SUNESIS MINISTRIES

 

 

 

Written by Stuart Pattico

 

© 2007 Stuart Pattico. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without permission from the author.

 

 

This article looks at what it means to Love God, and to love our neighbour as our self. Let us begin by looking at Mark 12v28-34:

 

28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”

29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. 30 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

32 So the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. 33 And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

34 Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

But after that no one dared question Him.

 

 

In the above passage of Scripture, Jesus sets forth two commandments, upon which the law and the prophets hang. The law and the prophets are built upon these two commandants, and when we understand this, we are not far from the kingdom of God.

 

Before we can love God, we must first understand something about God. We must understand that He is one. When this commandment was originally given, the surrounding cultures believed in many gods. These ‘gods’ had different powers and purposes, and could even fight each other. There was, for example, the god of harvest, and the god of fertility etc. However, God wants us to know that He is not many, but one. He alone is sufficient for all our needs and does not require the assistance of any other ‘god’ to help Him.

 

There is so much joy and liberty when we understand that God is one. Even today, we can observe the growth and popularity of supermarkets. The convenience of them is that you can get everything you need in one place, and usually a lot cheaper too! They are also aggressive in their business advancement strategy. They are not content to sell food, but they also sell car and home insurance, and much more. They are seeking to become the all sufficient resource for the customer. Even so, God wants you to experience His all-sufficient grace. Jesus said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9). When God appeared to Moses, He revealed His Name to be ‘I AM’.

 

14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14)

 

In other words, God was saying ‘whatever you need, I AM it’. In fact, the original language could also be translated as ‘I SHALL BE’, and thus carries the sense of something being ALWAYS. Therefore, when we read of God being…

 

Jehovah-Jireh, God is saying ‘I AM ALWAYS seeing to your provision’

 

Jehovah-Rapha, God is saying ‘I AM ALWAYS your Healer’

 

Jehovah-Shalom, God is saying ‘I AM ALWAYS your Peace’

 

Jehovah-Tsidkenu, God is saying ‘I AM ALWAYS your Righteousness’

 

Jehovah-Shammah, God is saying ‘I AM ALWAYS there for you’

 

Jehovah-Mekaddishkem, God is saying ‘I AM ALWAYS sanctifying you’

 

And when the enemy presses in, we can remind ourselves of Jehovah-Nissi – ‘I AM ALWAYS your Victory’.

 

We are commanded to love this one God, with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

 

With our heart we must believe in Him and fear Him.

 

With our soul we must bless Him and set our affections upon Him.

 

With our mind we must focus and think of Him.

 

And with our strength we must obey and live for Him.

 

Why should we love God? We have already looked briefly at who God is, and His character certainly warrants our love and adoration. However, the Bible declares why we love Him:

 

19 We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4v19)

 

The reason we love God, is because of His unfailing love towards us.

 

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

 

God has always been called the Father. If someone has always been a father, it means that they have always had a son or a daughter. God has always had a Son. This Son is called Jesus Christ. God sent His Son into the world because He loved the world. Jesus came for two main purposes:

 

1.         To reveal the Father to mankind

2.         To receive the blame and punishment for all the bad things we have done, so that we could be reconciled to the Father.

 

Jesus revealed the Father to us by His words, actions, and life. He received the blame and punishment we deserved by dying on the cross. Therefore, to love God requires at least two things on our part:

 

1.         Since Jesus came to reveal the Father, we are now to have deep, intimate fellowship with the Father through the Son.

2.         Since Jesus laid down His life for us, we are to lay down our lives before God and make Him our number one priority

 

 

This boils down to two things: affection and priority. In order for us to love God, God must have our affections, and God must be our priority. In order to evaluate our love for God, we must ask ourselves how affectionate we are towards God, and whether or not God really the priority in our lives.

 

 

Affection

 

The spiritual union we have with Jesus is compared with the physical union between a man and a woman.

 

16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (1 Corinthians 6v16)

 

Therefore, the relationship we have with Jesus is one of spiritual affection. Although we cannot physically see Him, our spirits can see Him all the time. We would do well to often be still, and hear what the Lord is saying to our spirits. God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth (John 4v24).

 

After Jesus rose from the dead, He assured His disciples, saying:

 

and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28v20)

 

God, through the Lord Jesus is always with us. Though invisible, He is our Unseen Companion, ever with us by His Spirit. He walks with us, and talks with us throughout the day. It is therefore a shame that so many of us ignore Him. How would you like it if you were with someone for 24 hours, and they only said a few words to you in the whole day? I am sure that Jesus doesn’t like being ignored either. He wants us to acknowledge His presence in everything we do. In the Bible, we are exhorted:

 

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3v6)

 

We are to acknowledge God in everything we do. When we are in the car, or on the bus, or at school, or at work, we should get in the habit of constantly communing with the Lord in our hearts. This is all part of loving God, for the command is to love Him with all our heart. Throughout the day, we should be inwardly thanking God for His presence, for who He is, and for the great things He has done. In this way, we fulfil the command to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5v17).

