Lessons from the Gospels 7 – Two things
In the movie City Slickers, the character named Curly, tells Mitch to find his own “one thing” to guide his life. Well, today’s blog is about the two things that Jesus gave us.
1 John 4:20 [NKJV] If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
Three out of the four Gospel accounts address incidences where the two great commandments are addressed. In both Matthew and Mark, Jesus was asked for the greatest or the first commandment and He responded that the first or great commandment is “Love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.” But He did not stop there. Although no one asked, Jesus volunteered that there is a second commandment that is like the first. That is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
In incident found in Matthew, Jesus concluded with, “On these two commandments hand all the Law and the Prophets.” [Matthew 22:34-40]
In Mark’s incident, Jesus concludes with “There is no other commandment greater than these.” [Mark 12:28-34]
In the incident recorded in Luke, Jesus was asked what to do to inherit eternal life. He turns it back on the lawyer who asked, saying, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” The lawyer then outlines the two great commandments and Jesus says he is correct. [Luke 10:25-28]
It is of great importance to us, sweet sisters, to see that these two great commandments are inextricably linked.
Although he does not address a similar incident in his own Gospel, John does show that he knew the importance of and the link between loving God and fellow man in one of his letters.
1 John 4:20 [NKJV] If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
John goes as far as saying you are liar if you say you love God if you hate a brother.
In a previous blog, I mentioned that I believed if the only scripture one had from the Bible was Matthew chapter 5, one would have everything needed in order to live as a Christ follower in this world.
Turns out, all we really need is a couple of sentences: Love God with every part of you. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus Himself said that the entirety of the Old Testament teachings/law and all prophesy hinged on these two.
Since prophesy has the role of outlining God’s plan of salvation for all people, we know that they tell us about God’s great love for us. If you study into God’s interaction with His people, Israel, you will see that He often took them to task or even punished them for either not loving Him (often shown in idol worship or Sabbath-breaking) or not loving their fellow man (search for scriptures about mistreating the widows or the poor or oppressing the immigrant).
Jesus said there is no other commandment greater. We can clearly see that the 10 Commandments [Exodus 20] can be broken into two parts – Commandments 1-4 showing how to love god and Commandments 5-10 showing how to love our fellow man. The 10 are just a more granular version of the two great commandments.
Jesus also showed how to love our neighbors or fellow man in Matthew 25:31-46. Feed the hungry. Clothe those in need. Visit the sick and those imprisoned. Take in strangers. NEWS FLASH: That word translated “stranger” is “foreigner”. I’ll let you explore that on your own for now. Might be a subject for a future blog.
Sisters, Christianity is not a complex set of rules and laws. It boils down to love. Love God. Love your fellow man. Show those by your actions and you will find that you have kept all the law and will have gained eternal life.
If the world does not see love when it sees Christians, we have failed to keep the two great commandments on which everything else hinges.
I welcome your comments and questions. You can write me in the chat, or any time at Nancy@DynamicChristianMinistries.org.