It’s February, the month of LOVE. And at church here and in our connect groups, we’re doing a deep dive into the subject of love. It’s always tough when you must teach on the topic of love, because you just know that you’re preaching primarily to yourself. There is a lot of talks, songs, books, theories about love and very little action on this very powerful subject. Our text is from the gospel of Matthew, chapter 22 from verse 36 to 40.

“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.”

Last week we had a wonderful introduction to the subject of love, and we learned an interesting definition for the term “LOVE”: To be committed and to be genuinely interested.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Be committed and genuinely interested in 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: ‘Be committed and genuinely interested in your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

We will be building on that definition today and exploring how and why we exhibit love to those around us. We will explore how/why we should be committed and genuinely interested in those around us. Before we get into that, let’s broaden our definition of love with the famous 5 verses from 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

From these verses, we can extract that Love is tender, understanding, forgiving and helpful, Love is consistent, Love is permanent! Why then should we act in this manner towards one another and those around us, irrespective of any differences?

Why LOVE?

To be able to effectively do something, we need to understand it and why it’s necessary. I don’t know if you’ve heard or seen your favorite motivational speaker or social media influencer talking about the importance of finding your “WHY?”. The whole idea is that knowing your “why?” drives what you do and how you do it. Anyway, back to love! Why do we love? Why should we love? What drives us to love? Before I attempt to answer these questions, I’ll read a quote from Timothy Keller that I think might help drive home the message for today:

Our culture says that feelings of love are the basis for actions of love. And of course, that can be true. But it is truer to say that actions of love can lead consistently to feelings of love. Love between two people must not, in the end, be identified simply with emotion or merely with dutiful action. [Love] is a symbiotic, complex mixture of both. Having said this, it is important to observe that of the two – emotion and action – it is the latter that we have the most control over. It is the action of love that we can promise to maintain every day.

So, in this sermon, we will be talking about the action of love, not the feeling of love. Why should we decide to show love to those around us?

1.      It is a commandment

Just like it says in our text, Matthew 22:36-40:

“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.”

We are very good at defining rules and regulations for ourselves as Christians, Jesus is telling us to keep it simple: Love God and Love People. I John 4:21 also says:

And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

God’s expectation of us is very clear on this subject. As Christians, we must be instruments of His Love!

2.      It is evidence of our Christ-likeness

Back in High School, I remember learning about the distinct factors that we look out for to define or identify a specific group of people. It is the same for us as Christians, we shouldn’t have to claim that we’re Christians before people know. They should know by simply observing us. John 13:35 says:

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

This is just the first step to defining our love-based identity as Christians. As a matter of fact, Jesus, in a separate discussion with his disciples took this to another level in trying to distinguish his disciples.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

If you fast-forward to after Jesus’ ascension, the disciples now had to fulfil the great commission of taking the gospel further than Jesus could by himself. Let’s read about what happened in Antioch from Acts 11:19-20, 26:

They therefore that were scattered abroad upon the tribulation that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to none save only to Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they were come to Antioch, spoke unto the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus.

… the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

3.      It is our response to the love of God

It is very easy to keep our knowledge of God’s love in the theoretical realm and not fully understand it. We are taught at a young age to memorize John 3:16, talking about God’s ultimate act of love. If we really assimilated what God did for us, out of love, we would easily reflect that love to those around us. I John 4: 19 says:

We love because he first loved us.

Whenever I read the parable of the unmerciful servant who was forgiven of a huge debt and couldn’t forgive his servant for a minuscule debt, I get so worked up until I realize that the story is a parable that simply mirrors my behavior. It’s fictional but based on a true story!

How can we love those around us?

We know how to love because we know how God loves us. Even when we were sinners, God knew us and still loved us. So, loving someone starts with knowing someone. You cannot claim to love God if you don’t know God. That’s a topic for another week. But you cannot truly love someone you don’t know them, and you cannot know people if you’re not down to earth and involved in the lives of those around you. Here’s another quote from Timothy Keller:

“To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”

The Parable of the Good Samaritan symbolizes this point very clearly. Some of us are simply too afraid to get involved in the lives of others. It’s not like we don’t love, or we don’t want to love, we are just afraid to love. So, how can we overcome this fear and truly love others?

1.      Get to know God

As I stated earlier, our understanding of God and what He has done for us will compel us to love those around us. God knew and knows us fully and yet He loved us in our sinful state, when we were in direct rebellion to Him and still loves us despite our shortcomings. Our first response to God’s love is to love God and the second response is a derivative of the first: to love people.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

2.      Get to know people

In the story of the Good Samaritan, we can see how the Priest and Levite completely avoided the traveller that had been mugged. I believe this symbolizes our hesitance to get involved in people’s lives, it symbolizes our hesitance to even get to know people. But if we don’t know people, how then can we love them? If we don’t love people, how can we share the gospel story that brings about genuine repentance and salvation? In the first 42 verses of John chapter 4, we see Jesus lead a Samaritan woman and most of her friends and neighbors to salvation by being vulnerable enough to engage her in a conversation about her life. When we are genuinely interested in the lives of people, we can show them the love of God.

3.      Pay LOVE forward

Love is costly and sacrificial. It is expensive to the giver but free for the recipient. Love is a precious gift that we all desire to experience. If God has graciously blessed us with this gift, at no cost to us, it is only right that we pay it forward. When we come across someone in need of love, remember that you received it freely; therefore, you must give freely. Otherwise, we are just like the unmerciful servant instead of being like the Good Samaritan. We are humans, we are selfish, meaning that you may not feel tender, sympathetic, and eager to please always, but in your actions, you must be tender, understanding, forgiving and helpful. Remember, actions of love can lead to feelings of love! Jesus listed some practical ways to show love in Matthew 25:35-36:

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Conclusion

We can only share the truth of the gospel effectively if there is love. And to buttress that point, I will share one final quote from Timothy Keller:

“Love without truth is sentimentality; it supports and affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws. Truth without love is harshness; it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it. God’s saving love in Christ, however, is marked by both radical truthfulness about who we are and yet also radical, unconditional commitment to us.”

So, if we want to be true disciples of Christ, spreading the good news of Salvation (which is the greatest love story), we must grow in love for God, each other, and everyone around us. We must love everyone, not because we don’t have any beliefs or moral standards, but because we do. Our Christian faith is what empowers us to love even those that outrightly disagree with us and even persecute us. We will conclude with these bible verses from I John 4: 7-21.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so, we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.