As Christians, the greatest command that Christ teaches is what? To love. To love God the Father, first of all and above all, and to love you neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39). These are the two greatest commandments, and obviously they should be followed exactly as Jesus taught.
But some people want to try to skip the second command to love your neighbor. They want to still say that they love God, but they don’t want to have to love certain other people who they may not “like.” But is that how our Lord Jesus treated others? Did Jesus love a specific group of people and hate others? Of course not! Jesus loves each and every person on this Earth. He does not love the sin that happens, but he loves the sinner just the same, and He asks that we do the same.
John 14:23-24 “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.”
This is how to know if someone loves Jesus: if they keep His words. The Apostle John wrote repeatedly about love in 1 John, and he echoed the same teachings that Christ taught. He especially explained in these next two passages that if you claim to love the Lord, but you hate your brother, then how really can you love God?
1 John 3:14-17 “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”
1 John 4:15-21 “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
We love him, because he first loved us.
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.”
No one has seen God at any time, save for Jesus, but as Christians we believe that He is real through our faith in Him. We haven’t seen God, but we love Him. But what John was teaching is that how can you love God when you can’t see Him, when you cannot even love the people who you can see?
In order to fulfill Christ’s command to love the Father, we need to be able to show love to others, and this is such an important thing that Jesus said that even before you came to offer anything to God (such as an offering) that you first needed to be reconciled back to a brother between which there may be ill feelings.
Matthew 5:21-24 “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”
You cannot claim to be a chef if you can’t cook! You cannot claim that you are a mathematical genius if you don’t even understand what 6×7 is! You cannot love God if you can’t even love a brother in the faith. One can try to convince themselves all they want that they love God, but when they choose to ignore this single important command to love your brother they show that they clearly don’t love God at all.
Dear reader, love is your command. Please, please show it!
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 