21 Days of Prayer: Day 16

Discipleship: Love for Neighbor


"There is no commandment greater than these”

MARK 12:28-34.

As we turn to focusing on praying through our church’s discipleship, we have already seen how we are called to declare, delight in, and meditate on the word of God. We have seen that, like the psalmist who wrote Psalm 119, we may know about God’s word but are totally powerless in ourselves to keep it. Like the psalmist, we need God’s help both to know and keep His word. If we are to make disciples, then we need God – both His word and His power… Now we turn to look at another aspect of discipleship…

Our text for today describes a scene where a scribe – a lawyer, probably of the religious group of the Pharisees – comes to question Jesus on His theology. The scribe asks Jesus what the greatest commandment is. Jesus gives the lawyer the first greatest commandment (which we are purposely waiting to discuss until later in this devotion) … Then Jesus gives the second greatest commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This seems to be a simple command, and indeed it is – except when you know what all is behind it…

When Jesus tells the scribe to love his neighbor, we need to understand that Jesus had other teaching on loving others. Jesus taught the people to love those whom their culture hated (see Lk. 11:25-37). Jesus also taught people to love their ENEMIES and pray for those who PERSECUTE them… This is ridiculous! You mean that Jesus actually demands that we love those who hate our guts and would rather see us killed over?... That is exactly what Jesus is teaching.

“Why in the world would I love someone who hates me?” To our culture this is a totally backward way of life. Our American culture lives on shallow relationships where a person only receives “love” (if one could call it that) if he or she “loves” others. This cultural, Americanized love is really no love at because it allows no room for healthy disagreement, let alone love for enemy. In other words, this cultural love is shallow because it can only love others who are exactly like them. The first time one even disagrees, this “love” is taken away… So how is true, godly love different from this cultural “love”?

The second greatest commandment does not exist in a vacuum – its context is key here. Before stating the second commandment, Jesus gave the first greatest commandment. The first greatest commandment is to love the one true God “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Christ quotes from the Old Testament Law and says we are to love God with all our faculties. From our inmost being outward – to our intellect, our emotions, our wills, and our physical strength – we are to worship the one true God in love. Love for God is to consume our entire being.

But the important thing to see here is that the command to love God comes DIRECTLY before the command to love neighbor. This placement shows that the command to love God and neighbor are inextricably linked. Indeed, Jesus says in Matthew 27:40 (a parallel passage to our story) that, “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and Prophets.” The whole Old Testament – with all its law and promises – rest on these two commands. This fact proves that not only are the commands to love God and neighbor connected, but it also shows another important truth – you CANNOT love God if you do not love your neighbor! Indeed, the primary way we love God is through loving our neighbor.

We may balk at that thought by thinking, “How I am toward my neighbor has nothing to do with how I am toward God… I can love God without interacting with my neighbor… You are pushing the treatment of my neighbor way too far.” And though these are very real reactions we may have, they do not line up with God’s word… The apostle John settles the matter: 

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
(1 Jn. 4:20)

John says that if we cannot love even our Christian brother or sister (let alone our enemy), we cannot possibly love God… Our love for God is tied to our love for neighbor… We could take this a step further by saying that your love for neighbor is a PICTURE of your love for God. If you love your neighbor with zealous fervor, then it is a picture of your true love for the glorious God. But if you are cold, indifferent, and maybe even hateful toward your neighbor, then it demonstrates your coldness, indifference, and functional hatred of God… 

To make disciples of Christ and be His disciples ourselves, we must love our neighbor. If we are to worship God by making other disciples, then we must love Him through loving other people. Though we are persecuted, hated, or even killed by others, we are called to love them… God loved others – though they persecuted, hated, and killed Him – to make them His disciples… How can we not love this way too?

Personal Questions:

  1. Why does the command to love others seem ridiculous to us living in a modern, American culture?

  2. What is the primary way we demonstrate our love for God?

  3. What does your love for neighbor look like? Do you love your neighbor?

  4. What does your love for your neighbor tell you about your love for God? Based upon your love for your neighbor, is your love for God cold and hateful, or is it consuming and radiant?

Prayer Points: 

  • Pray that you and our church would see that that the modern “love” of our American culture is really no love at all.

  • Pray that you and our church would thoughtfully and continually consider the ways we love our neighbors.

  • Pray that God would help you and our church see how Christ loved those who hated Him in order to make them His disciples (and that we would love accordingly).

  • Pray that God would transform you and our church to love Him more and more through loving our neighbors more and more.