Recently Major League Baseball polled fans to see what they thought was the most memorable moment in baseball history. Was it Bobby Thompson’s “shot heard ‘round the world”? Was it Cal Ripkin’s consecutive games streak? Was it Nolan Ryan’s 7th no hitter when he was well past the age of 40? Could it be Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier?
A few years ago the NBA named its 50 greatest players of all time.
Who is the greatest? What’s the greatest? Who was the greatest president? Who was a better businessman, Bill Gates or Henry Ford? These are questions that have been hotly debated on various subjects for ages.
Turn with me to Matthew 22:34-40.
Jesus addresses our relationships, both vertical (with God) and horizontal (with others). What does it mean to love God? What does it mean to love others?
What does it mean to love God?
Jesus says this is the chief command, the big one.
There was great debate among the religious leaders of Jesus’ time about the Law. Which command was the greatest? One said this, and another said that. The religious leaders were trying to trap Jesus.
We have just seen this in the recent political season. I have had the privilege (or curse) of witnessing a large chunk of campaigns in three states. Living in the Kansas City area, we were exposes to political races in Kansas and Missouri. Now the last couple weeks have been able to observe politics in North Carolina. Candidates use the other’s words against them. Candidate “A” makes a comment during a speech, and Candidate “B” says something in an interview. Two days later both are distorting what the other said.
The religious leaders were trying to get Jesus to say something they could use against him. Jesus stepped up and answered the question. He hit it out of the park. Jesus quoted a passage that was familiar to his listeners. The Shema was a passage quoted by all good Jews daily:
Deuteronomy 6
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
We are to love God with all our heart, soul and mind. But, what exactly does that mean?
Our heart is the center of our physical life. Everything we do should bring honor to God. The places we go should honor God. Whatever we do should demonstrate love for God. The heart is our source of passion.
Our soul is the essence of who we are. It is what makes us unique. It is the fiber of our being. Who we are, as a person, should be defined by our love of God.
Our mind is our intellect and thought life. This doesn’t mean we just sit around thinking about God. It means that God drives our thought life.
Love for God should drive our life. This love is more than affection it’s our desire. Everything we do should bring honor to God.
When I first began dating Tammy, I had a certain affectionate love for her. I didn’t love her with all my being. My affection looker our for her well being as long as it didn’t interfere with my well-being. Now my love for her seeks her well-being, even when it’s inconvenient for me.
Loving God is more than affection. It is a matter of deep commitment. It means loving him when things aren’t the best or when life gets tough.
Jesus could have stopped there. Loving God wasn’t real controversial, but Jesus didn’t shy away from controversy.
To stop at loving God would have kept Jesus on safe ground. Not many would dispute that we should love God. But, Jesus doesn’t stop there. He goes on to quote yet another Old Testament passage, “Love you neighbor as yourself.”
What does it mean to love our neighbor (or others)?
Who is our neighbor? Is it just the guy next door? Or the people in our subdivision? Jesus says it’s everyone. In the book of Luke, Jesus illustrates that through the story of the good Samaritan. A hated Samaritan took the time to help a Jew in need when his fellow countrymen walked by.
We can accept the fact that everyone is our neighbor, but what does it mean to love them? Love is not tolerance. Love is not putting up with someone. Love is more than affection. We need to love others as we love ourselves.
It’s easy to love those like us. We love fellow Christians. We love people that look and act like us. What happens when we find ourselves outside of our comfort zone?
I was young, just out of college, and looking to enter the professional ranks. I wound up at the largest law firm in Kansas City. There were around 1000 employees. By far, it was the largest place I had ever worked. I was naïve. I had a fairly sheltered upbringing. I had gone to public schools, but I had not been really involved. I attended a Christian college. Through college I worked at a Christian-owned print shop. I had also worked a couple summers at Nazarene Publishing House. Now, I was in the world. After I was on the job six months, I got a promotion. I started working with two other people. It wasn’t long until I realized these two people were quite different from myself. My response to them would tell a lot about whether or not I truly loved these two people. We had not become close friends, but we were friendly at work. I was taken aback when I realized these two people were homosexuals. Despite efforts of the media and other sources to get me to accept this lifestyle as a legitimate choice, I knew it was wrong. My challenge now was to accept these two as legitimate people, while not accepting their lifestyle as legitimate. If these two people were homosexuals, axe murderers or Sunday school teachers, it didn’t matter. Jesus died for them.
