LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR
AND YOU SHALL BE MY DISCIPLES – Lesson #38
Love your Neighbor
“The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’
“On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:39–40).
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
The face-value reading of these verses explains it all.
Is it any wonder why so many professing Christians are called “hypocrites” by those outside the faith? So few of us are practicing this commandment: “LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF”.
Most of what Jesus taught goes against our human nature which makes His Teachings so very hard to do.
But, why should this be difficult if the Spirit of God changes our nature:
Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Read what the Apostle Paul has to say about this conundrum:
Romans 7:18 “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
Why is this so important?
1. The mark of a True Christian is being sanctified, daily.
Leviticus 20:7 says, “You shall sanctify yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. 8‘ You shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.”
2. The mark of a True Christian practices Spiritual discipline.
Philippians 2:12 “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
3. The entire Law of God and all the teaching of the Prophets rests on these two “Greatest Commandments”.
“YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND. “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ Matthew 22:37-39
Unless we obey these two commandments, the rest of what we do is ‘wood, hay and stubble’
Now, it is your turn:
HOW MUST YOU DO IT?
HOW MUST YOU TEACH IT?
By this, we, the disciples of Jesus, can and will continue to turn the world upside down!
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young