 

In addition to communing with Christ throughout the day, we must also separate ourselves from everyone and everything else, to have quality time with God, to adore Him, to pray, and to hear His voice. Jesus said,

 

6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. (Matthew 6v6)

 

In so doing, our affection toward God and our experience of God is taken to new heights, as we learn what it is to be lost in His Presence.

 

God has provided a beautiful illustration of the relationship Jesus wants to have with us. This illustration is none other than the divine institution of marriage. Within marriage, Paul explains to us how that the husband and wife are not to withhold themselves from each other.

 

3 Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. (1 Corinthians 7v3-4)

 

A man and woman become one flesh. Even so, we have seen that when we are saved, we become one spirit with the Lord Jesus. Even as married partners are not to withhold their bodies from each other, we are not to withhold our spirits from Jesus. And, if I may say so, Jesus is not to withhold His Spirit from us (for He will not violate His own command!)! This is why we do not need to struggle to get into God’s presence. We do not need to struggle in order to receive or to experience His Spirit. He simply invites all who are thirsty to come! This begs the question, are you the thirty for Him? Or are you filled with other things? As mentioned earlier, God must have our affection, and also our priority.

 

Priority

 

Loving God means that we put Him first. God must be the priority in our lives. This means that God must come before everything else in our lives. Jesus said:

 

seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6v33)

 

I would like to suggest that there are three things that God must have priority over in our lives. They are as follows:

 

1.         Material things

2.         Relationships

3.         Our own self

 

 

Material Things

 

When Jesus taught us to ‘seek first the kingdom’, the context of his discussion was the pursuit of material things. In order to truly love God, He must be more important to us than any material thing. This includes our homes, clothing, money, food, education, career and more. We must be willing to forsake all these things, in order to follow Christ. This is well illustrated in Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler in Mark chapter 10:

 

17 Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”

18 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”

20 And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”

21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”

22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

 

 

We would do well to observe that this young man came running to Jesus, and knelt before Him. To me, this indicates that he was serious about inheriting eternal life. Clearly, eternal life was important to him. However, as we will soon observe, it is not enough for eternal life to be important to you. The real question is how important is it to you?

 

It is interesting to note that as Jesus listed the commandments, He does not mention the most important one – to ‘love the Lord your God’! The commandments that Jesus listed were all to do with our relationship with each other, and not our love for God. ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ The one commandment that the young ruler did not have was the most important – loving God. This is the reason why he could not forsake his possessions. You see, when you love God, God is more important to you than your possessions. This man lacked the love of God, and was thus not able to forsake his possessions.

 

What about you? Are you ready to forsake your career, your education, your finances, or your home if God should so call you? Not many people are, which is why many are called, but few are chosen!

 

Relationships

 

In order to truly love God, God must also have priority over all our relationships, whether it is with friends, the church, or our family. In order to convey the full force of this, Jesus said:

 

26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14v26)

 

Theses are strong words, and ought not to be ‘explained away’ or watered down. So then, how do we understand this ‘hard saying’? You see, all things are relative. For example, compared to the North Pole, England can be considered a warm country! However, compared to warmer parts of the world, England can be considered a cold country! In a similar sense, the love that we have for others, when compared with the love we have for God can only be considered ‘hate’. This is because the love we have for God far exceeds the love we have for any other. Jesus Himself warned us, saying:

 

34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; 36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. (Matthew 10v34-37)

 

 

Our Lord’s point is very clear: we cannot love any other human being more than we love God. Our love for God must exceed the love we have for any other. This is not just limited to family members. In fact, we must let God have His way in all our relationships. Many of us are in relationships God does not want us to be in. Many of us are in friendships that are not good for us. Do you love God enough to leave these relationships?

 

Each of us must ask our self: Is Jesus really more important to me than my wife, husband, children, friends, partner, mother, father, brothers, and sisters? If not, then you cannot be His disciple. You must first choose to make Jesus your priority, and only then can you follow Him.

 

Our Own Self

 

Finally, God must be more important to us than our own self. Practically it means that His will, must be more important to us than our own will. Ultimately, it means that we physically lay down our life for God if need be.

