They will know you by your love

Scripture

Mark 12:29-31

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."

Introduction

For the past three Sundays, we have focused on how the way we deal with conflict distinguishes us as followers of Jesus. And now for the coming three Sundays including today we will turn more outward –

How we love and are loved by God,

How we extend the love to strangers,

How we show hospitality to all people who are also loved by God.

This is also very timely as we get involved with the upcoming outreach activities – VBS, Fellowship worship service, Block party. We MUST do that out of God’s love for us – and our love for others.

Background

[Verse 30-31]

I think we may have heard these words of Jesus so many times that we cease to be struck by how profound they are. “There is no commandment greater than these.” says Jesus.

The question asked by this scribe, an expert in the law, was one that was a matter of contention and constantly under debate by the Pharisees. The Pharisees had codified the law into 248 positive commandments and 365 prohibitions. These 613 precepts were imposed by the Pharisees on their followers as their obligation, yet they offered no love or help or hope of enablement to encourage them in obedience. There was no mercy or grace, only the heavy chains of legalism which always kills the joy of life and alienates rather than reconciles people to God.

This is what the evil of selfishness does – it kills the joy of life and alienates us from God and each other.

Contradictory to Evolutionary theories

In today’s context one of the major problems that Evolution theorists have is to be able to explain the role of love. According to them love is in fact a defect in the evolutionary process. You see love is so contradictory to the concept of survival of the fittest.

Love is clearly contrary to natural selection. Natural selection involves competition for resources, with only those best able to obtain them surviving. Selfishness is a virtue because only the strong and selfish survive.

Love is unselfish. People sacrifice, and even die, for other people they love. It isn’t the behavior natural selection would reward. Generosity really puzzles evolutionists.

Ayn Rand’s philosophy about “rational self-interest” got so popular in the 90’s. We as a generation started looking at greed as a necessary fuel for our growth. Rational self-interest? You know this is one of the things we have gotten good at – giving “feel good” names so they don’t make us feel as guilty.

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The greatest commandment Jesus said was to love God with your whole self and to Love your neighbor as yourself.

It is natural to think of oneself first and best. Loving another person as much as we love ourselves means we give that person our first consideration. However, we can only give this kind of love to another person if we have God’s help, if we love Him first.

Non-Christians don’t care at all how well you keep the Sabbath, memorize Scripture, fast wholeheartedly, etc. Not at all. What people notice (Christian or not) is one’s capacity to love and they are drawn towards people whose love is impossible to miss.

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The love of Christ compels us to: -

-       Live differently

-       Judge differently

-       Serve differently

Love compels us to live differently

The two versus Jesus quotes are different in small but significant ways. The command, “You shall love the Lord your God” is a part of a larger scripture known as the shema, and it extends in Deuteronomy 6 from verse 4 through 9.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NIV)

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^[a] 5 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. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

It is known as the shema because that is the first word of the opening verse in Hebrew: “Hear (sh’ma), O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” These opening words are not included in Mathew or Luke. By including the opening, Mark reminds every reader of the unity of God, which is paralleled here by the unity of these two commandments. He is also reminding them of the shema which was recited daily in the worship.

Jesus adds the phrase about loving God with the mind to verse 5. The idea of loving God with the mind is a helpful reminder. It is not really missing from the version in Deuteronomy, however, because the meaning of the verse there is to love God with the whole person.

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees had the honor and authority of speaking God’s law. Jesus did not deny that. However, Jesus said, “Do what the Pharisees teach but do not copy the behavior of these men; they do not practice what they preach.” Everything that the religious leaders did was done for men to see.

How they lived had not changed because they did not have love in them.

Love is the foundation for peace

Love of God and Loving our neighbor as our selves, I believe is the foundation for peace. It is important, of course, to understand love in biblical sense and not the common cultural sense.

It’s easy to buy into love as mere emotion. Sometimes we all get into the trap of reducing love to the feel-good emotions. Certainly, the emotions are part of love, yet they do not demonstrate the full expression of love that’s essential to God’s nature (1 John 4:16).

Most importantly, God’s love includes sacrifice; in fact, the two—love and sacrifice—cannot be separated. God’s version of compelling love intertwines Christ’s love with Christ’s death.

Through His sacrificial love, God brings us into an intimate relationship with him through salvation. He then compels us to love others as Christ loved us—first. Sacrifice on behalf of others is not for the weak and not likely seen apart from love. Jesus challenges us to live for others, even for those too weak and feeble to give anything back to us. It’s a love that challenges us to follow God Himself—the Commander of heaven—and to imitate His sacrifice as we serve others on His behalf.

