Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Good morning, Village Church.
[00:00:08] My name is Ryan Chaney, and I'm the youth pastor here. I'm excited to be able to open up the Bible with you guys today. After the service, I'll be down in the front if you would like to chat.
[00:00:19] For those that don't know me, I'm married and I have three kids. My wife Rachel and I have been married for 15 years, and our kids are 7, 4, 5, and 3 years old.
[00:00:31] You know, sometimes it's really weird having kids, especially when they're little, because they're like these little, miniature little people.
[00:00:41] It sounds weird to say, but that's how it feels. They look a lot like you, but they're much smaller and they're running around everywhere, and they have all the power.
[00:00:52] But it's weird when you look at them and they do something that makes you go, man, they look just like me or just like my wife, and you realize they bear your image. They are little image bearers. But our family, especially with young kids who depend on us for most things, we're all together pretty much all the time. So we're kind of a package deal. So if you want to have a relationship with me, you're also kind of signing up to have a relationship with my kids.
[00:01:21] Now, I love my kids, and I care for them. It's kind of part of the job description. But there's something special about other people who choose to love and care for my kids.
[00:01:33] They love the ones who bear my image and who I love dearly. You actually love me by loving my kids. In fact, I would argue that because of the nature of my relationship with my kids, if you were to tell me, ryan, I really love you, but I hate your kids, that would be a significant problem for multiple reasons. But we probably wouldn't have much of a relationship at all.
[00:02:00] Because to love my kids is to love me. Another way I could put it is, you can't love me and not love the ones who bear my image.
[00:02:10] Open up your bibles to mark 12.
[00:02:14] Last week, Pastor Michael talked about the Great Shema and what it means to love God with all your heart. And he talked about how God is wholehearted toward us. God is all in. He's committed all of himself to us. And he commanded the Israelites and us to be wholehearted towards him, to love him with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might. We heard about how our hearts are uniquely formed and shaped by the things we do and and say and the things we think about on a regular basis.
[00:02:44] Today, we're picking up where we left off last week and we're talking about the Great Shema again. This is part two, but we're considering what Jesus had to say about it.
[00:02:54] This is actually the first of a three part series titled Jesus on Deuteronomy. So we're still technically in Deuteronomy, but now we're exploring what Jesus had to say and how he viewed and used the law.
[00:03:07] You know, the timing of this is actually pretty perfect for me because we've been in a series on the Sermon on the Mount in youth group and we're going through Matthew 5, 7. And just a couple weeks ago, I was talking to the students about how important it is that we have a working knowledge and a baseline understanding of the Bible that Jesus knew, the Bible that Jesus used. Because to understand Jesus and his teaching, we need to know what he was pulling from, which was the Hebrew Bible, what we refer to as the Old Testament. So what Jesus often referred to, he used the shorthand expression to refer to the whole Hebrew Bible. And he would say the law and the prophets.
[00:03:47] That typically was his way of saying all the Scriptures. We'll see today that Jesus uses that phrase, the law and the prophets and his take on the Great Shema.
[00:03:58] But can I just step up on my soapbox for a second?
[00:04:02] Even if you say, no, I'm going to anyway. So people will often say this phrase, I love Jesus. I love the New Testament, but I don't love the Old Testament.
[00:04:11] I just got to say we need to reject that notion and that sentiment. Jesus himself would reject that. He would think that's preposterous. Right? Because to dismiss or disregard the Bible Jesus read is to dismiss or disregard Jesus.
[00:04:27] Jesus was the word. He was saturated in the Old Covenant and the Hebrew Bible. The Old Testament and the New Testament together make up God's revealed word and gives us the plan of redemption through Jesus. It's one theme. So it's really important that we understand and develop a robust understanding of both the Old and New Testaments.
[00:04:50] All right, let's look at mark 1228.
[00:04:53] And one of the scribes came up and heard them, and heard them disputing with one another. All right, pause. Who is them in this passage? So some context for the passage we're in. Earlier. In Mark 11, 12, we see Jesus is in the temple or he's around the temple and he's having conversations with different religious groups. So there's really four groups that you'll see in Mark 11 and 12 that were questioning Jesus or challenging him. So the first is the chief priests and scribes and elders. And they're asking Jesus by whose authority he can forgive sins. Because there's an encounter where he heals a man and then forgives the man's sins. And they're like, whose authority gave. Whose authority can you forgive sins by? So that's the first group. The second group is the Pharisees and Herodians, and they're asking Jesus if people should pay taxes.
