Weekly Sermons

The Lord’s Neighborhood

“No matter what our particular job, especially in our world today, we are called to be ‘tikkun olam,’ repairers of creation. Thank you for whatever you do, wherever you are, to bring joy and light and hope and faith and pardon and love to your neighbor and yourself.”    -Fred Rogers

In today’s passage we see where Christians have gotten their basic approach to life. They follow Jesus by being God’s presence in their neighborhood and inviting their neighbors to consider Jesus.

Matthew 22:34-40

Lawyers (nomikos – law experts) were scribes who were theologians. They were called on to make sense of the written O.T. Law. But there were also  Oral Law interpretations they said went back to Moses.   

Commandment #1 is to love God with everything you got!             V. 37-38

The quote in verses 37-38 is from Deuteronomy 6:5, part of the great “Shema” (“Hear”) passage.

There is something to the individual parts, but they also overlap into being an expression of full commitment to God. The key is you are to love God with every part of who you are, your entire being!

“God has room for people with very little sense, but He wants every one to use what sense they have.”            -C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

Commandment #2 is to love your neighbor as yourself!                  V. 39

To know is a thing that pleases talkers and boasters; but to do is that which pleases God. Not that the heart can be good without knowledge; for without that the heart is naught. There is therefore, knowledge and knowledge. Knowledge that rests in the bare speculation of things; and knowledge that is accompanied with the grace of faith and love; which puts a man upon doing even the will of God from the heart: the first of these will serve the talker; but without the other the true Christian is not content. “Give me understanding, and I will keep Your law; yes, I will observe it with my whole heart.”                                                                                                     -Faithful to Talkative in Pilgrim’s Progress

Note Jesus’ call to practice appropriate self-care                              V. 39

To love yourself does not mean you are to selfishly put yourself before others; To love yourself does mean that you need to care for your own basic needs appropriately so you will be able to love others.

One way we don’t take care of ourselves enough is the way we let anxiety wreck us. Don’t obsess over the predictable things that occur in a fallen world. Expect troubles in a sin-stained world, and accept God’s help. Proactively do what you can to make it better, and leave the rest with God (Philippians 4:4-7).

Who does Jesus want us to view as our neighbors?                      Luke 10:25-37

These 2 commands to love God with everything inside you and to love your neighbor as yourself power and empower 5 G Living!

The importance of these 2 commands                                                     V. 40

And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He has commanded us.                                                                                                  -1 John 3:23