Jesus is asked the big question - and He gives
the big answer. Notice that he does not give the usual Gospel of John answer
about believing in Jesus. Instead, since he is asked as a test of Hebrew
orthodoxy; he gives what we might call the “Hebrew” answer. In everyday use we
tend to shorten this to “love God and your neighbour” We tend to:
·
Leave out the “With all your heart” part.
·
Define neighbour too narrowly
·
Skim over the “as yourself part”
Jesus deepened, widened and strengthened the
definition of love.
1. Jesus deepened the definition
of “Love God”
It is very easy to miss the depth of meaning of
the word “love”. We often use this word carelessly to describe both the
relationship we have with our family and with our hobby. Hopefully we don’t
‘love’ hockey in the same way as we ‘love’ our spouses. The Scriptures actually
use the word “fear” to describe our relationship with God more often than the
word “love”.
·
In the time of Jesus the love of God or fear of God
had been reduced, for most people, to keeping the religious Law and participation
in rituals and in offering animal sacrifices.
·
Jesus summary of the Law widened the definition to a
total focus on being in love with God - beyond head knowledge and obedience to
suggest a total emotional or heart commitment. I
·
Ten Commandments are all about specific ways in which
we can fail to love God or what God has created.
·
Jesus mission was to bring people back into a new love
relationship with a God who wanted an intimate relationship with each
individual.
·
Amos had this kind of relationship with God - he was
paying attention to what God had done in the past and was doing in the present
·
Relationship is based on knowledge and personal
experience of God
2. Jesus also widened the
definition of “neighbour”
If we are to love our neighbour as ourselves we
must begin by loving ourselves. If we cannot love ourselves we will not be able
to love our neighbour. Jesus widened the definition of neighbour to include everyone
who comes across our path in life:
·
Samaritans were considered outcasts, not members of
either the religious or political state of Israel. .
- Who you help is determined by where you are.
- How you help is determined by what their need is.
- Samaritan loves with his whole heart and assumes responsibility
- Bible teaches that the main reason men have to work is not for
their own needs but so that they will be able to give something to the needy.
3. Jesus and Paul strengthened
the definition of love
Both Jesus and Paul
taught that those who really love God, themselves and their neighbour are in
for a fight. Both were publicly rejected, physically attacked, beaten and
crucified by the people they loved and tried to help. This is still going on in
our time:
·
More Christians killed for
their faith than at any time in history.
·
Saddened by church leaders
who ignore this and focus on not offending people more than proclaiming Good
News of forgiveness
·
Paul gives us a Military
model of love as confrontation – as opposed to the modern Liberal model
of education which has failed
·
He models a mission of aggressively
rescuing people from a dominion of spiritual darkness and bringing them into a
kingdom of spiritual light
·
Paul describes the Colossians
twice as “holy people”
·
Holiness is essential to eternal
Christian spiritual life
·
Contrary to modern culture
we do not become holy by being good
·
It is hard for us to realise
that we cannot save ourselves from death
·
Good news is that God allows
Jesus sacrificial death to cover our guilt and have a new spiritual life– if we
repent and believe
·
Colossians had recognised
their need for Jesus, repented received forgiveness and the gifts of the Holy
Spirit
·
Prays that God will “...fill
you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding
that the Spirit gives” (Colossians !.9)
·
They have been “...brought
into the Kingdom of the son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sins.” (Col. 1.13-14)
·
Like Amos and Paul we grew
spiritually as we grew in holiness and knowledge through struggle, difficult acts
of love and experiences of God working in our lives through the Holy Spirit
What
we must do to have an eternal spiritual life of joy is:
- Recognise that we cannot
save ourselves by being good
- Turn to Jesus for help in
self-examination and forgiveness
- Come into a personal love
relationship with Jesus through Bible Reading, prayer, worship, Christian
fellowship and healing
- Continue growing in our spiritual
life as we ask for and receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit - love, joy
and peace
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