[00:05:43] And there's a third group, the Sadducees. They're asking him about this hypothetical situation about six brothers who all married their brother's widow. Now, this seems very bizarre to us out of context. It's weird for us in modern day, but they're actually referring to an ancient Jewish practice that was actually a good thing. It was a law in place to protect a widow and to carry on a man's family name and provide children to the widow. But Sadducees were being pretty snarky about it. So they're the third group. And then fourth is there's this other scribe who comes back solo, alone, and he's asking Jesus about the most important commandment. But all of them have one clear intent. They want to trap Jesus and catch him saying something that they can arrest him for. They want him gone. Now, this is a pretty. They're pretty serious conversations they're having. But if you read the narrative, it's actually kind of humorous. At least it was to me as I was going through it. I'm kind of using my imagination here, but you can almost picture them, like, lined up or in the corner. They're like, in the temple courtyard. You have to picture them. Jesus is kind of at a distance. And there are these different groups, religious groups, and they all dislike Jesus, so they're kind of conspiring together. How can they trap him? So I can picture it being like, all right, who can we send over there? So, like, oh, let's do this. Let's get the chief priests and scribes and elders. You guys go first. So, like, they send them off. They're probably watching from a distance, like, what are they doing? And they come back. And I can just picture that group being like, guys, it didn't work. It did not work. And so they're like, okay, who can we send next? Like, here's. Let's send the Pharisees. So they watch the Pharisees go off. They're like, watching this encounter. And I like to picture the Pharisees come back. They don't even say Anything. Just like tails between their legs, shaking their heads, right? And then they're like, okay, who's next? Sadducees, right? One group after another, all unsuccessful. What is interesting is a lot of these guys didn't even like each other. The Pharisees and Sadducees did not get along doctrinally. They were very far apart. But you know what they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. They had one thing that united them and that was hating Jesus. Interestingly enough, do you know where this event and exchange occurs in the timeline of Jesus life?
[00:07:53] It's actually the last week of Jesus life, two to three days before he would be crucified.
[00:07:59] That helps us understand a little bit of why he is as direct as he is in these conversations. He's intentionally provoking these religious groups because he knows his time has come. But let's get back to verse 28.
[00:08:12] And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another and seeing that he, Jesus answered them well, asked him, which commandment is the most important of all?
[00:08:22] Now some context about scribes. Scribes know the law actually better than Pharisees. Pharisees were like a hyper conservative group and they were like, they had political influence and power, but the scribes, all they do is write and rewrite the law and the text. They copy and recopy the law, hence why they're called scribes.
[00:08:44] Most actually had the Torah, the law memorized.
[00:08:48] They were essentially Bible nerds of the day.
[00:08:51] So that actually they were actually pretty unpopular and disliked by non religious people because they were very pompous and full of themselves. Imagine if you had the entire Old Testament memorized by heart. You'd probably think pretty highly of yourself as well.
[00:09:07] So Jesus later in the chapter actually says they like attention. They walk around in long robes, they sit in the seats of honor at feasts. They pray these long prayers in public just for show and to be heard by others. So they're not super well liked. But this scribe was impressed that that Jesus defended the resurrection against the last group, the Sadducees. He was listening and observing. He's like, oh, this guy Jesus. I want to hear more of what he has to say. So now it's his turn to see how smart Jesus was, to see if he knew the law. And he asks Jesus, what is the most important commandment of all?
[00:09:43] So Jesus answered, the most important is hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
[00:09:49] You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Jesus quotes directly from Deuteronomy 6, 4 and 5, which is what we talked about last week, the Great Shema.
[00:10:02] But he doesn't stop there.
[00:10:04] Verse 31. The second is this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
[00:10:10] There is no other commandment greater than these.
[00:10:14] This other most important commandment, it's not found in Deuteronomy, actually. It's actually found in Leviticus. Leviticus 19 says, you shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
[00:10:30] What's striking is that Jesus joins these two passages together and says, there's no commandment greater than these two.
[00:10:37] And the pairing he makes isn't explicitly made in one passage in the Old Testament. But Jesus presents them as inseparable. You can't separate them. In Matthew 22, which is the parallel passage to the passage we're in Today, in Mark 12, a detail is added to the exchange. And after Jesus says, love God and love your neighbor, he finishes talking to the scribe. By adding, on these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. There's that phrase, the law and the prophets.
