor Unconditionally

English Standard Version Chapter 12

31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

What does the love of Neighbor look like in practice?

Family

Community

Let us now turn to the third Core commandment of the Christian Faith, and commit ourselves to:

Love One Another Unconditionally

English Standard Version Chapter 13

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

What does the love of one another look like in practice?

1. The Church

Care of Orphans and Widows

Service to one another

The three Core Commandments of the Christian Faith are: Love God, Love Neighbor, and Love one another.

We practice this Love:

By Worshiping Our God Alone

By Serving God alone

In our Families

In Our Community

In Our Churches

English Standard Version Chapter 13

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”