There is a so-called minister in the Kansas City area that has become famous for attacking homosexuals. He pickets and protests against them constantly. He says things like, “God hates gays!” He gets a great deal of coverage from the media. This is one reason some people are scared of the church.
Other churches have gone the other direction. They have sanctioned homosexual unions. (I’ll stop short of calling it marriage, because the very definition of marriage is one man and one woman.) They have ordained open homosexuals as clergy. They have called for the acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle as legitimate.
Now both of these approaches are wrong. To say God hates any person is a direct contradiction of Scripture. To say that homosexuality is a legitimate lifestyle is a direct contradiction of Scripture. So how do we reconcile these?
We are to accept others as God accepted us. Before we came to accept Jesus as Lord of our life, who of us was not bound by sin? No one. Our love of our neighbor is demonstrated by showing acceptance for others as someone for whom Christ died.
Remember Christians are portrayed as extremist, intolerant, bigoted, hate-filled homophobes who are only concerned about banning abortion and forcing school children to pray. With tat type of image hanging over our heads, how comfortable do you think someone feels coming through our door that is struggling with homosexuality? How does a young woman who just had an abortion feel? They are scared of us. They have been told that we hate them. They believe we have condemned every one of them to hell.
There is a statement that I keep reading. To offer credit to an author would require a lengthy list of the various books in which I have read it. The statement is simple, “Jesus was the friend of sinners.” Are we the friends of sinners? How many sinners do you have as close friends? Work associates who you say, “Hi, how are you?” to don’t count. I mean, how many close friends do you have that are sinners?
While I worked at the law firm, we got several invitations to go out with my co-workers. These times were usually marked with a great deal of alcohol consumption. My co-workers knew my stance on drinking, but they also knew that I valued a friendship with them. We spent the occasional Friday night watching co-workers drink and wondering on the way home, “Why?” The stuff stinks. It’s expensive. You wake up with a headache the next day. You do things you wouldn’t normally do. Why? Why did they do this to themselves?
The answer is really quite simple. People desire acceptance for who they are. When people are in that type of environment, they don’t have to put on a show or try to be someone they’re not.
Why can’t we accept people for who they are? Jesus did. He ate with lepers, prostitutes, and tax collectors. He conversed with a Samaritan woman, a double offense because she was Samaritan and female.
A former pastor of mine vacationed in Hawaii a few years ago. While there, he attended a local Nazarene church. He spoke with the pastor regarding ministry in Hawaii. Hawaii is a very difficult place to minister because the culture is very secular. One experience of the pastor and the church demonstrates love through acceptance. One Sunday morning, a young lady strolled into church in a bikini. I hear it’s quite common for Hawaiians to go about their daily business in swimwear. This lady was doing what she had always done. What would we do if someone showed up in a bikini? We could probably find a towel or blanket. Someone may give up a jacket to cover her up. After all, that’s not the proper way to dress for church. The people of this particular church, however, welcomed her and showed her love. No one said anything about the way she was dressed, or put her down for violating the dress code. She came back the next week wearing more clothes. She had no idea the first time what was expected. She was being herself. She quickly understood that what she was wearing was out of place. No one had to tell her. Had undue attention been drawn to her, she would likely have never attended church again.
Call to action:
The conservative church, of which the Nazarenes are a part, has often been long on talking about love of God, but short on talking about love for others. Our love for God must be demonstrated in our love for others. Our love for others reflects our love for God.
What are people seeking in church today? They want a place where they are accepted and their needs are met. Restoring Great Commandment love both vertically (with God) and horizontally (with others) is critical to relevant ministry in our day.
Relevance is a word that has come under great fire in recent years. Some have branded it a watering down of the Good News. To the contrary, it is showing people that the life of someone who lived 2000 years ago matters to their life here and now. When Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman he didn’t give a long lecture on the merits of the Law and Prophets. He said, “Hey, do you want a drink?” Likewise when someone comes to our door, we should say, “Hey, you look sad. Is there anything I can do to help?” People don’t want to hear us debate the finer points of theology when their son is on drugs, their daughter is pregnant and their spouse has just run off. They want us to let them come as a broken and hurting person. They want to cry on our shoulder. We must let them cry on our shoulder. They want us to love them unconditionally, just as the Father has loved us, and them.
The district superintendent of the Kansas City District says, “Broken and hurting people matter to Jesus; they should matter to us.”