[00:11:09] Essentially, what Jesus is saying the entire Bible, the Hebrew Bible, can be summed up by saying, love God and love your neighbor. Even looking at the ten commandments, they can be summed up by saying, love God and love your neighbor. Because the first four commandments have to do with how we relate to and love God. And then the next six commandments are about how we relate to and love one another.
[00:11:35] So our big idea today is a whole heart for God requires a whole heart for your neighbor. We talked about being wholehearted in our love for God last week. But a whole heart for God requires a whole heart for our neighbor church. You can't say you love God and then hate or disregard or dismiss people.
[00:11:57] Just like you can't love me and not love those who bear my image.
[00:12:03] You can't love God and then hate people that bear his image for Jesus. These are two sides of the same coin. Have you ever heard anyone say, I love Jesus, but I don't love his church? Or maybe even say that they hate the church.
[00:12:19] Do you know what Jesus Church is called in Scripture? In the New Testament?
[00:12:24] His bride.
[00:12:26] So that's like me having a friend that I love, but then I tell him that I hate his wife.
[00:12:31] That's not going to make for a very good relationship. It's going to be very strained If I have any relationship at all or have you ever heard anyone say, I love God, but I'm not passionate about the poor or widows or orphans or the defenseless or I love Jesus, but I don't love. Fill in the blank. People of this political persuasion. People of that political persuasion.
[00:12:54] How can you.
[00:12:56] How can I.
[00:12:57] How can we say that we love God, but then we hate the ones who bear his image? And Jesus answer is we can't.
[00:13:05] First John 4:20 says, if anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
[00:13:18] And this commandment we have from him, whoever loves God must also love his brother.
[00:13:23] Now, in 1 John, brother does mean those within the body of believers. So other Christians. But we are also commanded to love anyone who is an image bearer, even if they're an enemy, even if their theological or political ideology is completely contrary to ours, even if they actively hope for our downfall and destruction.
[00:13:48] I. I know that that is a lot easier said than done. And if you want to talk about feeling hypocritical, I spent all week preparing this message. And I don't know if I've ever felt more hypocritical, if I'm honest, because all week I was reminded of how there's people in the world that I just don't want to love truthfully. But Jesus commands it. And he didn't just command it, he lived it and he showed us how to do it.
[00:14:15] Verse 31, we'll go back there. There is no other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said to him, you are right, teacher.
[00:14:23] Again, use my imagination. But I like to picture Jesus being like, yay, I got it right.
[00:14:28] I passed the test, right? Like, the irony of this exchange is just too humorous. Like, the scribe is telling Jesus he got it right. Like, do you know who you're talking to? And clearly he didn't quite have a full picture of who Jesus was, but he goes on and says, you have truly said that he is one and there is no other besides Him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength. And to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
[00:14:58] Like Jesus and this scribe, they're jiving here, right? They're on the same page. They both know the law. They understand the law. There's this nice moment which is kind of a rare moment for Jesus with religious groups of consensus and they have a shared perspective. But then Jesus is very direct and he kind of ruins this really nice moment between him and this scribe. Verse 34. And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, the scribe, you are not far from the kingdom of God.
[00:15:29] And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
[00:15:34] Why would Jesus say he wasn't far from God's kingdom? Didn't he just acknowledge all the things Jesus said? Love God and love your neighbor? Right? So he's good.
[00:15:43] Well, we get a little bit of insight into why Jesus says this if we look at what happens next in this narrative. If you look at verse 38, he says, and in his teaching, Jesus teaching, he said, beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and they like greetings in the marketplaces and they have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts. Verse 40. Pay attention to this. Who devour widows houses and for a pretense, make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.
[00:16:15] Jesus is saying they don't pray these long, articulate prayers because they love God. They do it for attention.
[00:16:22] They're pretentious, they're fake, and they don't love their neighbor either. They devour widows houses for some context, for what that means. We said scribes were experts of the law, which mean they actually often functioned as lawyers.
[00:16:36] They would interpret how the old covenant law should be applied in situations.
[00:16:41] So just like modern day lawyers, they oversaw disputes about property or estates, especially if somebody died. They would interpret contracts.
[00:16:51] They would often oversee these property disputes for widows, specifically when their husbands died, and they didn't have anybody to represent them or fight for them.
