Preached by Rev. Ed Brouwer at The Gathering Place, Osoyoos
Pulpit Series Volume 21, Issue 02, January 9, 2011
This year we are believing to be one of great victory and blessing! Against the odds, we The Gathering Place, are still here and active. We have no building to call our own, we have but a handful of ministry partners, yet we are still here and now more than ever, willing to be used as God’s servants.
We have suffered assaults in the area of relationships, finances and health, but through it all God, our God, has been with us. Let’s think about this year that we have just come through for a moment. It was a mixed bag of blessings and tragedy.
When we think about own personal lives, we are aware that there are ways that we well….we fell short.
I know it’s been that way for me. I see where I didn’t serve you as well as I would’ve like to. But at the same time, it was a year that made me aware that I wasn’t called to this alone.
I was called to this ministry with you.
I can rejoice because we have some wonderful people in this ministry. I hope you are encouraged by the fact that you are not in this ministry alone.
I find it interesting that we start each new year right after Christmas, because Christmas is a reminder that as we face a new year, we are not going at it alone.
Christmas reminds us that God himself became one of us and that God is with us now….Emmanuel, God with us.
What will it mean to us if we take this seriously?
Well, I know you don’t need something complicated this morning like: “Here are 50 things you need to remember and 48 things you need to do in order to please God next year”. I know I’m certainly not ready for that.
In today’s passage, we will see that something big and complicated gets distilled to its absolute essence.
Matthew 22:34-40 “Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
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 neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Within the Judaism of Jesus’ day, there were 613 commandments in the law.
Among those there were:
So they come to Jesus with a very real question and Jesus answers by quoting from Deuteronomy 6, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one, and you shall love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.”
But then He adds, “and love your neighbor as yourself”.
By answering this way, Jesus summarizes the entire Ten Commandments, because the Ten Commandments roughly divide into half.
Half of it focusing in on a responsibility to God and half of it revolving around our responsibility to other people.
The greatest commandment He says is that we are to “love God with all that we are and all that we have, with all our heart, soul and mind”.
We are called to love God with all that we are and we are to love other people as we love ourselves, because of God.
It’s this accountability before God that’s always pushing the church to move out beyond itself. That’s why we continually do things that move us out of our comfort zone.
It’s because God is always pushing us out to people who haven’t yet heard.
So, God is always pushing the church out…
Love God and love your neighbor.
In these few words, Jesus lays down a complete definition of religion.
Now, if we are going to be “That” church which pleases God, these two characteristics need to deepen in our life together. We need to focus on it again and again and it needs to be expressed again and again. We need to love God and to have a deeper passion for Him and to love our neighbor to the point that we are willing to reach out to them in their need.
So together as one, I would liek us all to make a resolution for The Gathering Place.
Here it goes: "We are going to deepen our passion for God and love, accept, serve and even sacrifice for the people around us where we live, work and play."
So what is holding you back from loving God with all that you are?
And what keeps you from loving other people as you love yourself?
All kinds of things could stand in the way….time pressures....lack of interest.
It could be fear….fear of what other people might think….fear about what God would do with our lives if we turned ourselves over to God in that sort of way.
Whatever it is......identify it, pray about it, confront it, work on it, do everything but do not give up on it.
Matthew 22:37-40 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And Love your neighbor as yourself.”
We have suffered assaults in the area of relationships, finances and health, but through it all God, our God, has been with us. Let’s think about this year that we have just come through for a moment. It was a mixed bag of blessings and tragedy.
When we think about own personal lives, we are aware that there are ways that we well….we fell short.
I know it’s been that way for me. I see where I didn’t serve you as well as I would’ve like to. But at the same time, it was a year that made me aware that I wasn’t called to this alone.
I was called to this ministry with you.
I can rejoice because we have some wonderful people in this ministry. I hope you are encouraged by the fact that you are not in this ministry alone.
I find it interesting that we start each new year right after Christmas, because Christmas is a reminder that as we face a new year, we are not going at it alone.
Christmas reminds us that God himself became one of us and that God is with us now….Emmanuel, God with us.
God became one of us
so that we can become more like Him.
What will it mean to us if we take this seriously?
Well, I know you don’t need something complicated this morning like: “Here are 50 things you need to remember and 48 things you need to do in order to please God next year”. I know I’m certainly not ready for that.
In today’s passage, we will see that something big and complicated gets distilled to its absolute essence.
Matthew 22:34-40 “Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
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 neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Within the Judaism of Jesus’ day, there were 613 commandments in the law.
Among those there were:
- 248 that were positive commandments - things we should do and
- 365 were negative commandments - things that we were to avoid.
So they come to Jesus with a very real question and Jesus answers by quoting from Deuteronomy 6, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one, and you shall love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.”
But then He adds, “and love your neighbor as yourself”.
By answering this way, Jesus summarizes the entire Ten Commandments, because the Ten Commandments roughly divide into half.
Half of it focusing in on a responsibility to God and half of it revolving around our responsibility to other people.
The greatest commandment He says is that we are to “love God with all that we are and all that we have, with all our heart, soul and mind”.
- It’s heart, soul and mind
- It’s words
- It’s thoughts
- It’s actions
- It’s possessions
- It’s service
- It’s all of who we are all of the time.
Our love for God has to result in love
for other people.
We are called to love God with all that we are and we are to love other people as we love ourselves, because of God.
It’s this accountability before God that’s always pushing the church to move out beyond itself. That’s why we continually do things that move us out of our comfort zone.
It’s because God is always pushing us out to people who haven’t yet heard.
So, God is always pushing the church out…
- stretching us again and again
- making us uncomfortable again and again
- calling us to sacrifice again and again even for people who seem to be hardened to God.
God calls us again and again to reach out
because that’s what He did with us first.
Love God and love your neighbor.
In these few words, Jesus lays down a complete definition of religion.
Now, if we are going to be “That” church which pleases God, these two characteristics need to deepen in our life together. We need to focus on it again and again and it needs to be expressed again and again. We need to love God and to have a deeper passion for Him and to love our neighbor to the point that we are willing to reach out to them in their need.
So together as one, I would liek us all to make a resolution for The Gathering Place.
Here it goes: "We are going to deepen our passion for God and love, accept, serve and even sacrifice for the people around us where we live, work and play."
So what is holding you back from loving God with all that you are?
And what keeps you from loving other people as you love yourself?
All kinds of things could stand in the way….time pressures....lack of interest.
It could be fear….fear of what other people might think….fear about what God would do with our lives if we turned ourselves over to God in that sort of way.
Whatever it is......identify it, pray about it, confront it, work on it, do everything but do not give up on it.
Matthew 22:37-40 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And Love your neighbor as yourself.”
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