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?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
- Jesus
Mark 12:28-29, (NIV)
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 neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.“
- Jesus
Matthew 22:34-40, (NIV)
God tells His people, the entirety, the whole ball of wax, the whole enchilada, of the commandments in the Old Testament, the books of Law and the books of the Prophets are fulfilled in Love. Stop! Let that sink in for moment.
So, what is Love?
More Importantly to us is: If we claim discipleship to Jesus which makes us
- co-heirs with Him in the Eternal Kingdom,
- adopted, through the LORD’s great grace, as sons & daughters into the House of Israel - the Eternal Kingdom,
- making us princes et princesses du Sang (Princes of the Blood) with all the attendant rights and responsibilities,
- ambassadors of the LORD, the one LORD to this world,
- slaves of the LORD, the one LORD, (And you thought you were just a member of a church...silly rabbit)
are we living in submissive obedience to these two commandments?
Are we living in Love? With all our hearts and souls and minds and strength?
Well. Funny story. Someday we’ll laugh and laugh and laugh. Let me confess something to you, my brothers and sisters:
It happened Tuesday, November 11, 2014 at approximately 5:15PM CST, as I was driving home, south on Antioch Road from the 75th Street intersection, Overland Park, Kansas. I wasn’t thinking of ANYTHING. Just jammin’ to Tori Amos on CD, I think it was Spark and… then, BOOM! As I pulled past the site of a former Nazarene church...
The Father reminded me of my gross failings, daily, hourly, minute by minute. He did it in two short, declarative sentences. That is, He reminded me of my sin - sin singular, for all other sins blossom and grow from this one sin.
He was in my head and His thought exploded!
“Son of man! Call your next blog post I do not love the LORD my God. You’ll know what to write.”
I wasn’t shaken by this crystalline call. It wasn’t the burning bush, not even on par with the road to Damascus. But I will affirm it was Him and without further communication I knew exactly what to write, on my own. And as succinctly as I can put it, it is this:
I cannot honestly say that I am now nor ever have been submissive to these Greatest Commandments. And since I am not being obedient to the First, it is beyond certainty that I do not love my neighbor as myself.
Just In case you may have missed it, allow me to put a little emphasis in the confession.
Born into the Eternal Kingdom April 18, 1969 I have been in the Kingdom 45 years. Ordained March 10,1996 as an elder and bishop, a minister of Christ’s Gospel, I have been in His service for 17 years AND I CANNOT HONESTLY SAY that I do NOW love nor EVER HAVE loved the LORD my God, with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind nor all nor all my strength. And loving my neighbor? Forget about it.
Let’s just let this sink in for a moment.
Perhaps it’s time for a tasty beverage to wash this down with.
In retrospect I have known there was something wrong in my spirit for oh, since the congregation I attended was raided by ravenous wolves, some sheep were devoured and the rest of the sheep scattered. Some of you may know how many years ago that was. (I really don’t. I just feel the pain and the unrighteousness of the raid and my failure in preventing it.) For those who have no idea what I am talking about, suffice it to say I’ve known something was wrong for years, maybe even a decade. Funny. I wish I could forget the trauma as completely as I have forgotten the date.
But well, I just couldn’t put my finger on it; too many other distractions.
This may be kinda awkward, eh? Does it feels awkward to you? It does to me.
Well! Confession made, command of the LORD carried out, now what?
I used to fear of one day blaspheming the Holy Spirit, the only unforgivable sin according to Jesus. I mean, I would really be afraid. Go off someplace where no one would see me or hear me, cower in terror and cry and beg for forgiveness.
Now, I am at least at peace - over this and every other sin I will commit - knowing that I am within the perfect, unfailing love of the Father through whose Spirit we are told that there is no fear in Love (I John 4:18) (NIV). But besides the Spirit’s assurance through John, the Spirit through Paul says that if we are faithless, as I most assuredly am, He will remain faithful to us for He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:11-13) (AMP) (the Old Book says if we believe not, yet He abideth faithful).
So…? I can, you can, we all can carry on; we can strive to submissively obey.
Not to be flip but the next minute is the first minute of the rest of our lives on this plane of existence. A fresh start every minute is possible - if we take it. Just FYI.
Some of you must be asking, How do I know? Oh, surely I am mistaken. Or saying what I hear all too often as a comforting escape from sin: “Yes, but, we’re only human.”
Yeah, on that, we’re only human bit, let me ask you something. If you have children and you caught them smoking grass or in the process of getting drunk, TP’ing someone’s house after the homecoming game or you caught a son or (virginal) daughter in flagrante delicto in shall we say an act of sexual congress, at 3 in the morning, with a cop standing next to them on the front step, are you really going to accept, “But mom and dad, I’m only a teenager,” as an excuse for bad behavior? Really? For those of you who said, “Yes,” do you want me to call the fire department for you or do you wanna do it yourself? Because I bet a fair number of you have just had you pants burst into flame.
How long’s it been since you confessed Christ as your Lord and were baptized into the Kingdom? It’s been 45 years for me. Gee, thanks for letting me off the hook; I am only human. I must be one of them developmentally disabled Christians - 45 years and all I have done is pay lip service and worshipped Him in vain, the one I have confessed as my Lord.
These people draw near Me with the mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts hold off and are far away from Me. Uselessly do they worship Me, for they teach as doctrines the commands of men.
- Jesus
Matthew 15:8-9 (AMP)
So how do I know I am guilty to what I have confessed to? You mean aside from God dropping by on my drive home? Aside from the conviction of continuing sin I feel in my spirit, the answer is really simplicity itself:
I know what Love actually is. Yeah! Really.
And so I know that I DO NOT live my life in Love, I don’t act in Love. Love that Scripture commands is NOT an emotion. Maybe that’s where we get trapped in reading about the First and Second Greatest Commandments. We see the word Love and since we don’t really have a grasp as to what it really is, we just blow it off. Oh, that’s nice. Kickoff’s at noon.
Love is a skill set. Practiced properly it will produce emotions. But you must know the tools in the set then practice with those tools daily until, like a swordsman or martial arts practitioner or a soldier - or a carpenter, you develop “muscle memory” or in our case “spirit memory.”
One extra-biblical source I saw says that Love is a defined set of actions; it is a way of life. And it is.
Here (AMP) is the definition of Love. Actually you should read the entire chapter. Below my signature and copyright notices there’s a jpeg visual aid.
So.
Anyone else NOT obeying the two greatest commandments? Hmmm?
The next minute is the first minute in the rest of your life. We can submissively obey - if we want to.
A belated Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Until next time,
May the Peace of Christ be With You,
†Scott, V.D.M. ev
Oh...by the way, who do you belong to?
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