[00:16:59] But these scribes would devour widows houses, meaning they would charge excessive attorney fees to widows in particular, or they would pressure widows to dedicate their property or the money that they make from selling their property to the temple. That would impoverish them ultimately and left them without a home.
[00:17:18] Basically, the scribes were often greedy, power hungry, selfish and manipulative. They were dishonest lawyers.
[00:17:27] Jesus is saying, you almost get it. You're so close, you understand the law and the prophets. You know better than anyone else up here, but not here.
[00:17:38] You're not wholehearted. You don't love God and you don't actually love your neighbor either. And because of that, you won't be part of my kingdom.
[00:17:48] Now this should give us a gut check, especially those of us who have been in the church for a long time, Village church. It's possible to know God's Word really well and still not love God and love your neighbor.
[00:18:02] It's still possible to treat people like objects, to use them as a means to an end, to devour and consume them, to objectify them. We see it all over the place and the world around us. It's not enough to believe that there is a God and that His Word is true.
[00:18:19] You have to apply it.
[00:18:21] James 2:19 says, you believe that God is one. You do. Well, even the demons believe that and shudder.
[00:18:30] What separates us as believers from demons is that we don't just believe it in our minds, we believe it in our hearts, and then we actually confess it with our mouths. We live our lives to follow King Jesus and we help try to help build his kingdom. But building Jesus kingdom requires loving your neighbor again.
[00:18:50] A whole heart for God requires a whole heart for your neighbor.
[00:18:54] Perhaps instead of saying we need to love God and love our neighbor, we should tweak it just a bit and say, we love God by loving our neighbor. Jesus said in Matthew 25:40, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.
[00:19:10] And in James 1:27, religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this to visit orphans and widows and their affliction.
[00:19:20] God has a unique heart and passion for children, for the least of these, those who are vulnerable. So orphans, widows, those who are poor, those who can't advocate for themselves. God loves all people. Yes, absolutely. Because we're all created in his image. But we are called to uniquely love and care for those groups in particular.
[00:19:44] Just as you show love and care for me by caring and loving my children, the ones who bear my image, so we show our love for God by caring for his image bearers.
[00:19:57] So what? So I want to spend a little bit more time on the so what's and really try to bring this home and get a little bit more practical.
[00:20:04] So, so what? Number one, identify who your neighbor is.
[00:20:08] Then identify how you can love them.
[00:20:11] Now, I don't just mean identify the person living across the street from you and figure out who that person is that you've seen for years and never talked to. Although that is actually a pretty important piece of this. You should know the people living on your street around you, but genuinely ask the question, who is my neighbor and how can I love them?
[00:20:31] You might remember an exchange in Luke's Gospel account where a different lawyer, different from the scribe that we talked about today, he asked Jesus that very question, who is my neighbor? Jesus had Just told him the way to inherit eternal life was to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. And this lawyer says, and who is my neighbor?
[00:20:53] You see, by Jesus, time, after years of interpreting and reinterpreting the law, the definition of neighbor had been narrowed pretty significantly. Different rabbis taught different things. But some rabbis would interpret neighbor to mean fellow Israelites, those inside your group, those inside your tribe.
[00:21:12] So by narrowing neighbor, they imply that people outside the group, they don't need to be loved. So the reverse became kind of common cultural teaching. Neighbor insiders, anyone inside your tribe, enemy is outsiders, basically anybody that's not inside your group or tribe. And Jesus's response was to tell the story that you're familiar with of the Good Samaritan. Jesus told the story and then he asked the lawyer, which of these men proved to be the neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers. And the response from the lawyer was the one who showed him mercy.
[00:21:48] So the answer to the question, who is my neighbor? Is anyone within my sphere of influence that I have the capacity to show mercy and kindness to.
[00:21:58] Anyone within my sphere of influence that I have the capacity to show mercy and kindness to.
[00:22:05] So the modern day equivalent of the Good Samaritan story would be, you see someone in a car crash on the side of the road, single car, no one has stopped to help yet, so you pull over to see if you can help.
[00:22:17] But as you walk up to the car, and here's the kicker, you see the bumper stickers on the back of the car and they represent views and ideologies that go against everything you believe in.
[00:22:29] And you still choose to help that person anyway because they are a person in need.
[00:22:35] That is your neighbor, that is being a good neighbor within my sphere of influence. What does that mean? So I want to challenge you. Start close.