 

 

38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 10v38-39)

 

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 16v24-25)

 

 

In order to follow Christ, we must deny our self. The will of self is all too often contrary to the will of God. His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55v8-9). Too many of us come to God full of ideas and opinions. However, God is not interested in these things. We must empty ourselves, by humbling ourselves before Him, confessing our own wisdom as utter foolishness. As the apostle Paul wrote:

 

18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. (1 Corinthians 3:18)

 

Each person must decide to lay down their own will, and obey whatever God tells them to do, even to the point of death. When we love God, we are no longer our own person. We exist for one purpose, and that is to do His will. We loose our life, and find it again in Him.

 

Passion For His Glory

 

Ultimately, loving God means that we are filled with passion for His glory. Jesus taught us to pray in the following way:

 

9 In this manner, therefore, pray:

      Our Father in heaven,
      Hallowed be Your name.
       10 Your kingdom come.
      Your will be done
      On earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:9)

 

The first request mentioned in this prayer is ‘Hallowed be Your name’. This means that we are to reverently ask God that His name be feared and regarded as holy by all men. Jesus is not saying that when we pray we are to begin by saying that God’s name is hallowed, rather Jesus is saying that we are to pray that God’s name will indeed be hallowed on this earth. This is to be the passion of the Christians life. The following quote encapsulates this thought very well. It is taken from the Founders Journal, Fall 2000 (http://www.founders.org/FJ42/article3.html):

 

“Real Christianity is God--centered. Real Christianity recognizes, as Jesus Himself said, that the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind. Those who have glimpsed the greatness, the grandeur, the majesty and the excellence of our God through the eyes of trust in Jesus never get over that vision. An obsession with the glory of God is the hallmark of true knowledge of God.

What is the glory of God? The original meaning of glory has to do with weightiness. The glory of God summarizes the seriousness, the perfection, and the infinite significance of all of the attributes of God. It sums up who He is, in the awesome brightness and weightiness of all His perfections. What does it mean then for us to glorify God? We cannot add to His glory, for He is already perfectly and infinitely glorious. Rather, for us to glorify God means for us to ascribe the glory that is due His Name in worship. It means that we acknowledge His glory by living as though His perfections are as serious and significant as they really are, so that we reflect His glory through a pure mirror. It means that nothing horrifies us more than the thought of bringing dishonor to His glorious Name, and nothing delights us more than to feel His pleasure as we live to the praise of His glory. It also means that we declare His glory among the nations, inviting others to join us in our love affair with His glorious perfection. Glorifying God thus consumes and defines every aspect of our life and witness as well as our worship.”

 

The Second Commandment

 

The second foremost command is to love our neighbour as our self. This begs the question, ‘who is our neighbour?’ On a certain occasion, a Jewish lawyer asked Jesus who our neighbour is. Jesus answered this question by telling the story of the Good Samaritan:

 

30 Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ 36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”

37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10v30-37)

 

In order to appreciate the full force of what Christ says here, we need to understand that in those days, there was great hostility between the Jews and Samaritans, insomuch that the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans (John 4v9). In fact, the Jews used the term ‘Samaritan’ as a derogatory insult (John 8v48). The Jews and Samaritans were thus enemies.

 

Through this story, Jesus communicates to the Jewish lawyer that his neighbours are in fact the Samaritans. The ‘neighbour’ he is to love as him self is his very enemies! The message for us is clear: we must demonstrate self giving love to those who hate us. On another occasion, Jesus said:

 

27 “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. 29 To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. 31 And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. (Luke 6v27-31)

 

The phrase ‘spitefully use’ could also be translated as ‘to insult’, ‘to revile, ‘to threaten’, or ‘to treat abusively’. When people go out of their way to hate us, we are to go out of our way to love them.

 

Why are to do this? When Jesus was born on earth, and the heavenly host appeared to the shepherds, they praised God, saying:

 

14 “ Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2v14)

 

The birth of Christ means peace on earth and goodwill toward men. As Christians we are to demonstrate this peace and good will toward men by loving our enemies. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus pronounced a blessing on the peacemakers. We saw earlier, that Jesus said to the scribe who understood the two foremost commandments that he was not far from the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. We seek peace with our neighbours by loving then, and thereby demonstrate the kingdom of God.

 

Do you realise that when Jesus returns He will reward His saints, and render to each one according to their works? If we only love those who love us, then we will have absolutely no reward. The kingdom of God is about going the extra mile. It is about doing the unexpected. Psalm 31v21 speaks of God’s ‘marvellous kindness’. When we display God’s kindness, it will cause men to marvel. The root of the Hebrew word for ‘marvellous’ means ‘separate’, or ‘too high’. It suggests that His kindness is ‘unimaginable’ and ‘abnormal’ in so much that it leaves its spectators in amazement. It causes man to enquire, ‘what manner of love is this?’

