Sermon Tone Analysis
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INTRODUCTION
We’ve come to one of the most important passages in the New Testament.
Jesus reveals what He considers to be the MOST IMPORTANT commandment in the entire Bible—to love God.
And He volunteers the second most important commandment—to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Everybody has a different idea about what love is.
As Forrest Gump said to Jenny, “I’m not a smart man, but I know what love is.”
Do you?
Here are some children’s definitions of love.
“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.”
Karl, age 5
“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.”
Mary Ann, age 4
“My mother says to look for a boyfriend who is kind.
So that’s what I’ll do.
I’ll find someone who is kinda’ tall and handsome.”
Caroline, age 8
“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.”
Lauren, age 4
“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too.
That’s love.”
Rebecca, age 8
These last two are my personal favorites:
“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and just listen.”
Bobby, age 5
“You really shouldn’t say, “I love you” unless you mean it.
But if you mean it, you should say it a lot.
People forget.”
Jessica, age 8
The context of our passage is Jesus in Jerusalem a few days before the cross.
The religious leaders have been asking Him trick questions to try to get Him to incriminate Himself.
But Jesus is too wise.
Finally, someone asks Him a serious question.
Read Text: .
This teacher of the law was probably part of the antagonistic crowd questioning Jesus.
But when he heard how Jesus answered crooked questions with such straight answers, he decided to ask him a serious question.
The Jewish Rabbis had isolated 613 different written commandments and another 1,400 oral commands.
Jesus first quoted from about loving God and then He combined it with a command from about loving your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus first established Who God is: He is the One true living God.
Then He moved on to reveal the main thing God expects of us.
In other words if you could somehow enter into the throne room of heaven right now and kneel before your Creator and ask Him, “God, what is the MAIN thing you expect of me?”
He would say, “I want you to love me with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”
If you said, “Okay, I’ve got that.
Is there anything else I can do to please you?” God says, “There is one more thing.
I want you to love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.”
Jesus was talking about three levels of love.
He talked about loving yourself, loving others, and loving God.
To me, it’s like climbing a ladder.
You have to start on the bottom rung before you can climb up to the top.
I don’t think you can truly others and love God until you understand what it means to love yourself.
So let’s start at the bottom rung
1.YOU ARE WORTHY OF LOVE: SEE YOURSELF AS GOD SEES YOU
At first, there are many Christians who have a negative reaction to loving themselves.
They think, “Wait, aren’t I supposed to deny myself?
Didn’t Jesus tell me to take up my cross and die?
And you’re telling me to love myself?
I’m confused.”
That old selfish, sinful nature that used to claim your life needs to be crucified and buried with Christ.
But I’m talking about who you are right now; and Jesus said you should love your neighbors as you love yourself.
I didn’t make that up.
You need to have a healthy self-image of who you are in Christ.
I assumed most of you looked at yourselves in the mirror this morning.
When you saw that person looking back at you in the mirror, what did you think about that person?
Did you look that person in the eyes, or just at your face, teeth, and hair?
Did you think how old, ugly, or overweight you were?
Were you happy with that person looking back at you?
Among Christians, there are a couple of self-image mistakes you can make.
A. An inferiority complex
That’s actually a psychological term coined by Alfred Adler to describe people who think everyone else around them is better, prettier, stronger, and smarter than they are.
Many Christians feel worthless and unworthy.
The devil is called the accuser of the brothers and sisters and he wants to constantly keep you on a guilt trip making you think you are too filthy and wicked to matter to God.
The other self-image mistake is the polar opposite.
I’ll give it the official theological term:
B. THE LOOK AT ME CHRISTIAN
it sounded more descriptive than narcissistic.
Have you ever met someone who was in love with themselves?
There’s a difference between loving yourself and being IN love with yourself.
A person who is in love with themselves looks in the mirror and sings, “How Great Thou Art!”
We’ve all met arrogant, egotistical people who think they are better than everyone else.
These people are sick, and pretty much make everyone around them miserable.
ILLUSTRATION: Abby, the advice columnist once got a letter from a guy like this.
He wrote: Dear Abby: “I’m a guy who has everything.
I’m smart and handsome.
Women are always flocking around me and telling me how good-looking I am and what a marvelous personality I have I’m beginning to find this boring.
How can I discourage these hopeful females?” C.W. Abby wrote back: Dear C.W., “Just keep talking.”
Of these two extremes, most of the Christians I know suffer from a sense of inferiority.
They feel they are worthless and find it hard to love themselves.
This world is a harsh place and there are plenty of people around you who try to tear you down.
It starts when you’re a child in school.
If there’s anything that’s different about your appearance or how you look or speak, mean kids will make fun of you.
Bullying used to happen on the school playground, and now it usually happens in cyberspace.
Doesn’t stop there: it continues on into adulthood.
In places such as work, at the gym, social events in the community, and dare I even say in the one place it should never happen and that’s in the CHURCH!
The devil may accuse you, and people may try to belittle you.
But no matter how people treat you, you should say, “I am not worthless, I am a blood-bought child of God!”
When you see yourself as God sees you, you’ll be humble and grateful for the grace and forgiveness that God has given you.
The Bible teaches that you are fearfully and wonderfully made.
You aren’t one-in-a-million; you are one-in-seven-billion.
There is nobody else exactly like you alive on the planet.
Take a moment and look at the tip of your forefinger.
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