FINDING PURPOSE
Part 3 – What is our Purpose as God’s People?
† SCRIPTURE READING
This week we will be looking at what our purpose as God’s people is.
This very question was posed to Jesus in our scripture reading today, an expert in religious law asking Jesus this question trying to test Him the scripture says, “What is the greatest command from God to us?”
† Matthew 22:36 – 38
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment.”
PRAYER
What is our purpose as God’s people?
What does Jesus say the first and greatest commandment from God is?
Love God with all your heart, soul and mind!
But what is love?
Jesus says in John 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey my commands.”
So, when we are obedient to God’s word, we are telling God we love Him. That’s how we love God, through obedience.
We know God is love. And we know God loves us.
† I John 4:7 – 10
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son[b] into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for[c] our sins.”
This is love. Everyone who loves is born of God.
Whoever does not love, does not know God.
God’s love was to send His only son to die as atonement so that we may be with Him.
So we must love God the way He loves us with all of our heart, mind and soul.
Jesus said this is the greatest commandment.
You know, I’ve counseled a few couples. Some of them were for pre-marriage, and some were after marriage. There was this particular couple I counseled who didn’t attend church. They didn’t read their Bibles. They didn’t have good Christian foundation in their past. And they were having marriage difficulties.
After meeting with them a few times it was evident that although their problems with each other and themselves were real problems, all of their problems boiled down to one fact.
They didn’t know what love was. This was because they didn’t have a relationship with God.
So because they didn’t know God, they didn’t understand love. And because they didn’t understand love, they couldn’t love each other or themselves.
Of course, we cannot MAKE someone accept Christ or turn to God.
All we can do is love them, give them tools and pray for them.
This couple divorced, and to my knowledge neither one is involved in a church, and they will end up making the same mistake again and again unless they receive Christ.
God is love. If you do not have God, you CANNOT love.
So we are to love God with our hearts, minds, and souls, and love one another.
Love one another.
That sounds easy enough.
Back to Matthew 22, where we are told the greatest command is to love God with our hearts, minds and souls, Jesus continued.
† Matthew 22:39, 40
“39And the second (greatest command) is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Love my neighbor as myself? I guess that becomes more difficult depending on who your neighbor is.
But it shouldn’t matter.
You may say, “But Bruce, you don’t know what my neighbor is like! You don’t know all the detestable, sick, crazy, vile things and language that I hear from over there! You just don’t know what he is like! How can I love him?”
I’ve thought about this and this is what I came up with.
Where were you when you found God’s love?
Where you a perfect Christian?
It’s true God transforms us after we accept Him, through the Holy Spirit we are NEW creatures.
But if we weren’t a mess when God came to us, there would be nothing to change.
Forgive others who sin against you, so that your Father in heaven will forgive you.
Love has nothing to do with right and wrong.
Love has nothing to do with sin, nor repentance.
God came to me when I was wrong.
He came to me while I was in sin.
He found me when I was not repentant.
He found me when I needed Him most, in the depths of my sin.
And praise the Lord He made me a NEW creature in Christ!
Praise God the scriptures tell us the old has passed away!
But if He wouldn’t have loved me while I was sinning, I would have never known His love.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
You know I had a little trouble with one of my neighbors last week that was a little difficult for me.
But we need to remember forgiveness. We need to remember what Christ said, “Forgive them Father; they know not what they are doing.”
They don’t call them lost for no reason. They are lost, and God has made us a beacon, a beacon to draw the lost to Him.
We must love them to show them the Father’s love.
So who is our neighbor?
Jesus tells us who our neighbor is.
† Luke 10:25 – 29
“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]”
28“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus continued with the parable of the Samaritan. We know the story.
Who is our neighbor? Our neighbor is anyone, including our enemy who may be in need.
You say, “Our enemy?”
† In a book called “The Grace of Giving”, Stephen Olford, it tells of a Baptist pastor during the American Revolution named Peter Miller. He was friends with George Washington.
There was a man named Michael Wittman who lived in the pastors town and did all he could to humiliate and oppose the pastor.
One day Wittman was arrested for treason and sentenced to die.
The pastor, Peter Miller, traveled 70 miles on foot to plead with Washington for Wittman’s life.
Washington denied the pastor saying, “I cannot grant you the life of your friend.”
The pastor replied, “My friend! He’s the bitterest enemy I have.”
Washington said, “You’ve walked 70 miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in a different light.” And he granted the pardon.
The pastor took Wittman back home – no longer an enemy, but a friend.
That puts the matter in a different light, Washington said. The matter was put into the light of Christ and God’s love.
Do we love our neighbor as ourselves?
† John 13:34, 35
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
What is our purpose as God’s people? Easy, to Love!
Love each other as I have loved you, Jesus said.
You must love one another.
This is how everyone will know that you are mine.
Not by your words, not by what you say, not by going to church on Sunday, not by carrying your Bible around, not by how many Christian events you go to, CD’s you buy, T-shirts you wear,
They will know you are mine, because you love each other.
† I John 4:11, 12
“11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us!
How do people today see God’s love? Through us! How do we reach the unsaved, through our example of God’s love!
You want to see God on earth? Then LOVE.
† I John 4:19 – 21
“We love because he first loved us. 20If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
This is a command.
If you say you love God but hate your brother, you are a liar. You do not love God.
Loving one another reflects Christ and shows God’s love to others.
Why has there been no great revival lately? Because the unsaved are NOT seeing God’s love!
Why are they not seeing it?
BECAUSE WE ARE NOT SHOWING IT!
Loving one another completes the law.
† Romans 13:8 – 10
“8Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
YOU CAN FULFILL THE LAW
Do not listen to those who tell you that you cannot fulfill the law. God tells use here we CAN!
9The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,”[a] and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 10Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
Love is the fulfillment of the law.
Loving one another is a result of salvation.
It is a result, not a means, as taught by some cults. You can love everyone in the world and you’re still going to hell if you haven’t accepted Christ.
But, if you’ve accepted Christ, you will love.
† 1 Peter 1:22, 23
“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.[b] 23For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”
Loving one another is evidence of our Christianity.
1 John 3:7 – 10
“Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.”
This scripture doesn’t say neighbor. It says brother.
Who is your brother?
Look around you.
If you don’t love your brother, the scripture says you are not a child of God.
If you have a problem with someone in this congregation, you better forgive them, so your father in heaven can forgive you. And love them, because they are your brother.
The scripture doesn’t say you have to approve of everything they say and do, that gets into Church discipline, which has nothing to do with loving them. But we will talk about discipline in the church at a later time.
Loving one another is a commandment.
† 1 John 3:23, 24
23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”
Love is more than a characteristic of God; it IS His character.
What does your love say about your commitment to God?
† CLOSING PRAYER
My closing prayer today is going to be a scripture reading.
1 Corinthians 13
1 Corinthians 13
“1 Corinthians 13
Love
1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not selfseeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