[00:22:45] Start close. This is important. It's impossible to have a heart for every single situation and every need every the world. Because of our modern day, because of the nature of technology, we have an unprecedented knowledge of things going on globally. We can't solve all the world's problems, and we're not actually supposed to.
[00:23:04] It's too overwhelming. We are called to love those that God has placed in our paths here and now.
[00:23:11] So start small or start close. Your family, your neighborhood, your local community, your workplace or your school, your church community.
[00:23:21] And then the places that you go frequently throughout the day or throughout the week. So that could be the grocery store, the gym, the coffee shop, the car wash, whatever it is. There are people we interact with on a daily or weekly basis that we often overlook or we might ignore or we're too distracted to notice.
[00:23:41] Start there, start close. Then genuinely ask the question, how can I love them? What capacity do I have?
[00:23:51] So start close, but start small.
[00:23:54] I'm not trying. As I was coming up with this list, I'm not trying to insult anyone's intelligence here because as I was writing them down, I'm like, man, these seem a little like too simple, too basic or elementary. But I actually think sometimes we need to be reminded of the simple things that we can do.
[00:24:12] So, family, how do we be a good neighbor to our family? We give grace and forgiveness.
[00:24:19] We are responsible and we take ownership of our stuff. We pray for one another.
[00:24:25] What about our neighborhood, local community?
[00:24:28] Deliver some cookies or treats to your neighbor, your literal neighbor. Assist an elderly neighbor with yard work.
[00:24:36] Learn a homeless person's story about that one with coworkers or classmates. Ask someone if they need help with a task. Collaborate with them. This is a good one. Eat lunch with someone new.
[00:24:50] I know that can be really challenging when you've got your routine and the people that you normally eat with. But eat lunch with someone new in your church community.
[00:24:58] Provide a meal for someone. Ask how you can pray for someone on a Sunday morning. Get involved in local outreach events or initiatives. That's what lo is, local outreach. Get involved in things that we're doing to bless people in the community, around here and then in places that you frequent in the community.
[00:25:17] Sounds really simple. But smile.
[00:25:20] Smile like the way you can just connect with someone and maybe they're just kind of an acquaintance. Maybe you see them every day. They work out next to you on the treadmill next to you every day.
[00:25:30] Like smile if you're really bold. Strike up a conversation now. For as a self professed introvert, if you're an introvert in the room, I get how terrifying that is and how that is the last thing you want to do is strike up a conversation. But you'd be surprised how the times whenever I've forced myself to strike up conversations, how much I'm encouraged by how much I learn about somebody and I walk away feeling very blessed my myself. But pay for the person's coffee and line behind you. That's a way, that idea of paying it forward, that actually can mean a lot to someone. It only costs you 5, $7. But for them it could be really significant.
[00:26:13] Starting close and starting small sounds easy until you actually try it. And then you realize there's nothing easy about this. It can be awkward.
[00:26:21] They could Be awkward or hard to love, or they might stand for everything that you are against.
[00:26:29] It doesn't matter.
[00:26:31] Love them anyway.
[00:26:33] Also, you don't have to stay close and small. There are so many other ways to expand how we love our neighbor. These are just some ideas and a place to start.
[00:26:42] So what? Number two. Wholehearted love for your neighbor means loving without filters.
[00:26:49] To be clear, I don't mean we shouldn't exercise wisdom and discernment when it comes to how we love our neighbor. For example, you can't give $20 to every homeless person that you see when you go into the city, and you shouldn't. I'm not advocating for that. We absolutely need to use discernment and wisdom. And I also don't mean that loving your neighbor means you should compromise on your convictions.
[00:27:11] You don't need to change your beliefs or compromise on truth to love your neighbor because you're going to have disagreements, sometimes really profound disagreements with other people.
[00:27:22] It's very important to understand in that loving your neighbor is not doing things that affirm and support sin. That's not what I mean. Loving your neighbor may not always make them feel loved, and loving your neighbor sometimes means saying hard things.
[00:27:38] But what I mean is what criteria do you use? What filters do you have before you are willing to love, before you're willing to do good for someone or pray for someone, or go out of your way to bless someone or sacrifice your time or treasure to help someone? In other words, what is your criteria before you love your neighbor and why? Why do you hesitate or play favorites or have preferences in whom you love?
[00:28:07] The short answer is easy, and I think we all actually know the answer why?
[00:28:11] So we have a sin nature.
[00:28:13] Sometimes it's because we've been hurt by someone or we're holding a grudge.
