‘The Greatest Commandment’ – 2.12.2023

February 12, 2023
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Love Is the Greatest

1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

1 Corinthians 13:1-7 NLT

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.  1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT

  • Paul says that love is more important than spiritual gifts, knowledge, faith, and generosity.

 

JESUS ALSO SAID THAT LOVE WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT; TO LOVE GOD.

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.”  Mark 12:28-31 NIV

Shema (“hear”) is the Hebrew word that begins the most important prayer in Judaism that is prayed daily.

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NIV

“And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” Mark 12:30 NLT

LOVING GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Psalm 139:23-24 NLT 

Without the cleansing of sin that Jesus provides, and the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit who lives in the hearts of the redeemed, loving God to any degree is impossible. 

And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. Ezekiel 36:26 NLT

All your heart means; loving God at all times. 

  • Even when God is silent. 
  • Even when God says wait or no. 
  • Even when bad things happen.

LOVING GOD WITH ALL YOUR SOUL

  • Is to believe that God not only exists, but he loves you enough to send his only Son to die and free you from your sins. 
  • It is a love born out of a decision and a choice to surrender all. 

LOVING GOD WITH ALL YOUR MIND

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.  Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 NLT

LOVING GOD WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH

  • Means with all our energy, with every faculty, with every possibility of our nature, with every ounce of our fiber.
  • Jesus is our greatest example of what loving God looks like.

 

Next steps for me today…

  • Love God enough to trust Him and to surrender everything to him.
  • Follow the example of Jesus by Loving God with all of me.
Next Steps

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