Jesus' Love Commands
When I was getting ready for last Sunday, I was going to summarize something I said the week before and looked for a graphic to help illustrate it and I came across this image:
from here.*
Anyway, I've read and heard this concept before, but I summarized it in my message last week and a couple people kind of took notice (and one person came to me after worship and said he took notes and it really helped tie things together for him). So, sounds like a worthy blog post.
At creation, there was one rule: don't eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.**
The Law was given as 613 Commandments - the Ten Commandments being the "categories" of the whole of the Law, if you will***
Jesus, who said that He came not to abolish the Law the prophets, but to fulfill them, in essence reduced it to Three Commands:
Love God with everything you are.
Love other people as you love yourself.
Love other Christ followers as He loved.
One idea - love. A positive command - DO this. Expressed in three very different ways.
LOVE GOD:
LOVE OTHER CHRIST FOLLOWERS:
So... how do we love?
*The guy's name is Tommy Knighten and he appears to be a Baptist Pastor. I skimmed the site (actually, I could probably read the whole site in an hour or so...) and he seems pretty level-headed in what I read. This isn't an endorsement or anything, if I get to THAT level, he'll appear in the sidebar :)
**However you read the creation story, the point is clear - given all the freedom in the world, we can't resist the one thing we're not allowed to have...that which we think will make us become more like God...
***Interesting discussion here
from here.*
Anyway, I've read and heard this concept before, but I summarized it in my message last week and a couple people kind of took notice (and one person came to me after worship and said he took notes and it really helped tie things together for him). So, sounds like a worthy blog post.
At creation, there was one rule: don't eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.**
The Law was given as 613 Commandments - the Ten Commandments being the "categories" of the whole of the Law, if you will***
Jesus, who said that He came not to abolish the Law the prophets, but to fulfill them, in essence reduced it to Three Commands:
Love God with everything you are.
Love other people as you love yourself.
Love other Christ followers as He loved.
One idea - love. A positive command - DO this. Expressed in three very different ways.
LOVE GOD:
Mark 12:28-31
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard the Sadducees arguing. He noticed that Jesus had given the Sadducees a good answer. So he asked him, "Which is the most important of all the commandments?"
29 Jesus answered, "Here is the most important one. Moses said, 'Israel, listen to me. The Lord is our God. The Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your mind and with all your strength.'—(Deuteronomy 6:4,5)LOVE OTHER PEOPLE:
31 And here is the second one. 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.'—(Leviticus 19:18) There is no commandment more important than these."
LOVE OTHER CHRIST FOLLOWERS:
John 13:34-35
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
34 "I give you a new command. Love one another. You must love one another, just as I have loved you. 35 If you love one another, everyone will know you are my disciples."
So... how do we love?
*The guy's name is Tommy Knighten and he appears to be a Baptist Pastor. I skimmed the site (actually, I could probably read the whole site in an hour or so...) and he seems pretty level-headed in what I read. This isn't an endorsement or anything, if I get to THAT level, he'll appear in the sidebar :)
**However you read the creation story, the point is clear - given all the freedom in the world, we can't resist the one thing we're not allowed to have...that which we think will make us become more like God...
***Interesting discussion here
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