Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Command to Love Others*

*Lev.

19:9-18*

*Mt 5:43-48*

 

Illustration:

Did you hear about the pitiful man whose fiancé broke their engagement and shredded his tender heart?

He later received a letter of apology and desire for reconciliation.

It read:

Dearest Jimmy, \\ No words could ever express the great unhappiness I’ve felt since breaking our engagement.

Please say you’ll take me back.

No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me.

I love you,

I love you,

I love you!

Yours forever, Marie \\ \\ PS: Congratulations on winning the state lottery!

 

/“I will love you… if…”/

 

God gives one reason in Leviticus as to why we should love others:  ‘I am the Lord.’

‘I, the Lord your God, am Lord.’

14 x’s in chpt 19 refrain:  ‘I am the Lord’.

Context of Leviticus

19:1-8  be holy because I, the Lord your God am holy.

Lets get this straight.

Who is in charge here?

Who is giving the command and who is to follow?

The One giving the command to you – “I am – the holy One – I am the Lord”

The command:

Be holy like your God.

Love like your God.

Show your love for God by simple obedience: ‘Love your neighbor.’

Leviticus gives several rules as to how to live in society and sums up with vs. 18 /‘Love your neighbor as yourself’./

This has become known as *The Golden Rule*

 

Golden Rule:  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

This is a universal rule stated in almost every world religion.

This rule sums up the basic moral code upon which every healthy society has been based.

Jesus:

/“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”/

(Mt 7:12 NIVUS)

 

 

What is the motivation to love others as yourself?

God loves me.

He has chosen to enter into a relationship of love with me.

He has brought me out of slavery in Egypt

provided for me

and protected me.

God, you love me so much.

I want to show my love for you.

I’ll do anything for you.

God responds: 

‘Love others in the same way you have been loved.’

But we make excuses.

We get people like lawyers who can tear apart the letter of the law

so our obedience can be as little as possible

so we can get away with as much as possible!

Illustration:

A professor of psychology had no children of his own,

but whenever he saw a neighbor scolding a child for some wrongdoing, he would say,

/"You should love your boy, not punish him."

/

 

One hot summer afternoon the professor was doing some repair work on a concrete driveway leading to his garage.

Tired out after several hours of work,

he laid down the towel,

wiped the perspiration from his forehead,

and started toward the house.

Just then out of the corner of his eye he saw a mischievous little boy putting his foot into the fresh cement.

He rushed over,

grabbed him,

and was about to spank him severely

when a neighbor leaned from a window and said,

/"Watch it, Professor!

/

/Don’t you remember?

/

/You must ’love’ the child!"/

At this, he yelled back furiously,

/"I do love him in the abstract but not in the concrete!"/

[1]

 

 

 

What kinds of people do we excuse ourselves from loving?

If someone mistreats us

do we become bitter and hateful toward them and say that turnabout is fair play?

If someone speaks evil of us

do we start tearing them down with our words?

Jesus said, there is no reward for that kind of twisted love.

Do we consider certain people beneath us and not worthy of the effort to even acknowledge them?

*Love your neighbor*:  

Leviticus 19:18 says /"do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself"/

‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ can be translated: ‘one who is like yourself’.

The rabbis taught that this verse only applies to loving other Jewish people.

Therefore if a non-Jewish person didn’t treat you well, then it was okay to hate that person because he wasn’t Jewish!

Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

Along comes the rabbi Jesus and in the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ addresses the law and to the traditional interpretation of the law.

/ “You have heard… but I tell you…”/

·       Do not murder > do not be angry

·       Do not commit adultery > do not look with lust

·       If you divorce – get a certificate of divorce > again Jesus raises the bar as to the consequences of divorce.

Jesus tightens the law

a.

Scripture warns of ‘breaking’ (loosen) the Law

/“Anyone who breaks /(Greek: ‘Loo-o’ means: ‘loosen’ or ‘relax’) /one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”/

(Mt 5:19 NIVUS)

b.     Jesus clarifies where man distorts

c.      Warns against tolerance – tolerating the breaking of God’s law to a point there is no longer sin

No sin = no need for a savior

 

 

The Law of God was not given to justify man,

but to show his sin,

and a need for a savior.

We are not made innocent by observing the Law, but guilty.