NORTH YORK CHURCH OF CHRIST

Pastor Roger Marcos
Jan. 21, 2018
Delivered at North York Church of Christ

Man was born for greatness, but that greatness was lost, then Christ regain that greatness by His own death.

Unconditional love means loving someone more than they deserve.

We Are Called to Love

The spiritual vital sign that can tell us how healthy or mature we are as Christians is love - love for God expressed through our love for people.

If we’re going to live in love, we have to learn to forgive one another.

Yes, TRUTH without LOVE is dogmatism. Love without TRUTH is sentimentality. Speaking the TRUTH in love Is Christianity. Bob Russel

Mark 12:28-31 28... One of them, an expert in the law, tested Jesus with this question... “Teacher, which is the Greatest Commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied... “The most important one is this: ‘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.

When asked by a religious leader what mattered most in all the teachings of God, Jesus said that nothing is more important than to LOVE God, and LOVE your neighbor.

That’s why LOVE is the first word used at Messiah to capture the essence of the Christian life and faith: LOVE, LEARN, LIVE. Love for Jesus inspires disciples of Jesus to:

We learned that... “Learning to Live In Love With” the Lord Jesus

• We Must love Him with all our Heart... ALL OUR DESIRES AND PASSIONS.
• We Must love Him with all our Mind... ALL OUR INTELLECT AND WILL.
• We Must love Him with all our Soul... ALL OUR LIFE. EVERY BREATH.
• We Must love Him with all our Strength... ALL OUR ABILITIES AND RESOURCES.

Love is heavily rooted in the character of God. We can love others, and show it through our actions, because God loved us first. God loves you more than you can imagine. And He loves you unconditionally, regardless of your behavior or what you’ve done.

Jesus is saying that we demonstrate our love for God in ALL WE ARE AND ALL WE DO.

Second Greatest Command...LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF.

Jesus Is Saying.

• How We Love Others Is How We Love the Lord.
• How We Treat Others Is How We Treat the Lord.

The apostle Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:17 that we would be “rooted and established in love so that we would have power together with all the saints.” When we choose to walk in love, we have the power of God in our lives, as well as healthier relationships

Listen:

¹⁰ This 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.

¹¹This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another... ¹⁶This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth... ²³ This is God’s command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 1 John 3

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... We love because he first loved us. If 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. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. 1 John 4:7-11

God Loves Us, then we are going to love Him.so in order to really prove our love toward Him is the way we love others and treat others.

Jesus Says... How We Love and Treat Others is the second greatest commandment.

If this is so... We Need To Know How to Love Others?

Love is an indication that God is living in us.

1 Corinthians 13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If 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. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

You See. LOVE

• Suffers long,
• Beareth all things,
• Believeth all things,
• Hopeth all things,

John says. Let us NOT love in WORDS ONLY... But IN ACTIONS... IN DEEDS... GOOD WORKS.

The greatest thing we can do for God is to be kind to His children.

Listen to

1 John 3.16-18. This is how we know what love is: Jesus laid down his life for us. And WE OUGHT TO LAY DOWN OUR LIVES FOR OUR BROTHERS. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but WITH ACTIONS and in truth.

We Express Love By BEING COMPASSIONATE. Luke 5:13

A man covered with leprosy. Verse 13 tells us that Jesus reached out and touched him... And immediately the leprosy left.

When Mark records this narrative... He says... Jesus was moved with COMPASSION and touched him.

• In Matthew 9... Jesus had COMPASSION on the crowds, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and He taught them.
• In Matthew 14... He had COMPASSION on them and healed their sick.
• In Matthew 20... He had COMPASSION on two blind men and gave them their sight.

COMPASSION is getting involved in the lives of others.

James says... If one of you says to a brother... Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about his needs, what good is it... Your faith is dead... Pure religion... Religion that God accepts is COMPASSIONATE... Looking after widows and orphans in their needs.

Genuine New Testament Compassion... Touches the lives of people... All kinds of people...

• Compassion visits the sick.
• Compassion sits with the dying.
• Compassion takes food to the shut-in.
• Compassion grieves with those who have lost a loved one.
• Compassion mentions Jesus to the lost.

God help us to express our love by being compassionate.

I believe that there is nothing that will cause others to see Jesus in us... anymore... than for them to witness us forgiving one another... And to forgiving those in the world around us.

Conclusion:

How many of us here today would like to have A CLOSER WALK WITH GOD?

We can have... BUT WE MUST BE WILLING TO LIVE IN LOVE... FOR GOD...

AND LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER.

WHY NOT EXPRESS YOUR LOVE TO GOD TODAY? Become His child by... Faith... Repentance... and the New Birth... Immersion in water for the forgiveness of sins.

Come Now as We Stand and Sing together.