The Suffering Messiah - The Greatest
The Suffering Messiah • Sermon • Submitted
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The Bottom Line
The Bottom Line
I have to admit - New car shopping is not my favorite thing
All they do (no offense if you sell cars) is talk about the features and the upgrades
They tell you how important each feature is to me
When I ask how much - it always about but you need this
All I want is the bottom line
I think our faith works a lot like this sometimes
We talk all we should do or be doing
We talk about all we should not be doing - but if it is all about what I do without knowing why I do it or the motivation for doing it - then it is just stale religion - it is just me going through he motions - not experiencing all I am meant to experience
Our faith comes with rules or commandments - just like everything else. - this is good
It allows us to experience life and faith with boundaries that keep us safe and focused on what is important
Unlike every other faith there is a foundational element - Something different than all others
That difference is Jesus - our suffering Messiah
I hope you have seen or sensed the difference over the last few weeks -
Jesus was and is who said He is - God in flesh - the Messiah
The heart He has for marriage and family and the desire that this relationship is enabled through direct communication through prayer
There are still the rules - in fact the Jews were obligated to obey 613 precepts in the Law
Today I want to talk about them - not all of them at once, but what is the bottom line
what is the most important or the greatest
One of the scribes approached. When he heard them debating and saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which command is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.” Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, teacher. You have correctly said that he is one, and there is no one else except him. And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is far more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to question him any longer.
Let’s pray
Love is the Bottom line
Love is the greatest
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Nine: The Servant in Jerusalem (Mark 11:1–12:44)
If we love God, we will experience His love within and will express that love to others. We do not live by rules but by relationships, a loving relationship to God that enables us to have a loving relationship with others.
But we have cheapened that word and we need to understand what it is and is not
What Love is Not:
Love is not about our feelings
The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it?
Love is not just a warm fuzzy - yes it is emotion but it is more - it is driving force in our lives
What Love is Not:
Love is not about our beliefs
You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.
You can know about Jesus without knowing Him
It is not about saying the right prayers or going to church or giving
It is not about believing, it is about surrendering . It is about transformation
If we have got the true love of God shed abroad in our hearts, we will show it in our lives. We will not have to go up and down the earth proclaiming it. We will show it in everything we say or do. - Dwight L. Moody
What Love IS:
Love is a choice backed by actions
“If you love me, you will keep my commands.
If we love we see as Jesus did, look like Jesus did, and do like Jesus did
What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like. - Augustine
The way we live and what we do will be marked by love
What Love IS:
Love is a response
We love because he first loved us.
I love because I was loved
I am not capable of loving my wife, my kids, or any of you the way I should if the love of God is not in me
I cannot love you as I love myself until I love God as I ought to love Him. - Jack Hyles
The Greatest is Love
The Greatest is Love
Every command comes down to these Love God and love others
Everything we do should be motivated by the fact we have been loved by God and we want o love others
We give, we serve, we sacrifice, we forgive - because we love
We loved because He has lavished on us such a great love
If your life does not look like this - then you do not know this love
The world does not understand theology or dogma, but it understands love and sympathy.
- Dwight L. Moody
If you know this love then live live it
If you don’t, then why not today
Let’s pray