 

What about us? Do our acts of kindness and love leave such an impression upon our neighbour?

 

Such love is beautifully demonstrated to the wounded man by the Samaritan. When everyone else passes him by, the Samaritan assumes the responsibility of those who should have helped. Is there not another wonderful lesson here? Instead of complaining that the priest and Levite did not fulfil their duty, the Samaritan humbly fulfilled what was lacking. Many today complain that the church is not doing enough, or that leadership is not doing this or that. However, the one who walks in true love humbly fulfils what is lacking.

 

Of course, loving our neighbour is not just limited to loving our enemies. For indeed, some of us are not even aware that we have any! The Bible exhorts us to love everyone!

 

12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, 13 so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. (1 Thessalonians 3v12-13)

 

 

Notice that it is love toward all that establishes are hearts blameless, and qualifies us as holy.

 

In particular, the Holy Spirit commands…

 

• Husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5v25)
• Wives to love their husbands (Titus 2v4)
• Mothers to love their children (Titus 2v4)
• The Church to love one another (1 Thessalonians 3v12)
• The Church to love the lost (Matthew 8v12)

 

According to 1 Corinthians 13, the Love we are to demonstrate to all is…

 

• Patient
• Kind
• Not Envious
• Does not brag
• Not arrogant
• Does not act unbecomingly
• Does not seek its own
• Is not provoked
• Forgets past failures and sins
• Does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth
• Always covers and keeps confidence
• Always believes
• Always hopes
• Always perseveres
• Is always there

 

 

 

Love Overcomes Fear

 

One thing about walking in love is that it overcomes fear. In Paul’s exhortation to Timothy, he says:

 

7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1v17)

 

We should observe that a vital ingredient in overcoming timidity is the spirit of love. When we love, the Bible says that we fulfil the righteousness of the law (Romans 8v4, 13v8). The scriptures also teach us that the righteous are bold as a lion (Proverbs 28v1). In relating to people, when our primary objective and mission is to walk in love, and we have no other purpose, we are supernaturally released from fear.

 

 

The Healing of Our Self Image

 

The commandment is to love our neighbour as we love our self. This commandment pre-supposes that the individual loves his or herself. It also implies that unless we love our self, we are incapable of loving our neighbour. Herein lays the problem for many. Many cannot love others, because they do not love themselves. Many do not like themselves. Many consider themselves to be ugly, too skinny, too fat, too short, too tall and so on. Many do not like their personality. However, God loves you with an everlasting love. You are eternally precious too Him, in so much that He gave His Son so that you might be adopted into His family. We need to renew our minds with God’s Word, and begin to see our self the way God sees us.

 

We saw earlier, that before we can love God, we need to know something about Him. Even so, in order for us to love our self, we need to know something about our self. In this respect, there are two important things that we must know:

 

1. We are made in God’s image: “So God created man in His own image” (Genesis 1:27)
2. God has crowned us with glory: “For You have made him a little lower than the angels,^[b] And You have crowned him with glory and honor.” (Psalm 8:5)

 

 

The word translated ‘honor’ can also mean ‘magnificence’ and ‘beauty’. So why then do so many not see themselves as full of glory and beauty?

 

The root cause of man’s disappointment with himself is the sin of Adam and Even in the Garden. Before sin, Adam and Eve were naked in the Garden, and not ashamed: “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” (Genesis 2:25)

 

However, after they sinned by eating of the tree that they were commanded not to eat of, they all of a sudden became ashamed. “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” (Genesis 3:10).

 

When Adam sinned, their glory was changed into shame! As it is written:

 

“You are filled with shame instead of glory.” (Habakkuk 2:16)

 

“I will change their glory into shame.” (Hosea 4:7)

 

It is this root of shame that causes man not to be able to love himself.

 

The good news is that on the cross, Jesus bore our shame and crucified it there. In exchange for our shame, He offers His glory, to all who will freely receive it by faith.

 

looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12v2)

 

“And the glory which You gave Me I have given them…” (John 17:22)

 

On the cross, Jesus took our shame. For that, He is worthy of all the praise. May the Holy Spirit open our eyes to see the glory our Lord has given us. When we were saved, not only were we cleansed from all unrighteousness, we actually entered into a coronation ceremony in which we were once again crowned with glory! With God’s help, we can now once again love ourselves and also our neighbours by the same standard.

 

Heavenly Father, In the Name of Jesus, may you open the eyes of everyone reading this message. May they see the glory that you have given them. May they love You, with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. May they love their neighbour as themselves. Amen.