[00:28:18] But I actually think more often it's because we treat people according to the groups or tribes they are a part of.
[00:28:26] We operate under assumptions or stereotypes or generalizations and we treat people as a member of a group rather than as an individual made in God's image.
[00:28:38] We say things like, oh, they're a Republican, or oh, they're a Democrat, so I know what they're like.
[00:28:45] Or we say, oh, they're Gen X or they're Gen Z, so I know what they're like.
[00:28:51] Or oh, that person's homeless, so I know what they're like. I know what decisions have led to them getting in this spot. Or oh, they are white collar, or oh, they're blue collar, so I know what they're like.
[00:29:05] Or maybe you've heard this phrase. If you've met one, you've met them all.
[00:29:09] Actually, no, you don't know what they're like. And each person is an individual.
[00:29:16] Why don't you talk to them and get to know them first?
[00:29:19] It's interesting that Jesus and the law, as he quotes the law, says love your neighbor as yourself. Not neighbors, plural, neighbor, singular.
[00:29:30] As a follower of Jesus, I treat every person as a valuable individual made in the image of God.
[00:29:38] We talked about the first of what we talked about the who is our neighbor and how do we love our neighbor? This is really the why why we love our neighbor. Because every person is a valuable individual made in the image of God.
[00:29:52] Be curious and don't make assumptions. Maybe some of those stereotypes are true, but maybe they're not. And even if there is some stereotypes that are true about a person, that person is more than just a stereotype.
[00:30:07] What's interesting is people will often show prejudice for a whole group of people. But when you actually meet an individual from that group and when you talk to them, you realize that they're delightful and you enjoy them. You actually have more in common with them than you have differences.
[00:30:25] We look at people and we see labels. Often we see labels like ex con or homeless or conservative or liberal.
[00:30:35] We see labels like gay or straight or poor or rich. The list could go on. And we often treat people according to the man made labels that we have placed on them or that culture has placed on them. Rather the as people who have been made in God's image.
[00:30:55] We all do it. Okay, I'm talking to myself here too. Again. It's been a very, very truly humbling week for me because I realize how far I fall short of this. But we can also all repent and seek to love the way that God loves. Without filters, with a whole heart.
[00:31:15] So what? Number three.
[00:31:17] When we will fail to love our neighbor wholeheartedly at times. And when we do, Jesus gives grace.
[00:31:24] Sometimes our love will be half hearted or no hearted. We'll do it with poor or selfish motives or we might not do it at all. And thankfully, Jesus gives grace.
[00:31:36] Jesus sets a high bar for how we obey God's commandment, love God and love others. And it sounds simple enough, right?
[00:31:44] Except it's anything but simple. As we all know, in the next couple of weeks we're gonna see how Jesus continues to raise that bar for how he uses and expands on Deuteronomy and the whole law.
[00:31:57] But here's the thing. We don't have to perfectly fulfill the law ourselves, which is great news because we can't.
[00:32:05] Jesus actually said that he came to fulfill the law and the prophets. Matthew 5 He said, I did not come to abolish them, but I came to fulfill the law and the prophets. Which he did. He lived a perfectly righteous life. He died a sacrificial death and then he rose again, conquering sin and death.
[00:32:25] We are commanded to love God and love others. But when we mess up, and we will, Jesus offers us grace.
[00:32:32] We simply have to accept the grace. We have to accept the gift by acknowledging that we are sinners.
[00:32:38] We need a Savior and we repent of our sins. And if you never have before we believe in Jesus life, death and resurrection and we confess him as Lord, choosing to follow him with our lives.
[00:32:54] By the power of the Holy Spirit Village Church, we can love God and love our neighbor with a whole heart.
[00:33:02] Let's pray.
[00:33:04] Heavenly Father, we confess that we don't always do a good job of loving those who are made in your image.
[00:33:10] We say we love you, then we turn around and we live very unlovingly towards our neighbor.
[00:33:16] We repent of that and proclaim that it is our desire to love better, to love well, to love the way that you have loved us.
[00:33:25] Help us to be better representatives and ambassadors for you as we seek to make disciples and seek to share the light of your truth with those we come in contact with, those who are close within our sphere of influence, those you've put in our path to love and help us to die to ourselves when we're tempted to stereotype or label or put conditions on our love.
[00:33:48] Thank you for the work of Jesus and for your perfect love for us. We pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.
