Love - The Great Commandment, Love God, Love others

The Great Commandment
LOVE
LOVING GOD AND OTHERS

For more than a hundred years, the prestigious
Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to individuals
and organizations.

The list of winners of this coveted prize reads like a who’s
who of world peace.

Presidents, prime ministers, and countless brilliant minds
have received this prized award, likely candidates whose
names naturally appear on this prestigious list.

Mother Teresa, in her iconic blue and white sari, dedicated
her entire life as a Catholic nun to feeding the hungry,
teaching the illiterate, helping the sick, and comforting the
dying in one of the most hopeless places on earth.

She was not ordered to this unwanted post by any church
or organization.

Why would she do such a thing?

A quick search of Mother Teresa quotes reveals a common
thread. One word is repeated over and over from her lips…
Love.

“Intense love does not measure,
it just gives.”
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can
do small things with great love.”
“The hunger for love is much more di
ffi
cult to
remove than the hunger for bread.”

Time and again she spoke of love, and it motivated her to
tangibly love the most unlovable people imaginable.

But where would such love come from?

The greatest commandment is to love.

1 John 4:7-9
“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of
God; and every one that loveth is born of God,
and knoweth God.He that loveth not knoweth
not God; for God is love. In this was manifested
the love of God toward us, because that God
sent his only begotten Son into the world, that
we might live through him.”

The word love is found all throughout the Bible, and
represents a foundational truth of the Christian faith.

While the English language has only one word for love, the
original Hebrew and Greek of the Bible utilized several
forms of this critical word.

The Greek word “phileo” is used in the Bible to denote
friendship, fondness, and affection.

The Greek word “agape” is used far more often in the
Bible, and represents a love unique to the Christian faith.

The Apostle John wrote much about agape in his gospel
and epistles.

Love is of God because God is love.

Gracious heavenly Father, you have scattered the word
“love” all throughout your holy scriptures.

I confess that I have thrown this holy word around
fl
ippantly, and used it in incorrect contexts.

Your agape toward me is hard for me to fathom.

You are the God who loves because you are love!

The greatest display of your love was Jesus.

Matthew 22:35-40
“Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him
a question, tempting him, and saying, “Master,
which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus
said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind. This is the
fi
rst and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets.”

Sometimes Jesus taught with parables and stories which
the hearer needed to interpret.

Yet at other times, Jesus’ teaching was crystal clear and
couldn’t possibly be misinterpreted.

The two greatest commandments are to love.
Let’s consider these 2 commandments…

1. The
fi
rst greatest commandment is to
love God completely.

2. The second commandment behind loving
God is loving others.

This love for God and love for others is fundamental to the
Christian faith, and it begins with God’s very character.

Heavenly father, you have given us your word by which
we can know you.

Jesus tells us in that word that the greatest commandment
is to love you with all our heart, soul, and mind.

I confess that I have not loved you with all my heart,
soul, and mind.

The second great commandment is to love
others as I love myself.

Remind me constantly of these two
greatest commandments.

Teach me what it looks like to love you with all my heart,
soul, and mind and to love my neighbor like I love myself.

PART 3:
God’s Love
for His
People

Romans 8:38-39
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, Nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall
be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In order to follow the two greatest commandments, loving
God and loving others, we must
fi
rst understand God’s
love for us.

The love God has for us is hard to fathom since we are so
undeserving of it.

The proof of God’s love for us is in His words
and His actions.

God’s love for us is sacri
fi
cial.

God’s love for us is not dependent on our goodness.

Nothing can separate us from God’s love.

Loving Father, I can only love because you
fi
rst loved me.

I confess that I have a hard time wrapping my mind and
my heart around your love for me.

Your word declares your love for me.

Your actions prove your love for me.

The greatest proof of your love is Jesus.

Nothing can separate me from your love.

Deuteronomy 10:12-13
“And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require
of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his
ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God
with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the
commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I
command thee this day for thy good?”

We know that God loves us through His words and
through His actions.

In the same way, we can show our love for God through
our words and our actions.

We can speak our love for God through praying,
worshipping, and sharing the truth of His word.

We can put our love for God in action by obeying Him.

God knows our love for Him will not be perfect.

Gracious Father, your love for me is evident through your
words and your actions.

I want to declare my love for you right here and now.

I know that I just can’t say that I love you - I need to show
you that I love you through my actions.

I am not capable of following your commands perfectly.

Thank you that your love is enough.

John 13: 34-35
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye
love one another; as I have loved you, that ye
also love one another. By this shall all men
know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love
one to another.”

From the command to love God
fl
ows the
command to love others.

All people are created in God’s image and therefore
worthy of His love and ours.

We are called to love others the way we love ourselves.

Jesus tells us to love others the way He has loved us.

Loving others the way Christ loved us will enable us to live
in peace with one another.

Loving Father, you have
fi
rst loved me, so therefore I have
your love within me.

All people have been created in your image and are
worthy of being loved.

You have called me to love others the way I love myself.

You have also called me to love others the
way you love me.

Loving others the way you have called me to will help me
live at peace with the people around me.

PART 6:
Jesus, Our
Loving
Example

John 3:16-17
“For God so loved the world that he gave his
one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life. For God
did not send his Son into the world to condemn
the world, but to save the world through him.”

Not long after he spoke these famous words to Nicodemus
during their secret nighttime meeting, Jesus met a woman
drawing water at a well.

Jesus didn’t shy away from people different from Him.

Jesus drew near to people, meeting them in their place of
brokenness and sin.

Jesus gave people what they most desperately needed.

We are to love others the way Jesus loved them.

Gracious Father, you loved the world so much that you
sent Jesus into it to die for it.

Jesus, you are the perfect example of love.

Jesus, you drew near to people who were different from
you, and you loved them.

Jesus, you drew near to broken, sinful people.

Jesus, you gave people what they most needed.

CONCLUSION:
The Greatest
of These

Paul’s famous discourse on love found in 1 Corinthians 13
teaches us so much about this overused word.

Love - The Great Commandment, Love God, Love others

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