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Loving God and Our Neighbor

+What Matters Most to JesusLuke 10:25-27Luke 10:25-27

L: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus: “What is written in the Law?... How do you read it?”

L: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.”

Parable of the Good Samaritan is example that anyone in need is our neighbor. Are we loving them?

+ Are We Loving Our Neighbor the Way We Would Want to Be Loved? “Anyone who does not love his brother, whom he

has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen…Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” 1 John 4:20-21

“Do to others what you would have them do to you.” Matthew 7:12

“Doing the work of justice is practicing the one command that sums up all of the Scriptures. To love God with our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Justice is doing for others what we would want done for us.” Haugen (75)

+Our Hope for JusticeMedia portrays the struggle for justice as a Media portrays the struggle for justice as a

hopelessly lost cause, making us think that hopelessly lost cause, making us think that we have no chance of doing any good.we have no chance of doing any good.

Why would God call people to ministry Why would God call people to ministry without giving the power actually to do it?without giving the power actually to do it? We believe something when we We believe something when we act act as if it were as if it were

true, not merely by true, not merely by saying saying we believe it or we believe it or believing believing we believe it.we believe it.

Jesus teaches us to persevere, for God will Jesus teaches us to persevere, for God will ultimately prevail in the ultimate war. ultimately prevail in the ultimate war. Luke 18:1-8Luke 18:1-8

+Hope Is a Virtue

Prior to Jesus, the ancient philosophers viewed hope as a weakness, a vulnerability of the naïve and simple-minded. For the early followers of Jesus, however, hope distinguished those who knew God from those who did not. Ephesians 2 12remember that at that time you were

separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

1 Thessalonians 4 13Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.

+ The Moral Arc of the Universe Bends Towards Justice

HISTORY

+ Fact, Not HopeFact, Not Hope

Sociologist Elise Bolding Persistent groups had a clear vision of

themselves in the future and they treated that vision as FACT, not hope. That vision acted like a magnet, drawing them forward. Those groups that lacked this compelling vision eventually died. In both cases, their visions were self-fulfilling.

“Hope is not simply wishful thinking; it is a fruit of the Spirit born of the spiritual discipline of remembering.” Haugen (80)