Two Very Radical Commands

Two Very Radical Commands

Good Morning Friends,

Two Haitians were killed in Immokalee last night and I cannot help but think that pride was at root of it. When people presume to think they can live by their own rules it always seems to end badly. God knows the difference and has given us guidance so that His Kingdom to come might rule in our hearts even now. God is so patient and has commanded us to embrace the idea that all are needed to work together as the witness of the patience He demands of us. So today as a community we must face our failure and need for grace in the reality of our response to… Two Very Radical Commands.

Scripture: Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)

Message: The overwhelming reality is that everything, not just the law and the prophets, depends on these two commandments: the commandment to love God and the commandment to love our neighbor. We have the authority of the Son of God here telling us something very important about the origin and design of the entire plan and Word of God. The insight about us is also really very amazing. It cuts to the root of our prideful sinfulness and exposes it and severs it with the grace of love. Here we see that all sin comes from a desire to be happy cut off from God and apart from the happiness of others in God. We presume that we can be happy apart from God and that is the big lie of the world. Here we discover that our passion is at the heart of understanding how to live. I am not saying this is easy for it is not. Following Christ is as being commanded to be well when one is sick…to run with broken legs…to be joyous in our dying. Still in the midst of this radical directive hangs our future. We are called to love but also be loved. Friends, we are called to embrace our passion and turn it into love for others and through God’s grace here discover what it really means to live even in the face of death.

Pray we see God as the only fountain of true and lasting joy. Pray we see people as creatures designed by God for a purpose. Pray we realize that the pursuit of happiness anywhere but in the glory of God and for the good of others is sin. Pray that God is the focus of all our self-seeking and that this self-seeking is a made full in of our self-giving. Pray we measure our own happiness by how our actions make others happy but also at the same time glorify God. Pray our actions even in the face of death opens a whole world of expanding joy in God. Pray we love people the way we love ourselves.

Blessings,

John Lawson