Loving God and One Another

On Monday evening we spent some time discussing how we can love God and one another.  Jesus teaches us that the two greatest commandments are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  We love God by obeying His commandments and we love our neighbors by treating them in the same kind and respectful ways that we treat ourselves.  1 Corinthians 13, the chapter of love, teaches us what love looks like and how we can aim to have this kind of love in our lives.


The notes from our discussion are below.

February 14, 2011

Loving God and One Another

Opening question: When was the last time you said “I love you” and who was it you said it to?

There are many people we love in our lives and we love them in different ways.  We love our husband or our wife.  We love our parents.  We love our relatives, brothers, sisters, cousins, grandparents.  We love our friends.  We even love our pets.

We are going to look at “love” today from the Biblical point of view.

1.       Loving God

In Mark 12:28-34, we read: 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.”  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.

Verse 29 – the question

Which one of the commandments is the most important?

Verse 30 – the reply

Love your God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.  Jesus was quoting from the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 6:5 when giving this reply.

What does it mean to love God?

Before we answer that, let’s talk about what it means to love man.  How do show our love toward all the people that we love in our lives?  How is our relationship with them?  What do we say?  What do we do?  What do we not say/do?

In John 14, verses 15 and 23-24 say:  15 “If you love me, keep my commands.

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

So, loving God meaning obeying God’s commandments.  It means learning what God wants and doing those things in our lives.  In the same way that we love our parents and other dear ones in our lives, by doing whatever is pleasing to them, we should do the same in order to show our love for God.

What does it mean to love your God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength?

2.       Loving One Another

One of the commandments of God is the one found in verse 31: Love your neighbor as yourself.

What does it mean to love yourself?  How do you love yourself?

In Luke 10 we read this story from another point of view.  Luke provides us a few details about loving one another.  The story continues in verses 29-37: 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”  30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.  31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.  35 The next day he took out two denarii[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’  36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

What does this story tells us about how to love one another today?

The man in the story, the Samaritan, did not know the man who fell in the hands of robbers.  He loved him and showed this through his actions, without expecting anything in return, without having any secret motive. 

We need to love one another because we are following a commandment of God.  And this is how the world will know that we are the followers of Jesus, if we love one another.  This is what Jesus taught his disciples in John 13:34-35: 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  In John 15:12, Jesus says: My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

3.       How to Love God and One Another

Perhaps it may be difficult to understand how to love God and how to love one another.  Paul in his writings realized that he needed to explain this and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he wrote some of the most inspiring words about how to love God and one another.  In 1 Corinthians 13, he wrote the so-called “chapter of love”:  1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.  4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.  11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

These are the guidance God gives us on how to love Him and our fellow man.

Conclusions

The greatest commandments in the Bible are to love our God with all heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor or to love one another as ourselves.  God will bless us with everything we need as we obey these commandments of love.

Campus Bible Talk 2011