Love your neighbor as yourself

Mark 12: 31- 34 ³¹ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

³² “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. ³³ To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

³⁴ When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. We are to know God, love God and now show God. To show His love. To love others as yourself.

If you love God 100% what’s left to love your neighbor? How can we do both in this case?

The Bible says we love because He first loved us. So He pours His love down on us and then we give God all of our love and worship and adoration. 100%. God receives this love and it’s like He holds up a mirror and reflects it to other people. If God receives our love He will call us to share it with others. God wants us to pour our love out on our families, our neighbors, people who need it because He loves them so much. If we don’t love all people maybe we aren’t loving God as much as we should.

How do we show that we love God? By loving our neighbors. It’s like that song where the man keeps telling the girl he loves her and she doesn’t believe him: she sings, “words, words, words – show me!”

Ephesians 5:1-2 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children ² and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

We are called to walk in love.

We say that some people are just too awful to love. Well, Christ loved us when we were sinners – and we are told here to love others just like Christ does. We are to imitate Him! To show the world what He is like! WE are His representatives.

Are we commanded to love ourself? The culture today says we are! This Mark passage says to love others as yourself…. The Bible isn’t telling us here to love ourself; it just assumes that we do. If you read any of the New Testament you will see it tells us to think less of ourselves then we do!

If you think about this – and if we could really be that way – we would be so much better off. Think about it – we wouldn’t be wondering all the time what people were saying about us or thinking about us, or worried all the time or submerge ourself in self pity. It would be freeing!

What does loving my neighbor look like? Love is the priority of every believer to sacrificially promote the spiritual welfare of those around them. This is a Christian’s job.

1 Cor. 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Cor. 16:14 Do everything in love.

Love is a priority! Do everything; say everything, with love as its priority. And our example is Jesus’ love.

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

1 John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

We must be willing to lay down our lives for others! Some of us won’t even give certain people the time of day! But it’s supposed to be selfless and sacrificial.

1 Thessalonians 3:12  May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.

1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Here are 3 ways we can love like Jesus:

1. Bask in God’s love.
2. Banish selfishness
3. Bring love with you in all that you do.

When the scribe said to Jesus, “Well said, teacher, “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. ³³ To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Jesus told him he was not far from the kingdom of God. He wasn’t quite there though. The scribe answered intelligently, but not worshipfully. He didn’t know he was talking to God! He knew the answer. He knew scripture. But he had no relationship. So Jesus told him he wasn’t in the kingdom yet.

The LORD our God is One God

Pastor Kurt continued his sermons on the Gospel of Mark Sunday:

Mark 12:28 – 31 ²⁸ One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

²⁹ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

A scribe asks Jesus which one commandment is the greatest. It looks like Jesus answers with the top two, but really He’s giving three parts to the greatest commandment.

They are: to know God genuinely, to worship God exclusively and to serve others wholeheartedly.

We’ll start with the first: To know God genuinely.

God is demanding that we hear Him! That we listen to Him! “Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” This is the John 3:16 of the Old Testament. John 3:16 is probably the most well known verse in the New Testament and Deuteronomy 6: 4-9 was that for the Jews. It is known as the Shema, which is the Hebrew word for hear. And the Jewish people recited this verse all the time.

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.

Bible hearing is more then just hearing. You can hear without listening and you can listen without taking it in and you can take it in without determining to do something about it and you can determine to do something about it without actually taking action.

Bible hearing is to hear, to internalize, to determine you are going to live it out and then live it out. You listen in such a way that you obey! Remember it is the doer of the Word not the hearer of the Word who is blessed.

How do we “hear” God? By reading His Word: the Bible. We don’t go with our feelings or to a friend for advice or trust in circumstances or read other Christian books. This is the only book that is His Word!

2 Timothy 3:16 – 17 ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God^] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

And what are we supposed to hear exactly? “The Lord, our God, is one Lord.” We are supposed to pay attention to who God is. To His character. So we can know Him better.

In Bible times names meant something about what a person was. LORD in all caps, which you will see often in the Bible, indicates that the word behind this is Yahweh. The name God gave Himself. Yahweh is actually a Hebrew verb meaning ‘to be.” When God said His name in the Bible, He said, “I am.” He is eternal and unchanging.

Isaiah 41:4 Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning?  I, the Lord, with the first of them and with the last, I am he.”

Jesus, The Lord, is the Yahweh of the Old Testament. It’s hard to wrap our heads around the Trinity, but we have one God.

After it says “Our Lord” it says “Our God”. Yahweh set God up high. Separate from us. Our God makes Him ours. He is with us!

Just from this we know He’s generous – He gave Himself to us. He’s is for us – He’s our advocate, and He is humble – He lowered Himself to live among us and allowed Himself to be treated the way He was! He is Our God.

The sentence ends with is One God. He alone is King of the universe. God doesn’t need us to do anything for Him. He just wants us to know Him and we start to know Him by listening to Him. Hear, O Israel! Hear, O Church!

From this we learn He is Holy and perfect in everyway. The only way we can have a relationship with a perfect and Holy God is through Jesus and His blood.

The difference between knowing God and knowing about God is the difference between Heaven and Hell. “About” is fact accumulation. Knowing is appreciating who He is. You will never know the presence of God until you understand the person of God.

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

Philippians 3:8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ

Hosea 6:6 ⁶ For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,  and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

Jeremiah 9:24 but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,  justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.

The most important thing you need to know about Jesus? The Lord Jesus Christ is willing to be your Savior and friend. So first we have to turn from our sins and trust Him. Then listen! To everything He tells us about Himself!

Love is the remedy

Love is the only thing that can mend relationships. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” And remember what His two greatest commandments were: To love God with all of our heart and soul and mind and to love other people as ourselves.

So the proof, the real proof that we love God isn’t that we come to church on Sunday morning. Or even Sunday night or Wednesday night. It isn’t that we wear a cross or have a Bible – it’s that we love other people. All people. That’s the proof!

Bible thoughts to reflect on

- Live your life like you are answering what Jesus asked Peter three times: “Do you love me?” and “Feed my sheep.”

- As children of God we don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we know who holds tomorrow!

- Satan got Eve to forget all that God had done for her and to focus on the one thing she couldn’t have. The next time we feel sorry for ourselves, think about all the blessings God has given us and thank Him.

- “He learned obedience from what he suffered…” Hebrews 5:8

- From the book of Job: Regardless of how much Job suffered, he clung to God and God rewarded him. Job was tested. With a life filled with prestige, possessions and people, he was suddenly assaulted on every side – devastated, stripped down to his foundation. But, his life was built on God and he endured.

- I read this in Christianity Today, “Early church leaders wrote about the distinction between virtue and innocence. Innocence is when we've faced no temptation. Virtue is when we've been tempted but stayed strong. A similar distinction can be found in faith. Innocent faith can trust God because it hasn't seen darkness and trial; virtuous faith has known hardship and still chooses to trust God.”

- You can answer a lot of ‘what should I do’ questions by remembering that Jesus said the 2 greatest commandments are: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” For example: ask yourself, “Does this honor and glorify God?” or, remembering that some of your closest neighbors are your family, “Will this make my family closer?” (Adding more activities to your already busy schedule may sacrifice family time, etc.)