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Over the years, especially in relationships, I have personally learnt that it’s far better to love than to be right. Being a reflection of God’s love is far more rewarding in a relationship. I have realized that each time I have ended up being right it has actually left me with an empty feeling.

Love compels us to take risks – compels us to go beyond the pre-set norms.

Love compels us to judge differently

The story of the prodigal son gives us a good perspective from two different sides of justice. I am borrowing this from the RZIM devotional by Jill Caratini.

It is easier to fit into the shoes of the prodigal son than the shoes of the older brother. Yet in this well-known parable of Jesus, both sons are invited to celebrate and rejoice.

To the prodigal child who has squandered and defamed, God's grace is lavish. It is extravagant and poured out on those who neither expect it nor deserve it. The celebration is thrown in the honor of the run-away, in honor of the return of just one lost sheep. When these shoes are ours, we are both humbled by the Father's attention and compelled by his mercy.

Yet to the child on the other side of justice, the Father's grace is jarring and disruptive. His invitation to the feast is both awkward and demanding, a seeming call to overlook the potential of our reckless brother to strike again at our expense. These shoes are much harder to walk in. The Father's call to forgive the one whose sincerity is questionable is often agonizing; his command to love the habitual prodigals in our midst is both costly and exhausting.

But it is his request. "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" asked Peter. But Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times

seven" (Matthew 18:21-22).

God's grace disrupts our sense of righteousness and summons us to respond in similar kind.

Whether we find ourselves in the shoes of the prodigal or treading the difficult ground of the older brother there is good reason to rejoice and celebrate the unveiling love of the Father.

His unfathomable grace and mercy shatters our sense of who is worthy to enjoy the benefits of God's kingdom, inviting us to the celebration regardless of where we stand.

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Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, says to them, "Here am I, preaching a crucified Christ." Paul goes on to say to the Jews, it's a scandal. To the Greeks, it's foolishness, a Christ who actually doesn't retaliate or seek vengeance, a Christ who forgives, even those putting him to death.

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This love of Christ compels us to judge differently – when we are driven by this love it could indeed disrupt our sense of righteousness.

Love compels us to serve differently

“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.” ~~Amy Carmichael

The religious leaders did not follow the teachings Jesus gave to His disciples. Rather than seeking to serve, they worked to be honored by men. They were hypocrites. They made a show of godliness but were self-seeking and evil in their hearts and minds.

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Corrie Ten Boom, Each New Day

When I saw Sadhu Sundar Singh in Europe, he had completed a tour around the world. People asked him, Doesn't it do harm, your getting so much honor?" The Sadhu's answer was: "No. The donkey went into Jerusalem, and they put garments on the ground before him. He was not proud. He knew it was not done to honor him, but for Jesus, who was sitting on his back. When people honor me, I know it is not me, but the Lord, who does the job."

That puts it in perspective, I personally believe True Love produces Humility and also a natural response towards Grace is Humility. 1-Corinthians 13 says that Love is not self-seeking.

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Christ’s love compels us to serve differently.

In 1997 my parent went visiting the north east region of India. It was the same time Mother Teresa had died so they got an opportunity to visit the place where viewing was going on. My father shared that while they waited in the line there were these young kids who were selling flowers and they were selling it for very cheap price (10 paisa for each flower). My father out of curiosity asked one of the boys that how they can afford to sell the flowers so cheap and his immediate response was “Sahab (Sir), she was a mother to us, how can we make money when we know that this is going to be offered over her body. We are doing this today just as a service”
I was touched by what the boy had to say … this boy was not educated and probably brought up seeing crimes and all kinds of bad thing around him. He had seen something very compelling in the lives of these servants of Christ where he was willing to sacrifice one of the biggest money making opportunities that he ever had.

They will know you by your love. These kids most likely were not Christians but their lives were demonstrably impacted and changed.

I remember from my school days, we were all taught that “Unity is Strength”.

It sounds very good but the question is how do we get united?

I am now convinced that Love produces humility and Humility is the strength of Unity.

It all ties back to our God being one “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” and wants us to be one with Him.

Closing remarks

Love of God and Loving our neighbor as our selves, I believe is the foundation for peace.

God’s love includes sacrifice; in fact, the two—love and sacrifice—cannot be separated. God’s version of compelling love intertwines Christ’s love with Christ’s death.

Through His sacrificial love, God brings us into an intimate relationship with him through salvation. He then compels us to love others as Christ loved us—first.

Jesus challenges us to live for others, even for those too weak and feeble to give anything back to us. It’s a love that challenges us to follow God Himself—the Commander of heaven—and to imitate His sacrifice as we serve others on His behalf.

-oOo-