"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."---Matthew 22:37-40
This was Jesus' answer to a Phari...see who was also a lawyer. He had asked the question what is the greatest commandment. The Pharisees were self deceived religious bigots, monks, religious lone rangers. They thought they were serving God by attempting in their pride to separate themselves from people entirely to be worshippers of God. They were religious legalists untainted by the people that surrounded them. They truly thought they loved God more than most and would not dare defile themselves with the crowds of common humanity. In their minds they had arrived at the pinnacle of spirituality that placed them far above the filthy masses below them. They were cold and uncaring toward others. They kept to themselves in their intellectual spiritual Monastery.
If Jesus had only quoted the first half of the greatest commandment without the second they would have remained comfortable in their self deceived religious smugness. It was the second half of the greatest commandment that cut them to the core. "Love thy neighbor as thyself".
When I was in Bible college with three children in elementary school. My wife took a day time job working at a fast food restaurant while our children were in school. Those were difficult times financially. The kind of days where you search behind the car seats and couch cushions to buy milk and bread.
One evening my wife told me how rude and hateful she had been treated by one of my Bible professors. I had this professor for one of my classes. He was very intelligent well educated with two doctorate degrees one in theology. I was surprised to hear of his actions. On campus he was always nice and helpful to us students but apparently a lowly food server did not measure up to being one of the "neighbors to love as thyself". Little did he know he was speaking unkindly to one of his students' wife.
We cannot love God and treat our fellow man made in the image of God with disdain and unkindness.
"James 3:9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God." [?]
James' question is a good one. Even in man's fallen state God demands we recognize that he was made in God's image and deserves respect as such.
We have two kinds of neighbors, saved and lost. God makes his rain to fall on the just and the unjust. Our brothers and sisters should be loved very deeply.
"If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also."---1 John 4:20-21
Let us let this verse sink deep into our soul. Jesus Christ lives in our spiritual brothers and sisters and every unsaved man has the possibility of becoming a brother or sister. Yes all we need is Jesus Christ but let us never forget that He can be found not only in our own spirit but in the spirit of every believer.
Jesus rubbed elbows with the masses on a daily basis. He loved them. He saw them as sheep without a Shepard. He ate with them. Cooked fish for the disciples and dined with sinners so often he held the honor of being a "friend to publicans and sinners." He fed people when they were hungry and healed the sick whether they believed on him or not.
"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief."---1 Timothy 1:15
We are not just spiritual beings. We are, for now, also earthly, beings. Until God calls us home we have a mission. "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world."---John 17:18
Some "super spiritual saints' " feet never need washing. We are not of the World but we are certainly sent into the world. Let us never forget this fact! The depth of our love for God can always be determined by how we treat our fellow man. "God so loved the world..." and so shall we if we love Him. "Love thy neighbor as thyself." -----Pastor Rodney Houston
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."---Matthew 22:37-40
This was Jesus' answer to a Phari...see who was also a lawyer. He had asked the question what is the greatest commandment. The Pharisees were self deceived religious bigots, monks, religious lone rangers. They thought they were serving God by attempting in their pride to separate themselves from people entirely to be worshippers of God. They were religious legalists untainted by the people that surrounded them. They truly thought they loved God more than most and would not dare defile themselves with the crowds of common humanity. In their minds they had arrived at the pinnacle of spirituality that placed them far above the filthy masses below them. They were cold and uncaring toward others. They kept to themselves in their intellectual spiritual Monastery.
If Jesus had only quoted the first half of the greatest commandment without the second they would have remained comfortable in their self deceived religious smugness. It was the second half of the greatest commandment that cut them to the core. "Love thy neighbor as thyself".
When I was in Bible college with three children in elementary school. My wife took a day time job working at a fast food restaurant while our children were in school. Those were difficult times financially. The kind of days where you search behind the car seats and couch cushions to buy milk and bread.
One evening my wife told me how rude and hateful she had been treated by one of my Bible professors. I had this professor for one of my classes. He was very intelligent well educated with two doctorate degrees one in theology. I was surprised to hear of his actions. On campus he was always nice and helpful to us students but apparently a lowly food server did not measure up to being one of the "neighbors to love as thyself". Little did he know he was speaking unkindly to one of his students' wife.
We cannot love God and treat our fellow man made in the image of God with disdain and unkindness.
"James 3:9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God." [?]
James' question is a good one. Even in man's fallen state God demands we recognize that he was made in God's image and deserves respect as such.
We have two kinds of neighbors, saved and lost. God makes his rain to fall on the just and the unjust. Our brothers and sisters should be loved very deeply.
"If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also."---1 John 4:20-21
Let us let this verse sink deep into our soul. Jesus Christ lives in our spiritual brothers and sisters and every unsaved man has the possibility of becoming a brother or sister. Yes all we need is Jesus Christ but let us never forget that He can be found not only in our own spirit but in the spirit of every believer.
Jesus rubbed elbows with the masses on a daily basis. He loved them. He saw them as sheep without a Shepard. He ate with them. Cooked fish for the disciples and dined with sinners so often he held the honor of being a "friend to publicans and sinners." He fed people when they were hungry and healed the sick whether they believed on him or not.
"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief."---1 Timothy 1:15
We are not just spiritual beings. We are, for now, also earthly, beings. Until God calls us home we have a mission. "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world."---John 17:18
Some "super spiritual saints' " feet never need washing. We are not of the World but we are certainly sent into the world. Let us never forget this fact! The depth of our love for God can always be determined by how we treat our fellow man. "God so loved the world..." and so shall we if we love Him. "Love thy neighbor as thyself." -----Pastor Rodney Houston
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